Day 16

Blogging about losing the "baby weight" - Take 2.

In January of 2008, four months prior to my wedding, I weighed 165 lbs, my highest weight ever (at that point). At 5'7" tall I was slightly overweight. So I started the South Beach diet, which I followed almost religiously, and I weighed 145 pounds when I got married in March of 2008

South Beach was not a bad diet choice for me for a number of reasons. Chief among them being that I have a huge problem with sugar. I love sugar. I crave sugar. I know many people who crave bakery desserts, or ice cream, or chocolate; not me - I crave sugar in the purest form possible. I love Spree, Gummi Bears, regular bubble gum ... and if I cannot have candy because I am trying to watch my weight I will find some other way to ingest it: dried fruit, berries, lemonade... South Beach really helped me to see that sugar, which I was tired without, was actually making me even more tired, and breaking the cycle was awesome. I felt great when I was on the diet, but it was not a sustainable eating model because eventually I would eat sugar, it is inevitable. And like a smoker who just buys a pack for the night out, I'd have one more in the morning, and another, and then I was faced with the choice of detoxing again, which was hard, and required emptying my kitchen of temptation, and was expensive. It never happened.

In September of 2008, six months after my wedding, and a month before I got pregnant with the boys, I weighed 170 lbs. In the months leading up to the wedding I bought new size 8 clothes and sold most of my 10s on consignment. That September when the weather turned my pants did not fit. And on a very sad day, I went to Banana Republic and bought 2 pairs of size 12s. For the next month and a half, I half-assedly trained for the Marine Corps Marathon and lost about 5 lbs. So when I got pregnant in October I weighed about 165.

My pregnancy weight gain was actually perfect. Over 40 weeks I gained 42-45 lbs. I know that I lost a ton of muscle mass, but I did manage to swim on a regular basis and I went into induction day in great cardio-vascular shape. I entered the hospital around 210 and left at 185. At my post-partum appointment I was at 177.

During the year that passed, from July-July, I tried a number of things to lose weight. 4 weeks post-partum I signed up for Weight Watchers (hahaha); I started going to the gym, but could not get there regularly; I started Fat Assed Fridays, but I have trouble blogging regularly even when I am not accountable for something that I do not want to do; I tried the 30 day Shred, which was actually a 9 day shred of my knees. On the boys' first birthday I weighed 180lbs. My size 12 fall clothing, which fit last fall, did not fit.

So I weighed my options. (I am punny). South Beach is out, because I do not need to be feeding one thing to the boys, one to myself, and another to my husband. Plus I am still producing milk, which requires that I eat carbs. Weight Watchers, which has worked for me in the past, is out, because I don't have time to count or chart, and because I have the mental discipline to eat 30 points worth of Gummi candy and then eat green beans and sugar free Jello for the rest of the day.

So 16 days ago I checked out the Biggest Loser 30 Day Jump Start, flipped though the book, which has daily meal plans and recipes, and chose 7 days worth of recipes that I thought we could do. My husband chose to join me. I posted 6 days worth of meals on the fridge, bought a ton of produce, and we got started. During that first week I lost 6 pounds, without exercising, and Mike lost 9. Week 2 I lost another 4. My start weight was 179. I already weigh 166.

I have only been to the gym twice since I started and am hoping to report that it has helped to accelerate my weight loss.

The pros are: the food is great (I love their recipes); you can modify the meal plan to match what you have in the fridge; I like to be told exactly what to eat; it includes all food groups.
The cons: the cost of the produce is shocking; it would be hard to eat out- but we don't ever go out anyway; it is a lot of work to plan and make shopping lists.

I signed up for three months of their online plan,The Biggest Loser Club, but have not started. This makes the lists for you, but is not as easy to customize. Hopefully this will cut down on planning time.

My high point was seeing my weight below 170 for the first time since November 2008. My low point was when I broke the diet yesterday and ate an enormous bag of Raisinettes. The best part is that my husband is on board and helps make lunches. My goals are to work out five times between now and next Friday and to report back.

Current weight: 166.These pictures were taken in my favorite jeans, which do not close.