How I Got My Waist Back, May 2006

“I still don’t fit into my pre-baby clothes!” I must have said that a hundred times.  Back in February, I finally just got sick of hearing myself say it and decided to lose weight.  It’s no mystery how to lose weight – eat less calories than you burn. 

In thinking about my eating habits, it was clear that although I ate healthy things, I ate way too much.  I cooked dinner from scratch 3-4 nights a week from Cooking Light cookbooks.  I didn’t eat out a lot and when I did, I did not frequent fast food restaurants.  With the exception of ice cream, I don’t buy or eat junk food or candy.  I primarily drank water, but did enjoy diet soda on occasion.  And even though I average 2-3 times a week at the gym since Kathy was 3 months old, those last few pounds clung to my upper body like a crying child.  It was clear I had to eat less.

I decided to count calories and learned a lot about my eating style during the process.  First, it taught me about portion control.  I measured everything and in doing so, realized how much I used to pore into a bowl or slop on a plate.  This was a shock to my system at first.  After I ate my portion, I was still hungry – for a few minutes.  It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain you are full.  My problem was, I ate so quickly, that by the time my brain registered my fullness, I had overeaten and could feel it via my stretched stomach.  Measuring my foods, sitting while I ate (vs. standing in the kitchen or eating in the car), and focusing on eating (vs. sitting at the computer or folding laundry) made me be more conscience on the process of eating and also made me eat slower.  This resulted in me eating less, but still feeling full.

I also learned after a few days of tracking that I ate a lot of carbohydrates – they consisted of about 80% of my diet.  So, I focused on integrating more fat and protein into my diet.  I did this primarily by switching from non-fat to 2% milk and snacking on an ounce of cheese or a ¼ cup of nuts when I was hungry during the day.  This type of snacking also left me feeling fuller longer than if I had eaten an orange or a banana.

I also made a few more changes.  When Kathy was an infant and would fall asleep in the car, I got in the habit of going to the drive-thru Starbucks, getting a high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie coffee, and a high-calorie scone and reading my book.  Interesting…. eating a 600 calorie snack, while reading a book, which burns, I’m guessing, about 8 calories.  No mystery why the weight hung on.  So, no more Starbucks.  I started making my own de-caf coffee every morning with a little milk and sugar.

I was also a big late night snacker.  After dinner, or sometimes after Kathy and Tim were asleep, I would eat cereal, ice cream, whatever I could scrounge.  I don’t think I was hungry.  I think I was looking for a way to relax, much like an alcoholic with a drink.  This was the most difficult part for me – changing my late night snaking.  I bought bagged baby carrots and drank tea. 

Going to the weekly Weight Loss Support Group through my local MOMS Club also really helped.  We don’t always talk about food, but it was a way for me to feel accountable to someone outside of myself and also supported.  There were weeks when I overate and felt like “What’s the point?  I so screwed up!”, but going to the group gave me renewed energy. 

I also cooked one dinner for my family.  I think it’s important to eat the same thing as your family – not only does it save you time, but your family can start eating healthier.  I have cooked almost exclusively from Cooking Light magazine for the last seven years.  The recipes are healthy and delicious and don’t taste like “low-fat” cooking because they are not.  They are well-balanced meals – no diet gimmicks here - just a way to learn how to eat healthier for a slim, strong lifetime.

The first night I went to sleep not overeating, and not snaking after dinner, I felt so proud and in control.  And the more days went by, the better my body felt, better I felt about myself because I was no longer a slave to food, and the better my body looked.  I was able to start wearing some of my “skinny” clothes and that was amazing.  I realized how much I used to overeat when I noticed how my stomach no longer hurt after I ate.  I wasn’t stuffing myself.

Note that I didn’t deny myself anything.  If I wanted to an ice cream, I had an ice cream – I just wrote down the calories.  Soon I started to budget my calories much like my money.  I had 1500 calories a day to “spend.”  Did I want to eat French fries which would “cost” half of those calories?  There were times I did, and I just ate a small dinner, but my body didn’t feel as good post-French fry as it did post-salad (hold the dressing, because that is where the calories are in a salad.)

Twelve pounds later, I’m still counting calories.  I’d like to lose another 10 pounds or so before I get pregnant again.  I would really love to be one of those pregnant women who are slender with a bump.  I think this time around, I will be.