Help with the last 15lbs

[hippymama25]

I've been doing well losing the baby weight. I'm down to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I was 15 lbs "overweight" before I got pregnant and I'm trying to lose this now, but I seem stuck at this weight.

What I did to lose the baby weight is to eat all natural whole foods, no processed foods, no sugar, unlimited fruit/veggies, limited amounts of brown rice, quinoa, gluten free oats for breakfast, only gluten free bread a few times a week, so my carbs are a lot less as well. I eat meat, fish and eggs also. What else can I do to lost at least another 10 lbs? I feel like I'm eating so well and I feel good and I know this is the natural way I should be eating all the time, but I feel like I still have a little bit left to lose. I'm exercising moderately. Should I further limit my carbs? Oh, I also don't eat dairy and I try to limit gluten, because it makes me bloated. But, I probably do get a little bit of gluten because I don't examine every little spice, etc.

Should I change my breakfast to eggs instead of the gluten free oats? Are nuts a problem? I do eat walnuts and almonds throughout the day. What about dried fruits, do those added sugars, even if natural, cause weight gain?

[teastaigh]

Hi,

You are doing so many good things for yourself and your family! Way to go!!!

A few ideas ...

* Be sure to keep up your calories -- don't go under 1200 per day or it'll be tough to have adequate nutrition.

* Try to burn 400-500 calories per day with activity. This might be an hour, walking speedily each day or something that works for your lifestyle and personality. For me, it was walking outside combined with jumping rope and walking stairs in the house. My husband will point out that having sex 2-3 times per day could do this too. :)

* Lift weights 2 times or more a week, even just 15 minutes of light-arm exercises.

* Check your water. Are you drinking straight from the tap? Sometimes, people build-up too much chlorine in their bodies which robs their iodine receptor sites and prevents the thyroid from working optimally. The body is genius at healing itself, so sometimes a body will hold onto adipose tissue -- fat -- to store toxins. Increasing fiber and drinking filtered water and sweating each day should help.

* Sadly, you might want to limit your nuts to 1 ounce per day. While they are a nutritional power house, they are also densely caloric and full of excellent fat. This is pretty much one handful per day.

For me, nuts are my weight dial. I crank down and lose weight. You'll figure out what's right for you. I do think that it's personal. It helps some people to use free online trackers like livestrong.com whereas others do better with an unlimited healthy eating plan like Eat to Live. For me, it's very hard to calorie count because I cook all the time and love to eat and get restless at night, so exercise is golden.

Good luck!

peace,

teastaigh
 

[proudMoMmy2634]

I'm not familiar in counting carbs but my diet is as the saying

"In the morning, eat like a king

In the afternoon eat like a average person(I can't rember the exact word. kindly correct me if you know the word..LOL)

In the evening eat like a beggar"

Reason behind this is:

The food you eat in the morning will serve as the fuel of your body in which you will get your energy for your activities on that day.. So eating more in the morning is better.

Afternoon eating should be moderate.

Evening meal should be avoided or lessen depending in your preference...because foods taken in this time will not be used fully(you will be sleeping already so the foods that your body did not used will be saved as "FATS". (Just like cooking oil when its not heated it turns white)) And also when we are asleep only a small amount of energy is consumed by the body so excessive eating at night really causes "FATS".

Good thing about this diet:

Personally, the good thing in this diet is that when you started this routine you will feel the urge to eat more in the morning which is good.

Second, I used this to bring my abs. When I feel my abs is not in good shape I skip or lessen my evening meal. And this work in just few days, but if your just starting up maybe in 5-8 days. Good luck, Hope this helps!!!

[Amanda_Reyasmom]

I just wanted to ditto the previous poster about adding in strength training! It sounds like you've got a pretty clean diet already.  Check and make sure you're getting enough calories for sure.  Be sure to throw in some high calorie days too.  

If you're at your pre-pregnancy weight, it sounds like this is a weight your body is super comfortable at.  Breaking this won't be easy! I also really stress protein in the morning for my family, it seems like we all do better that way.  

For me personally, when I hit a plateau, I give myself a week of rest and eat higher calories, it is counter intuitive, but when I get back on the wagon, I get results.