Friday, August 05, 2011

Reality check

As Emmett gets older and my body peters out on the nursing efforts, I am forced to face a harsh reality that I haven't had to deal with in over a year:

My horrible eating habits.

I'm not one that particularly enjoyed being pregnant, but there was one thing I enjoyed - for seven and a half months I didn't have to worry about sucking in my stomach once. It was AMAZING.

During pregnancy, it was whatever would go down my food-hole and stay there. One week I ate only poptarts. The next week it was spaghetti-o's and macaroni and cheese. For the duration of my pregnancy anything with complex flavors would turn my stomach. Mike and I joked that I had a limitation of 5 ingredients per dish. It would have been funnier if it hadn't been so true. As a result, I only gained ten pounds during my pregnancy - and that was when they weighed me at my check-in at the Women's Hospital triage with my coat and boots on.

The minute I was told I could eat after I gave birth, I asked someone to get me a sandwich. I was starving.

The next morning, I woke up and ordered what Mike refers to as "the left side of the menu." My appetite was back with force. I got a southwestern omelet, chocolate milk, regular milk, grapes, and a blueberry muffin. That was my breakfast each day I was in the hospital.

Once we got home I ate like a horse. I ate ten packs of fruit snacks a day. A lean cuisine was no longer a meal, but a paltry crappy snack. Emmett ate every three hours and so did I. I think the Eating through Evansville illustrates my maternity leave eating habits nicely.

When I went back to work it got a little better, at least with snacking all day long. Although lunches have been bad. We go to lunch together every day. About once a week it's to a bar with phenomenal burgers. I order a cheeseburger with a side of mayo, the fries with asiago cheese on them and a side of ranch to dip them in. Oh and once I ordered the queso dip to start it all off.

Luckily with all of this, my metabolism has been extra high with nursing and taking care of the bambino. Clothes that I haven't worn since before my wedding fit. I have a whole section of "fat clothes" I put away altogether. Some of the jeans that I couldn't fit into before I got pregnant have had to be washed and dried to even stay up, whereas I didn't dry my jeans EVER before I got pregnant. I had to start using some of my inventory of belts.

Alas, I believe those days are about over. The pants are getting tighter. Last night after a ridiculously meaty pizza I sat on the couch feeling extra fat. Seems that a few adjustments are in order.

Next week I start a few adjustments. I am no fool. I know with a baby and not much time to myself I need a FEW indulgences. So here are my simple cutbacks:
  • Breakfast - Do something reasonable. No more McDonald's sausage biscuits (only $1! McD's just TRIES to mess up my diet!) and no more Anaheim panini's from Corner Bakery (zomg these are so good).
  • Drinks - Nix the caloric drinks. I've gotten lax. I drink a vitamin water with 150 calories or fruit juice or the like. Drink lots of water and no-calorie tea
  • Sweets - Cut. It. Out. Eat more fruit and drop all the cookies. I eat a lot of cookies.
  • Snacks - Try to have healthier snacks. BBQ cheetos from the vending machine, while good, are not very healthy.
  • Consider nixing the fries with that. So sad. But I need to cut out having fries with every meal we eat out.
Basically I need to stop being ridiculous and eating as many calories a day as Michael Phelps. I am going to allow myself to go to lunch with the coworkers and have whatever I want. But I need to be reasonable for breakfast and MOST dinners.

I'm at a weight I like. My clothes fit and I feel OK. I could be WAY more toned and fit but for now with Emmett sleeping from 8PM to 5AM or so this is what it's going to be. Maybe if he starts sleeping a little later I could feel rested enough to work out. But that's not going to happen right now. So for now I just need to make sure I don't add on a ton of weight!! Cut it off at the pass, so to speak.

We'll see how it goes.

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