New mom, weight loss, and meal planning

[UbiCaritas]

Ok, CAFers, I need to pick your collective brains!

My doctor has told me that he’d like to see me lose about 50 pounds. With DD’s pregnancy, I was borderline gestational-diabetic, and especially given my family’s history of diabetes, I want to avoid it partly by losing some weight.

Please note that I’m not asking for medical advice, just meal ideas.

I’m running into real problems with making balanced and healthy meals, mostly time-related. I’m the mom of an 8-month old who, like most of that breed, has little patience for mom spending her awake time doing something other than playing/interacting with her. In any case, it’s not safe to cook while a baby’s crawling underfoot.

I want to eat low-but-balanced carb to try to keep my blood sugar in check, but I also need to restrict calories or I don’t lose weight. Believe me, I did low-carb for a year and lost all of five pounds. Felt good because of balanced blood sugar, but I need to lose a lot more weight than that. To lose a pound or pound and a half a week, I need to keep my calories to 1200 per day.

A problem I run into is that I get very stressed trying to figure out what I can cook and eat in a short time, don’t eat until two in the afternoon, and then my blood sugar is so low that I inhale a bunch of empty carbs, get angry and discouraged (“I fasted all morning just to screw it up like this?!”) and then eat a bad dinner. Not good.

So…what to eat, especially for breakfast and lunch, that’s both low-carb and fairly low-calorie?

I thought that I could keep some hardboiled eggs, carrot and celery sticks, and string cheese in the refrigerator and incorporate them as snacks, plus use the eggs for part of a breakfast and in a lunchtime salad. That frankly sounds pretty boring as a food mainstay, though, so…any other ideas?

 

[EnglishTeacher]

Trim Healthy Mama is seriously the best weight-loss plan ever. It is about balanced nutrition, high protein, and balanced carb levels to keep your blood sugar at optimal levels and promote your overall health. You don’t really have to worry about restricting calories, either, so you don’t feel hungry while on the plan. Here is their website: trimhealthymama.com/

They have a ton of recipes in the book, and you can also get many recipes on the Facebook group and also (I’m sure) on Pinterest.

I lost weight on their plan, and so did my sister, who had been through a couple of pregnancies and who had tried every other diet. It’s worth checking out!

 

[Xantippe]

Ok, CAFers, I need to pick your collective brains!

My doctor has told me that he’d like to see me lose about 50 pounds. With DD’s pregnancy, I was borderline gestational-diabetic, and especially given my family’s history of diabetes, I want to avoid it partly by losing some weight.

Please note that I’m not asking for medical advice, just meal ideas.

I’m running into real problems with making balanced and healthy meals, mostly time-related. I’m the mom of an 8-month old who, like most of that breed, has little patience for mom spending her awake time doing something other than playing/interacting with her. In any case, it’s not safe to cook while a baby’s crawling underfoot.

I want to eat low-but-balanced carb to try to keep my blood sugar in check, but I also need to restrict calories or I don’t lose weight. Believe me, I did low-carb for a year and lost all of five pounds. Felt good because of balanced blood sugar, but I need to lose a lot more weight than that. To lose a pound or pound and a half a week, I need to keep my calories to 1200 per day.

Eeeeek!

A problem I run into is that I get very stressed trying to figure out what I can cook and eat in a short time, don’t eat until two in the afternoon, and then my blood sugar is so low that I inhale a bunch of empty carbs, get angry and discouraged (“I fasted all morning just to screw it up like this?!”) and then eat a bad dinner. Not good.

So…what to eat, especially for breakfast and lunch, that’s both low-carb and fairly low-calorie?

I thought that I could keep some hardboiled eggs, carrot and celery sticks, and string cheese in the refrigerator and incorporate them as snacks, plus use the eggs for part of a breakfast and in a lunchtime salad. That frankly sounds pretty boring as a food mainstay, though, so…any other ideas?

It’s a very good start. I would suggest adding a few nuts to your rotation, plus hummus, plus stocking good salad dressings. A personal favorite is Kraft’s Asian toasted sesame. A chipotle-flavored hot sauce or some nice salsas might be good, too (I like La Costena’s salsa ranchera). It all depends on your tastes, but I think stronger flavored stuff is a better friend to the dieter. A box of spinach or similar is nice to keep at home. Ditto cherry tomatoes and baby carrots (cucumbers are good, too, but require more work). I also like the Greek-yogurt based dips for veggies (the dill is a favorite). You’ll notice that a lot of this stuff is not budget friendly…If you have a Panera’s in your area, I love their salads. 1/2 of their chicken avocado Cobb salad is around 300 calories…

I had gestational diabetes my last pregnancy, was a very good diabetic (i.e. half-starved), and wound up 20 pounds less than my pre-pregnancy weight for that pregnancy. Yay, me! Then I lost another 8 pounds by the time I bottomed out at about 8 or 9 months postpartum, thanks to breastfeeding and lots of walking (so a loss of 28 pounds total at that point). That’s the good news. The bad news is that as soon as I started weaning, I started gaining about a pound a week, and it took me starting to calorie count (a first) to stop the trend. Oh, and I’ve had some foot injuries that keep me from walking as much as I did previously. So, that leaves me as of today (2 years postpartum) at 12 pounds less than my last pre-pregnancy weight, with 70+ pounds to lose.

Short version–beware weaning and beware exercise injuries.

 

[Xantippe]

I suggest more snacking, too, to avoid the blood sugar crashes.

Panera’s cheesy Asiago bagels are a nice ready-made snack (the cheese is in the bagel!). I eat 1/2 as a snack (the 1/2 is 160+ calories) and give half to the baby. You can get a baker’s dozen of huge bagels for $6.99 on Tuesday, at least where we are.

 

[pianistclare]

I suggest more snacking, too, to avoid the blood sugar crashes.

Panera’s cheesy Asiago bagels are a nice ready-made snack (the cheese is in the bagel!). I eat 1/2 as a snack (the 1/2 is 160+ calories) and give half to the baby. You can get a baker’s dozen of huge bagels for $6.99 on Tuesday, at least where we are.

Love the Tuesday special! YES!

 

[UbiCaritas]

Loving the suggestions so far–keep 'em coming!

I’m currently five pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight, which sounds a lot more awesome than it is. By a week after I had DD, I was within a half a pound of my pre-pregnancy weight. Five pounds’ weight loss over eight months, while better than the opposite, of course, is still not particularly impressive.

Cheese and bagels…two of my very favorite foods…

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

I suggest more snacking, too, to avoid the blood sugar crashes.

Panera’s cheesy Asiago bagels are a nice ready-made snack (the cheese is in the bagel!). I eat 1/2 as a snack (the 1/2 is 160+ calories) and give half to the baby. You can get a baker’s dozen of huge bagels for $6.99 on Tuesday, at least where we are.

I think I saw you post about these in another thread… I love those. True story: my OB is about 40 away from home, but near a Panera (and the two closest Panera’s are about 40 min away). I purposefully scheduled my OB appt’s for Tuesday’s so I could go by Panera afterwards and get a baker’s dozen (mostly Asiago, some Cinamon Crunch and some other flavors sometimes).
I don’t know if I could recommend it for someone trying to lose weight, though … I think it had the opposite effect on me (haha, ok maybe I would not limit myself to half a day).

ETA: I literally just got up to get some eggs out of the oven. You can google: Scrambled Egg Muffins. There are many variations you can do (we do them plain, with turkey sausage, without scrambling, hot sauce, salt and pepper etc…). I really like them for busy morning breakfasts for the kids and for myself. They are high in protein, and you can add cheese/milk if wanted and veggies if you like.

It can be helpful to make yourself a list of foods you can eat (I did the weight watcher points) and have it on the fridge with the allotted calories or points or whatever and what a serving size would be, and then you can have a journal on the fridge where you write what you eat and you can keep track that way. That helped me with one postpartum weight-loss.

 

[Xantippe]

Back in my gestational diabetic days, I generally had one of the following on me at all times: a few crackers plus walnuts, one mini-bagel plus some sunflower seeds, etc. At home, I often snacked on some peanut butter and a few wheat thins. Starch plus fat/protein, fat/protein plus starch. I would also have some Greek yogurt plus some fruit.

Oh, and I’d add avocadoes to the list of good salad fixings. Some for baby, some for you!

One of the things I’ve been trying to unlearn is the fat-phobia that comes naturally to me as an 80s kid. It kills me, but I’m starting to put 2% milk in my coffee after years of keeping only skim milk at home and I’m starting to buy 1% milk. There are some very counter-intuitive research results for skim milk versus fattier milk:

“Not only will low-fat milk fail to trim your gut, it might even make you fatter than if you were to drink whole, according to one large study. In 2005, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and other institutions studied the weight and milk consumption of 12,829 kids ages 9 to 14 from across the country. “Contrary to our hypothesis,” they reported, “skim and 1% milk were associated with weight gain, but dairy fat was not.””

details.com/fashion-style/the-body/201105/skim-milk-non-fat-milk-diet-foods

!!!

I’ve done some experiments on myself at home, and my guess is that the problem is that skim milk is 1) pretty close calorically to whole milk but 2) much, much less satisfying. I put a little whole milk in my coffee and I feel like I’ve actually eaten, but I find that drinking coffee with skim milk and artificial sweetener actually makes me hungrier than I was before, so it’s to be avoided. Your results may vary, of course.

On general principle, I avoid low-versions of stuff, and just try to eat smaller amounts of actually satisfying food.

We keep dark chocolate at home. The great virtue of it is that you can break off exactly a square, and you know exactly how much it is (70 calories).

I’m not really walking the walk right now, but I have a general idea how it’s done and my weight is stable (a big stable, but stable).

Best wishes!

 

[Xantippe]

I think I saw you post about these in another thread… I love those. True story: my OB is about 40 away from home, but near a Panera (and the two closest Panera’s are about 40 min away). I purposefully scheduled my OB appt’s for Tuesday’s so I could go by Panera afterwards and get a baker’s dozen (mostly Asiago, some Cinamon Crunch and some other flavors sometimes).
I don’t know if I could recommend it for someone trying to lose weight, though … I think it had the opposite effect on me (haha, ok maybe I would not limit myself to half a day).

My OB/GYN and pediatrician’s are also near a Panera’s. Could it be a conscious business strategy?

I buy on Tuesday, freeze them that night, and then dole them out through the week.

 

[Xantippe]

It can be helpful to make yourself a list of foods you can eat (I did the weight watcher points) and have it on the fridge with the allotted calories or points or whatever and what a serving size would be, and then you can have a journal on the fridge where you write what you eat and you can keep track that way. That helped me with one postpartum weight-loss.

Yes, it’s nice to have a list of favorites where you know exactly how much they “cost.”

 

[Xantippe]

This is another potentially food budget blowing item, but I have to give a plug to “interesting” cheeses (for instance to use in salads). The stronger the flavor is, the less you need to use of it. Our big HEB has a huge cheese section with bizarre but delicious cheese varieties.

Oh, and packaged cheese sticks are great for dieters. You get exactly 50 or 70 or however many calories per stick. (I think the Weight Watchers ones are 50, which is easy to calculate.)

 

[gardenswithkids]

I don’t open threads about weight loss and meal planning expecting to find myself tempted by Panera! You people are mean–don’t you know I’m on a diet?!

Like someone else here, I gained weight after I weaned my child. I lost some of it, then regained it and more. I decided a few months ago to get serious about losing it. I’m about half way to my goal. :dancing:

Meal planning for my family complicates my weight loss efforts. I find it helpful to sometimes substitute a frozen meal like Lean Cuisine for the meals that the rest of my family eats. You can also freeze your own portion control meals from left-overs. But be careful not to become your family’s garbage disposal. Eating large amounts of left-overs just because I don’t want to throw food out contributed to my gaining weight. When I want to lose weight, I stay away from high calorie foods–even if they are otherwise healthful, like cheese and avocado. Salads may seems like a good choice when trying to lose weight, but watch the dressings and other high calorie salad ingredients. Before I eat anything (when paying attention to my weight), I ask myself, “Is it worth the calories?”

 

[pensmama87]

I really like the above ideas for food.

I will say, though, that for me the weight really didn’t start coming off, even if I was doing really well food-wise, until I got doing some serious exercise (added benefit is that I can eat and not feel like I’m starving, but still lose weight.)

Do you know MyFitnessPal.com? I love that for calorie counting. Everything is on there, and you can put in your own recipes.

When you do have time to cook, I would suggest cooking double (or triple) and freezing. It adds a little to your prep time and cleanup for that session, but then saves you that time next time around. Or do your prep in bits and stages - I normally do things like chop veggies when kids are snacking or napping, even when it’s several hours before dinner time.

How are beans for your dietary restrictions? There are really yummy Internet recipes for veggie burgers that are filling and tasty, My favorite is with lentils and chickpeas, but you can also find black bean burgers. Most of them are freezable, too, which makes for a quick lunch. Or a pre-assembled quesadilla with lots of veggies.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

So…what to eat, especially for breakfast and lunch, that’s both low-carb and fairly low-calorie?
?

Breakfast: porridge (oats) cooked in water with a pinch of salt, add honey and berries afterwards. It will keep you full and it isn’t too bad in terms of calorie count. Grapefruit tends to keep me full, and sometimes that is all I eat for breakfast.

Lunch: meat or fish (grilled) and steamed/ boiled vegetables. Olive oil makes everything taste nice I think, and it isn’t a bad type of fat.

 

[petitfleur]

Two thoughts here one is My Fitness Pal which has an enormous data base and makes counting calories easy. Also you might be stunned at how many calories you can eat and still lose weight.
The second route is called www.nosdiet.com I like the second one myself it took a while to get it right but I dont think about food or dieting at all anymore. I used to spend way too much time thinking about diet.

 

[Xantippe]

Breakfast: porridge (oats) cooked in water with a pinch of salt, add honey and berries afterwards. It will keep you full and it isn’t too bad in terms of calorie count. Grapefruit tends to keep me full, and sometimes that is all I eat for breakfast.

Lunch: meat or fish (grilled) and steamed/ boiled vegetables. Olive oil makes everything taste nice I think, and it isn’t a bad type of fat.

To my ex-gestational diabetic ear, that breakfast sounds a little carby, while the lunch sounds like it needs more carbs, but if it works for you, great.

When I was gestational diabetic, I discovered that my usual modest serving of oatmeal would spike my blood sugar, even with walnuts on top. So I went to having one microwaved egg (I can’t totally recommend the texture of that, but it was good nutritionally) plus a microscopic portion of oatmeal with nuts. The calories on that shouldn’t be too bad–a large egg is about 80 calories. Now that I’m done with the GD, I prepare 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal (and I do measure it) and then sprinkle it lightly with nuts and add a light splash of milk. The 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal is about 150 calories. I need to start measuring the nuts and milk, but I’ve been working on the assumption that it adds up to about 200 calories, which is probably an underestimate.

Needless to say, all of this precise lab-like measuring and recording of food items does not combine well with baby or childcare. I do my breakfast while encouraging my big kids to get ready for school while baby is still in bed.

On reflection, a previous poster’s advice to use exercise sounds like a really good idea–1200 calories a day is grim. I just looked it up, and Auschwitz inmates with light duties were supposed to get 1300 calories a day.

 

[Xantippe]

I know there are more sophisticated devices, but an inexpensive pedometer can be a great tool. I wore one for a number of months that coincided with my best recent weight.

The pedometer is psychologically very helpful, because the normal thing to do is to economize on motion and activity. The pedometer reverses that motivation and makes extra trips or longer walks more rewarding. I was very surprised how many steps a trip to a big store generates. (I’ve had to dial back the walking due to foot injury, but it was great when I could.)

 

[HopenHappiness]

Besides just dieting, you need to get moving and burn those calories. Journaling everything you eat is a great idea because it shows you where your calories are going. Also keep away from the sugar substitutes, they will keep your weight on also. You also have to look at this as a lifestyle change, you can lose all the weight in the world but if you go back to your old habits you will gain it all back.

 

[Xantippe]

Besides just dieting, you need to get moving and burn those calories. Journaling everything you eat is a great idea because it shows you where your calories are going. Also keep away from the sugar substitutes, they will keep your weight on also. You also have to look at this as a lifestyle change, you can lose all the weight in the world but if you go back to your old habits you will gain it all back.

I’m not sure it’s clear what the mechanics of it are, but there have been repeated research studies that suggest that diet soda is just as fattening as plain soda.

today.com/health/no-seriously-diet-sodas-are-terrible-you-too-4B11200933

"What seems to be the best scientific explanation, Swithers says, is that “artificial sweeteners fail to produce the responses your body expects to produce when you taste sweet things.” She writes in her review that sweet tastes send a signal to your gut that something high calorie is on its way. Your gut anticipates this high level of energy, but when it doesn’t arrive (artificial sweeteners have no calories), your gut doesn’t utilize the food efficiently. And that causes a cascading effect that interferes with your body’s hunger signals.

“Swithers says that animal studies have also shown that artificial sweeteners interfere with your body’s production of a hormone called GLP-1. It’s a hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels and your feelings of satiety. It’s also been shown to protect your heart, she adds. “We can’t say with 100-percent certainty that GLP-1 plays a role,” she says, “but when people get artificial sweeteners, they’re not releasing things like GLP-1.””

“Ironically, increases in consumption of these sweeteners has increased in lock-step with obesity rates over the past 40 years.”

!!!

They don’t mention this in the article, but one thought that comes to mind is that it might be possible to neutralize the bad effect on appetite of diet soda by having it with meals rather than as a stand-alone item.

 

[UbiCaritas]

I’m not sure it’s clear what the mechanics of it are, but there have been repeated research studies that suggest that diet soda is just as fattening as plain soda.

today.com/health/no-seriously-diet-sodas-are-terrible-you-too-4B11200933

"What seems to be the best scientific explanation, Swithers says, is that “artificial sweeteners fail to produce the responses your body expects to produce when you taste sweet things.” She writes in her review that sweet tastes send a signal to your gut that something high calorie is on its way. Your gut anticipates this high level of energy, but when it doesn’t arrive (artificial sweeteners have no calories), your gut doesn’t utilize the food efficiently. And that causes a cascading effect that interferes with your body’s hunger signals.

“Swithers says that animal studies have also shown that artificial sweeteners interfere with your body’s production of a hormone called GLP-1. It’s a hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels and your feelings of satiety. It’s also been shown to protect your heart, she adds. “We can’t say with 100-percent certainty that GLP-1 plays a role,” she says, “but when people get artificial sweeteners, they’re not releasing things like GLP-1.””

“Ironically, increases in consumption of these sweeteners has increased in lock-step with obesity rates over the past 40 years.”

!!!

They don’t mention this in the article, but one thought that comes to mind is that it might be possible to neutralize the bad effect on appetite of diet soda by having it with meals rather than as a stand-alone item.

I drink soda perhaps two or four times a year, and then it’s going to be either a glass-bottled classic Coke at Christmas (yes, it tastes different–and better–made with sugar rather than HFCS) or a fountain classic Coke some summer day. You’ll take my rare-yet-delicious classic Cokes when you pry 'em from my cold, dead fingers!

I grew up never drinking water, and drank only diet soda after I was about twelve–think a liter or two a day. cringes When I was in college, I decided to stop drinking soda except for a rare treat (see above) and substituted drinking about 100 oz of water every day instead. That sounds like a lot, but it seems to work well for me. Leaving aside anything else, I’ve had a UTI exactly once in my life, and that shortly after having DD. I also used to have really bad skin problems, but don’t anymore. I can’t swear that it’s the water that did it, but I’m sure it can’t hurt.

I do like a beer a few times a week after DD goes to bed, and will need to learn how to budget that into a lower-calorie diet.

Interestingly enough, diet soda just tastes nasty to me now that I don’t drink it much and have the “real thing” only once in a very great while.