Introduction

[KJ1978]

Hi all
 

I'm going to jump in on these boards and hopefully lose some weight with you all!  My name is Katie.  I am 41 years old.  I have struggled with my weight my entire life.  I am currently at my heaviest weight and truthfully am having a hard time motivating myself.  My family is going on a cruise at the end of February and I am attempting to use that as my motivation to get started.  I have the same challenges as I'm sure many of you do - work full time at a demanding job, young children at home, no time to meal plan, shop, cook, exercise etc.  In addition to this I have a 6 month old baby that I am currently nursing.  I know many women are able to drop weight very easily while nursing but I am not one of them.  I am also concerned about losing my milk supply if I diet too aggressively (sorry if that is TMI).  I have the Weight Watchers app on my phone.  I know if I follow it, it will work.  

[pacruise804]

Welcome Katie!  Please feel free to join the Thursday weigh-in threads for friendly support and accountability.  We generally share how much we gained/lost/maintained, not our actual weight - but feel free to share as much or as little as possible.

 

Congratulations on your newest little.  I nursed both my children and didn't necessarily drop weight, but did keep from gaining as much.  I think a key is food quality while nursing - I always wanted to give my babies the best nutrients while I was pregnant and nursing even if I didn't always care as much about taking care of myself.

 

I encourage you to try meal planning again, but keep it very simple.  Planning is one of the best ways for me to control my grocery bill and limit impulse buys, and many stores now have pick-up that could shave some time too.  For this stage in your life I would try coming up with maybe 10 easy meals, better if they can stretch, and rotating them through the month.  A friend recently talked about her house is always Taco Tuesday, Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup Wednesday, and Fend For Yourself Friday.  Keep it simple while life is in "survival mode" phase.  Purchasing pre-cut veggies and other shortcut items is still usually cheaper and healthier than eating out.  Progress, not perfection 🙂 

 

Exercise can be playing with your kids, walking the baby in a stroller, "extreme housecleaning": hurry as fast as you can for 10-15 minutes per room dusting & sweeping - it might not be perfect, but better than nothing.

 

Hope that helps.

[katmu]

Hi Katie-

 

Welcome to the group.  I think you will find us to be a supportive group.  Congratulations on your little one.  I do think the most important thing is to try to be consistent from week to week.

 

Kat

 

[KJ1978]

@pacruise804 - Thank you, those are all great suggestions.  "Progress not perfection" is such a good saying for me to try to remember.  I am so all or nothing that if it isn't perfect I get frustrated and derail myself.