Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Back on the Wagon

Remember how my clinic has a BMI limit in order to do treatments (44 for IUI; 42 for IVF)?

Remember how I changed my eating habits, started exercising regularly, did yoga and acupuncture and even did a detox diet to get down to the limit?

Remember how I was successful at that?

I wound up losing about 25 pounds between June 2008 and March 2009. I gained it all back within 3 months, so at the time of the miscarriage I was back to the starting point. I gained it all back because I allowed myself "some slack" (read: ate everything in sight and stopped exercising regularly). I don't do well with slack.

I'm back on the wagon now. I'm exercising daily (getting up early and walking for 30 minutes) and I'm eating healthfully. For me, I've found the easiest way to get back to eating healthfully is to change what I eat for breakfast. Instead of egg and cheese on a bagel/toast with a cup of coffee, I switch to Fage (Greek yogurt) with berries and nuts with a cup of tea.

What I eat for dinner has generally not been a problem, I eat pretty healthfully at dinner most days. I just try to make an extra effort to incorporate more veggies into whatever entree we're having.

Snacking has also not been a problem for me. I usually only have a snack in the late afternoon, and that's a cup of tea. If I need more, I'll have a Luna bar or a piece of fruit/veggies and some nuts.

Lunch is hard for me to change. I love sandwiches. Love them. Love, love, love them. I'm finally getting to a point where I'm just yielding myself to the fact that I have to eat a salad at lunch. A big salad with lots of veggies and a chicken breast or salmon fillet, but nonetheless, a salad. I'll have a cup of broth-based soup (chicken or vegetable) to go with it too.

The other thing that I'm doing is logging my food and my exercise. Once I've got the log more established, I'll show you what I'm doing.

I've already lost 6 pounds and I only have 7 more to go to get to the IUI limit. Of course, I'm hoping that all my healthy choices equal more pounds lost, so that I never have to go through this BS again, but we're thinking baby steps here.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way to go Jen! You're so going to do it :)

xxx

S said...

Congratulations on your losses so far! It's so frustrating that it takes time and effort to lose weight and very little time and effort to regain!

I am also "back on track" as of yesterday, not because I need to be for treatment but because a BMI of 36 is just not healthy.

Megan said...

One thing I've started doing is I make all of my salads for the week in individual plastic containers on Sunday afternoon. I even put my dressing in five little plastic cups. That way in the morning I just grab and go...no excuses. I've started doing the same thing with my mid-morning fruit snack...cutting up melon and putting it into five individual containers.

I've stuck with this for over two months now and the extra veg during the day is so much more invigorating that the Lean Cuisines I used to eat because they were so easy.

Good luck. Change happens one step at a time!!!

Liddy said...

Way to go Jen! Good luck on the other seven.

HUGS!

Suzy, Not a Fertile Myrtle said...

Way to go! Good luck with everything!

Unknown said...

Yay you! You know what I found? When I was on ww they had soem bread that was one point for two slices? It was super expensive, until I realized the local store brand was the friggin same point value!
I also found that if I shove my salad into a low cal wrap, it is not as bad and it is kinda like a snadwich.

Anonymous said...

Woohoo--way to go! Losing weight is SUCH hard work, and keeping it off is even harder. I'll be following a very similar plan in a few months. :)

You go, girl!

battynurse said...

Good for you. After my last IVF I gained like 20 pounds which was seriously depressing. I hate the constant weight battle.

calliope said...

awesome work!!! very inspiring.
(of course it sucks that your clinic has BMI limits...)

Katie said...

You are very inspiring. Best wishes to you!!

Clare said...

Wow you have great discipline! Wishing you all the best with the baby steps!!

Anonymous said...

congratulations on your progress - that is really inspiring - it sounds like you are making really good choices. good luck with the next 7!

'Murgdan' said...

Good job, woman!

Io said...

Dude, I had to groan at the baby steps pun. So loudly it made my startled dog start barking.
It's so easy to fall off on stuff like eating right - good for you getting back on! Now kick ass and lose that 7!

Jessica White said...

That's AWESOME! CONGRATS! I find that I lose it the most during lunch time too...or afternoon snacking because I didn't eat a decent lunch.

Keep up the good work!