My first week back on Weight Watchers is coming to a close, and I feel great! If you read any of my previous blog entries about Weight Watchers (before getting pregnant with Emrist), you’ll know that I said I had planned on doing it for life. Well I meant what I said, so here I am again.
A little fat refresher: Before I got pregnant with Harper, I weighed 265 pounds. On the day Harper was born, I was close to, if not over, 300 pounds. That was a scary moment for me. I dropped 40 pounds immediately following his birth, and in the months afterwards, I gained 10 of those back. I joined Weight Watchers in July of 2011 and had hoped to get down to 180 pounds (or maybe it was 200? I can’t remember…) before getting pregnant again.
As it turns out though, someone had different plans. And I’m pretty happy about those different plans because I love my little dragon girl! I found out about our surprise baby the day before April Fools of last year – how appropriate! I can’t remember for sure, but I think I was around 220 pounds at that point.
I started gaining weight almost immediately with Emrist, whereas with Harper, I gained everything in the last three months. I knew this weight gain would be different, and that it would likely stick around after her birth, but I tried not to worry about it.
I did lose 20 lbs after her birth. However, over the following weeks, I started slowly putting weight back on again. I couldn’t really figure out why since I was breastfeeding. I had been told that breastfeeding mothers need 300-500 extra calories a day to maintain a healthy milk supply. Since I’m still breastfeeding and pumping, I’ve been making sure to eat those extra calories every day. Cookie? Don’t mind if I do!
Well last week, I was astonished to see the scale hit 252 pounds when I stepped on it. I had gained 10 pounds since Em’s birth! Ummmm, so not cool. I decided then that it was time to hop back on the Weight Watchers train.
On my first day back, I asked a breastfeeding/Weight Watchers question on Facebook. One of my friends informed me that you’re only supposed to have 20 extra calories per ounce you make. Well. That explains why I started gaining so much weight right after Em’s birth! I only produce two ounces of breast milk a day – so I only needed 40 extra calories a day. Not 300-500. Oops.
So here I am, one week later and I’m down five pounds.
Ahhhh. Now that’s more like it!
In addition to doing Weight Watchers, Benji and I have also given up eating processed foods for Lent. And we’re exercising every day: he’s training for another 5k and I’m exercising because it gives me a 30 minute break from motherhood…and it makes me feel good. Anyways, I think the combination of these three things is why I dropped so much in the first week.
I expect the weight loss to slow down within the next week or two. I’m still hoping to get down to 180 eventually, but I’m in no real hurry to get there. The main thing I want out of this is to just feel better, and I already do. So that’s that!
Wild & Wrecked 