But the time has come, I believe, to count those calories. I've been working out an hour a day 6 days a week for nearly 3 weeks. And the scale...is not budging. The inches are slowly but surely dropping off, but that scale... I know most people will suggest not using the scale at all, and I totally get why. I'm just not sure I can let it go.
One of the reasons that number on the scale is so significant is because I do not want to go into my OB's office again anywhere near the weight I was when I began both of my pregnancies. Which is only slightly more than I am now. Max is almost a year old, and we're starting to pray about #3. I can't do another pregnancy this heavy. I just can't. I'm feeling immense pressure (of my own making, of course) to see the number go down. It's also dragging me down to a bad place mentally....a place of discouragement, and "why the hell should I care?" After all, I'm working my ass off and my body's saying, "yeah, so?"
It's a dangerous place for me. I've come to recognize these emotions as the last ones before I give up. I can't do that this time. I can't fail again. Because honestly I don't know if I'll ever try again.
Anyway, let's reroute back to the original topic, yes? Max weaned himself and last week was the last time I nursed him. Nursing needs extra calories, so restriction isn't usually a good idea. But I don't have that excuse anymore. So, counting it is, I guess. I HATE counting calories. It's tedious, restrictive, and I'm usually hungry as hell. It doesn't do much to bolster my mood.
I feel like I've managed to stay pretty cheerful up until now...it's frustrating to arrive at this place mentally. I know I'm on the brink. Anyone have any better ideas?
I'm in the same place. I need to start watching what I eat. I'm going to be doing Atkins because it works for me. I personally stay away from ANYTHING that says low-fat or fat-free. Lower fat means higher sugar, just read the labels. Sugar is my downfall. Low-carb works for me.
ReplyDelete*Remember you're gaining muscle with all of that working out you're doing, so you ARE losing weight, it's just turning into something else! Believe those inches, they're proof that you're getting somewhere!
ReplyDeleteI've been down this road, and I did the Slow Carb Diet for a couple of months (think Atkins modified, it is a challenge to stick to but it's easy once you get into the groove).
Essentially it's going to cut out Carbs (except beans, lots and lots and lots of beans are required! Atkins is really bad on your liver because you eliminate all carbs), no dairy, no sugar, no fruit (I hated that one, but there's so much sugar in fruit, that your body burns instead of the fat). The things you go nuts for and literally eat as much as you want are veggies, beans and meat/eggs. All for 6 days a week, then there's that glorious cheat day when you eat WHATEVER you want! Counting calories is brutal and cutting things out of your diet entirely make you one crazy b*tch when you crave it so much and can't ever have it! I found that knowing I had a cheat day coming up made it so much easier for me to be able to laugh at cereal and bread and ice cream every other day of the week. It really worked well for me. Now we're to the point that we've started eating carbs and such again but in much smaller quantities and we've trained ourselves not to eat so much processed food and that alone will make you feel like a CHAMP! If you want more info, it's in Tim Ferris' book "The Four Hour Body".
I also tried supplements from Advocare that made me feel like a million bucks and I think really helped re-set my metabolism! If you want more info on those let me know!
I need to comment really quick. If Atkins is done correctly it is great. You don't cut out carbs all together. You cut out bad carbs. It's not bad for your liver if you follow the lifestyle correctly. You get all your necessary carbs from good sources mainly vegetables, nuts, etc. A lot of people don't read the book and therefore don't do the Atkins lifestyle correctly, if you're interested in it then read the book and learn to do it properly. It's a very healthy choice.
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