Time to stand up and be counted...

[himom]

I confess I have avoided this folder because it made me feel guilty. I was ignoring the fact that I really have to lose some weight. However, I really want to have another baby and I've been advised it's not a good idea until I slim down a little. So here I am!

I hope you all don't mind -- I'm not completely sure how this forum works -- but I'm going to lay out everything in minute detail so that I'm forced to deal with it.

GOAL: TTC goal will be 25 pounds by June 1. Does that sound reasonable? I've been told that 1-2 pounds a week is a good way to achieve a steady, permanent weight loss. If achieved I get to toss my birth control. :) Ultimate goal: lose an addition 13 pounds after that to get down to my perfect weight.

Motivation: I want another baby! DS is getting so big and I don't want to space my kids too far apart. Time is ticking, and I need to get moving. Other factors -- I weigh more than my dad. I weigh more than my brother. That's just WRONG. Must diet now!

Foreseeable problems:

1) Lack of exercise time.
I'm a DAHM - day at home mom. I stay home with DS during the day then hand him off to his dad and head off to an evening job. I get home very, very late and DS gets up very early, so I catch up on sleep by napping with him. This means I have almost no child-free time, so squeezing in exercise is going to be a chore. Any suggestions would be great!

2) Need to find nutritious, cheap, portable, easy to make meals.
Our budget is so tight it squeaks, so we often subsist on some rather cheap, not-so-good-for-you foods. Hey, a package of ramen is a great meal and can be had for $.37! Also, as mentioned above, I don't have a whole lot of time to cook and I eat dinner at work.

3) I get home late and I'm always hungry.
I end up eating when I get home from work then heading off to bed. This is a habit I must break. It's midnight now and ever since I typed the above paragraph I'm craving ramen noodles. :)

Okay, that's it for now. Off to bed. Please send me tough love emails if you don't see me here reporting in.

Anybody interested in partnering up? 25 pounds in 20 weeks? Anyone? Anyone?

Thanks,
Jodi

[egoldber]

I just wanted to give you my encouragement! I lost 27 pounds in 6 months last year, by a combination of diet modification and exercise. You can do it too!!!!

[psophia17]

You can do it!!! I'd say that I would be your partner in this, but I know that an actual time limit will derail me completely, so I've got to say now. But I know that 25 lbs can be lost in 20 weeks...I know a couple of people that have done it, and you can too! In the meantime, I have some suggestions for you:

>1) Lack of exercise time. Any suggestions would be great!
Find something that you can do with DS - I just got back from an outdoor parent & tot workout - it's an hour or moderate exercise, and is pretty fun. It also knocks DS out for a couple of hours afterwards (or so it seems) so you could get your needed sleep. Before the holidays, I did waterbabies with him. I am both poor and cheap, so my motivation is to pay for it. The stroller workout is $37/12 week, or about $3 per session - I'm poor, but I can swing $3 a week with no problem. I won't just go for an hourlong walk because it's easier not to...but if I've already paid for it, well, gosh darn it, I'm going because otherwise I'm losing money, KWIM?

>2) Need to find nutritious, cheap, portable, easy to make
>meals.
If you're eating the correct portion size, you can make almost anything healthy. Make your ramen noodles and add frozen veggies (peas, broccoli, corn, whatever) to the broth part. One $.37 container of noodles is now two ore meals, depending on how many veggies you've added. Stick 1.5 cups (or less) of the mix in a container and bring it to work. On WW, veggies are 0 points, and if you fill up on them you won't be hungry. If you add a cup or so of frozen veggies to whatever it is you make (pasta, pizza, ramen, etc.) you're upping the nutritional value and lowering the amount of empty calories you can eat. Drink water, not juice, soda, coffee, tea...water is no calories and filling. Also, drink broth. It's got calories in it, but you'll feel full because it's warm, and salt has no calories while sugar has lots of empty ones.

>3) I get home late and I'm always hungry.
I almost always eat a piece of toast with a thin layer of peanut butter if I'm really hungry but don't want to eat. Carbs and protein and fat, but one slice of bread with a little PB is only 3 pts, which isn't so bad. If you're really hungry, think about doing that. I also like rice cakes with PB, but you need more PB to make them palateable ;)

HTH!!

[himom]

Ooh, good suggestions. I like veggies, thank goodness, so adding a lot of them in will help.

Thanks to both of you for the encouragement!

I'm thinking of joining Weight Watchers Online. Heading over the to website now...


Jodi

[psophia17]

After typing my reply to you last week, I got a crazy craving for ramen, so I've been following my own advice. So far, the best veggies to add have been green and yellow beans (I buy the frozen mix) and spinach (I used 1/3 of the frozen block for one serving).

Here's the recipe I've been using:
Put 1 cup frozen veggies and some red pepper flakes directly into 2 cups of water on stove and bring to a boil.
Add 1/2 a block ramen noodles, boil for 3 minutes
Drain most of the liquid off, leaving 1/2 - 1 cup
Stir in seasoning packet to taste (I've always thought a whole packet was too much).

I've calculated it out, and this is 4-5 points, very filling, and I can get two meals out of one block of noodles. I especially like the spinach version - it's so good!