

We found out we were pregnant at the end of January. So after eating my way through all the holiday festivities, my pregnancy started out with me already being 10ish pounds over my normal weight.
Add in what felt like being nauseous for 9 months and eating being the only thing that made me feel better, once I had Amelia I had probably gained another 12 pounds throughout my pregnancy. (I had Haagen-Dazs salted caramel ice cream fully stocked in our freezer for my nightly cup with vanilla cupcake goldfish, such a good combo!)
My usual way of losing weight, normally before our summer vacation, was 1400 calorie low carb diet and working out 4-5 days a week. I would always lose the weight I needed to, but this would without fail every single time lead to a starve-binge-repeat cycle.
The cycle got me to where I wanted to be
for my wedding, but it didn't last long.

Gross story: I ended up puking our wedding night because after our appetizers, main course, and dessert at our wedding, we went to the venue next door after the reception who gave us tons of food since the kitchen was closing, and then I ate some more of the leftovers that was given to us once we got back to our room, romantic!)
1400 calories and lower carb was clearly not enough for my body’s needs and after a week of restricting I'd binge on multiple bowls of cereal, cookies, doughnuts, pancake etc. All the sugary filled carbs I could get my hands on! I'd feel disgusting the next day, my stomach hated me too. I'd normally restrict my calories even more and the process started all over again.
Once we were on vacation, I would go crazy after months of restricting myself (1000 calorie cheesecake slices after a huge dinner or fresh beignets plus snacking all day!) and easily gain 10 pounds in a 2 week vacation. Clothes that I fit in when the vacation started no longer fit me at the end of it, extreme eating that added to the yo-yo cycle.
(Try the salted caramel cheesecake from Cheesecake factory, could be my all time favorite dessert!)


My monkey bread welcoming to Seattle!

When I was finally in the right frame of mind to get back on track after baby, I wanted to start cutting back on the processed junk, limit the nightly ice cream and eat more veggies which I know always help keep me filled up and my blood sugars level.
Since I was breastfeeding I knew I couldn't restrict calories or carbs too low because I didn't want to risk affecting my supply, this 100% helped me get into a healthier mind set because restricting too low was not an option.

Having a treadmill and weights at home has also helped make working out easier, but now that I'm back to work and Amelia is still waking up numerous times a night, most of the time I'm too exhausted to even think about exercise which is where a healthier diet becomes even more important.
I usually feed Amelia her dinner once ours is ready too, so I just about get through my salad by the time she is finished with her dinner which naturally has already started filling me up by the time I get to my meat and vegetables. This has naturally been a big helper for me with mindfully eating and stopping once I feel full.
First Fruity Pebbles!

Even though it has taken me 9 months to get back to my pre pregnancy weight, having a baby has helped me come to the realization that this is the first time in years that I haven’t felt obsessed by what I am eating or restricting. I snack on cereal at night if I feel like it and will still enjoy a cup of my salted caramel and cupcake goldfish. I know in the grand scheme that a 300+ snack after dinner every now and then isn’t a big deal and much better than a 2000 calorie binge.
When I don’t feel like I’m restricted and mindfully eating with treats included I feel no need for one bowl of cereal to lead to 3 plus everything else I can get my hands on in my treat cupboard! Funny how that works!

I’m still a work in progress, but I know I just need to keep consistent, and with time I’ll get to where I’d like to be.
I plan on running the beautiful Royal Parks half marathon at the beginning of October this year. This year is the best opportunity for me to run it since I imagine all my free time will be towards studying for my dietetics degree!
I'm babysitting on the days at work and now that these babies have just started to learn how to crawl, they are definitely going to keep me busy, hopefully I'll still have some energy for training, wish me luck!
