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Tasty Way to Weight Loss

Discussion in 'Keep Fit & Maintain Shape' started by shivachoubey, Jan 14, 2010.

  1. shivachoubey

    shivachoubey IL Hall of Fame

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    Most readers have been waiting for my post on post delivery weight loss and though this post is late, it surely has arrived.

    So here is my story about how I lost my pregnancy weight after my delivery.

    As an over weight person I do look for hope and insight in weight loss articles. During my pregnancy reading post pregnancy weight loss articles was a great time pass ( it still is). I read success stories, failure stories, in short everything that gave me insight about weight loss after pregnancy. There was one particular article that touched a nerve, here a doctor quotes that it is possible for a woman to lose 75% of the baby weight within 3 months of delivery by just eating healthy. This article gave me lot of hope and I figured that if I eat healthy then losing weight won't be such a task (as my pregnancy weight gain was with a healthy weight range). Here is the link of that article http://idiva.com/news-health/how-mandira-bedi-lost-her-baby-bulge/11486 (I know its about mandira bedi!)

    And the best advise that I read about the pregnancy craving was that indulge yourself but remember the feast is over the day you deliver the baby.

    So I was prepared and all ready to win the battle of weight loss but what I was not prepared was that now suddenly everyone around me was interested in one thing, that is, to feed me.

    1. ME Vs GHEE - When I was in hospital one of my friends sent me an extremely delicious soup with a thick layer of ghee, another friend gifted me a big bottle of locally produced extremely delicious ghee. If that was not enough, on the day I arrived back from hospital, on the kitchen counter I saw a gigantic bottle full of ghee. My MIL had prepared the ghee at home and she loving told me that the ghee is only for me (my husband and FIL were not even supposed to touch it) and I am supposed to finish it in 1 month. I had a very easy pregnancy, the delivery was a child's play and I never for once had any problem till the time I encountered THE GHEE. There was so much food all around and everyone wanted to feed me so that the child could get the best nutrition. It was then when I enourtered the ghee threat that

    2. I dialled in desperation - I called my gynaec aunt - THe moment she picked the phone I shouted "I am not eating ghee and fatty food, tell me what I can do". First she asked me to calm down and then she gave me some real good great advise.

    A) Opt for natural lactation agents, she suggested 3 beautiful things - daliya(broken wheat) with milk and papaya.

    B) Eat protein - I eat egg so that was good enough for me.

    C) Instead of having dry fruit ladoos full of ghee and sugar have handful of dry fruits.

    It was a relief for my heart and soul to hear from a doctor that I am not required to eat lot of fat after delivery, I can choose to eat a healthy diet.

    So I started with my weight loss plan. As I had a ceasearean delivery I was not supposed to do any exercise for 2 months, so I was with only my diet. I thought that i would feel light after the delivery but I felt bloated and heavy and my belly felt as if it would touch the ground any moment.

    1. I started with cutting down the obvious - As I could only manipulate my diet to bring he weight loss I started by cutting down the obvious culprits. During pregnancy I did eat junk food, my body was accustomed to certain kind of calories for 9 months, I decided to give up junk food to create the first calorie deficit.

    2. Tweaking the calories in the right direction - lost 6 kilos right after my delivery, so I was 78 kilos. Calorie requirement for a breastfeeding mother is 1800-2000 calories. Hunger pangs right after breastfeeding coupled with wrong food choices are a sure shot way to overshoot this calorie limit.I knew I was supposed to eat proper food in proper quantity.

    Breastfeeding cause lot of hunger and I have seen wmen eating lot of food. Believe me the hunger is insane, nothing like what I experienced before. My way of dealing with this hunger was to have fruits, sprout bhel or roti instead of sweets and namkeen.

    My diet during the first 2 months was

    Breakfast - 2-3 times a week boiled egg sandwich.Avacado/vegetable sandwich made from large multiseed multigrain bread slices along with my tea.

    Munching before lunch - Fruits, boiled sprout salad. Banana, apples and papaya were must. I stuck to my rule of having 2 bananas a day.

    Lunch and dinner - I followed a simple rule, to always have 5 things on my plate

    1. Bottle Gourd raita - I had a craving for bottle gourd riata and I had it for my lunch and dinner for almost 2 months. It was a must on my plate.

    2. Salad

    3. Any green vegetable (cooked in less oil)

    4. Any type of dhal

    5. 1 bowl daliya khichadi.

    This actually was lot of food in one go but my hunger level was so high that this was the only way to stop myself from feeling constantly hungry.

    Evening - 1 or 2 vegetable(carrot/cabbage or spinach) roti with tea

    7:30 - Jhal Mudi (Made from puffed rice, soaked channa dhal, curd and cucumber)

    Dinner - Same as lunch.

    Late night hunger pangs - First 40 days my son used to keep me awake the whole night and by early morning I used to feel very hungry. For these hunger pangs I opted for vegetable roties (night time tiffin).


    3. How the calorie deficit was created - 15 days before the delivery I indulged myself. My point was that I cannot increase lot of weight in 15 days. I relaxed and I just enjoyed last few days of my pregnancy. I ate whatever I felt like. So when I switched from the mode of consuming high calorie food to home cooked meals a calorie deficit was created which was further increased with breastfeeding. On an average one does exhaust around 500 calories while breastfeeding. So if you are consuming 1800 calories, you will be left with 1300 calories if you are breastfeeding.

    I will not say it was easy to say no to all the goodies but the number 78 was an eyesore to my heart, I said goodbye to this number long back and I did not want to be at this weight again. I took comfort in the fact that I am not starving myself and I am eating lot of nutritive healthy food.

    In couple of days my body released lot of water (I wonder where it came from) and I dropped to 75 kilos.

    I stuck to my above diet and finally reached 71 kilos. Most of my weight loss during this period was solely due to eating healthy food and breastfeeding.

    4. And then I went for my sister's wedding - After 2 and a half month I went to attend my sister's wedding. One reason why I was very strict with my eating habits was because I knew that I had a marriage coming up and where I would be eating myself to heaven.

    It was wedding right in my house and there was a halwai (cook) sitting right in my house cooking up all delicacies. I had no plans to diet during this occasion.

    I went with a plan of maintaining my weight and as I already completed 2 and half months it was time for me to start walking. I decided to walk in my driveway for half an hour but then it was a marriage house and I walked only for 2 days. SO I was left with the delima of wanting to eat lot of food and still not gaining weight. It was here that I discovered the beauty of staircase. My house is on second floor and the preparation were on ground floor, I told everyone to ask me for any help in getting things from downstairs. I don't remember how many times in a day I took the stairs, I was constantly on my toes.

    I came back stuffed with goodies and with 1 kilo of weight gain(which was not bad considering it was a marriage).

    5. Last stages of weight loss - Once I was back home, I was alone with my baby. There was no help. I decided to modify my diet further and to start seriously with my walking.

    Diet after 3 months (and present as well)

    1. Breakfast - Sandwich (egg/vegetable/avacado). I have sandwiches 5-6 days a week.

    2. 1 or 2 hours after breakfast - 1 banana(must), if more hungry then an apple.

    3. Depending on how much time left for lunch, if I am hungry I have handful of dryfruits.

    3.Lunch - 1 roti (multigrain with grated vegetable), salad and raita. I try to include dhal if I have time to cook it. Salad is made from grated beetroot,carrot,cucumber,white raddish(sometimes), salad leaves and boiled sprouts.

    Raita is either cucumber or bottle gourd.

    4. Evening - Tea with 2 rusks

    5. 7 -8 pm 1 banana again.

    6.Dinner - 1 roti with salad raita and some kind of pulses or beans or soya to get in the protein. I would again love to have a green vegetable here but it happens only if I have time (which is very rare these days).

    7. Anywhere in between when the hunger hits - boiled sprout creations. There is so much tasty things you can do with boiled sprouts and 1 bowl really fills me up.


    My eating pattern changed dramatically after 3 months. I no longer feel extremely hungry, I cannot eat 2 roties instead I like to have 1 large thick roti which is made mixing lot of flours, seeds and grated veggies.

    My above eating pattern with 20 minutes of elliptical OR 30 minutes of treadmill walking got my weight down to 70 kilos.

    6. The final push - To break the 70s pattern I needed a final push. I came across marathon training article. I have always found running challenging and I dream of a day when I can run for 45 minutes straight. This one article gave basic schedule of running and it was very easy. I had to walk for a minute and run for another minute. for a 30 minutes session I had to alternate my walking and running pattern every minute. This was so much fun and easy and before I knew I was sweating like hell. This further brought down my weight to 69 kilos.

    7.Exercise and Stamina - After 2 months of delivery when I couldn't exercise for even 10 minutes. I used to do my elliptical for 50 minutes at load 10, I could barely do elliptical on load 1 for 10 minutes.

    One good thing about losing your stamina is that its a great challenge for your body to build it again. SO I lost weight even when I was exercising on a very low resistance level. It took me 5 months to do my elliptical for 30 minutes on load 5-7, this is nothing compared to what I did in past but it is giving me great results.

    I do alternate days of elliptical and treadmill. Though I can do 45 minutes of exercise, I will stick to my schedule of 30 minutes till my weight stops dropping.

    8. Where I stand now - On good days I stand at 68 kilos and on bad days I stand almost on 69 kilos.AT this point I have slowed my pace.

    When I was 65 kilos I was not happy with myself, I wanted to be 57 kgs and I was 65 kgs. During my pregnancy when I touched the number 84 I realized I would do anything to be 70 kilos. My pregnancy weight gain taught me to be appreciative of my own efforts. My first target was to get back my pre pregnancy weight, healthy pregnancy weigh gain helped me to achieve that.

    Now I have decided that I move forward with a very small target every month (500gms - 1 kilos weight loss). I am in no hurry and I don't want to change my diet. A very small target keeps me happy and keeps me motivated.

    I am a great admirer of tortoise and I feel shame in following his footsteps.
     
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