POST-PARTUM PACK - November 8

carolina_r

NOVEMBER 8

THIS WEEK’S TASK: TRACK IT – SUGAR!

There are salt cravers, and there are sweet cravers…and then there are those of us who like them both!!! Let’s focus on sugar first…

This week, if you aren’t doing it already, try tracking your sugar intake. You don’t necessarily need to make changes to what you are eating, but it is a good exercise to see how much sugar you are taking in. Report back and let us know what you find!

If you are already tracking your sugar, then try taking steps to reduce it. Look at what you are eating – is there anywhere you can cut back on the sugar? Let us know how you have managed to cut back!

Don’t know how to track sugar? Click the “Foods” tab and then go to settings – you can track up to five categories.

I myself am way over the MFP sugar recommendations every day. So – I viewed the report on my sugar intake, chose a value that I thought I could aim for (still twice the MFP recommendation…but an improvement!) and manually adjusted my sugar allowance to that level, to give me a fighting chance of seeing it in the green!

THIS WEEK’S POLL: WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR BODY?

We spend a lot of our time looking at the parts we don’t like (and trying to change them…) It is the nature of trying to lose weight. Let’s take a moment to share and celebrate the things we DO like about our bodies!

MY RESPONSE:
1) I really like the shape of my legs (well, the lower half of them!!) They are slender, but with shape, and they are a fairly good length.
2) I like my eyes – big and dark. Happy to say I have passed them on to my little boy! It is one of the features I get the most comments on.
3) My hair – sometimes it is frustrating to take care of, but I know that some people pay to get curls like this…
4) My feet – they are small, and my toes are well-proportioned. I thnk they are cute!
5) In general, I am just amazed at the wonder of motherhood – how our bodies can completely care for and nurture a human being from conception to birth, and then continue to provide for the baby even after he or she is born. One of the many wonders of the female form!!




IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING US, HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

- Add “The POST-PARTUM PACK – It took us 9 months to pack on the pounds…Watch us take them off!” to your signature, so that we can recognize fellow PPP members.
- Respond to this post and introduce yourself to the group.
- I will post a new thread at the start of each week…find the link to the new thread at the end of the one from the week before!
- Have fun! The idea is not to add stress to your already busy life, or that you participate in every challenge or poll. It is just another way to connect with other moms, without ending up with hundreds of friends…
- Although this group was originally envisioned for mothers of children 3 and under, all moms are welcome to join!

feydruss

bumping for later!

stritte14

I just switched my diary to tracking sugar the other day & have been way over the recommended amount as well....definetly something to work on! I would like to try focusing on eating clean to reduce sugars that are unhealthy but the truth is I am struggling at even meeting my suggested calories each day lately. I am starving all the time. I wonder if it is the breastfeeding.

Things I like about myself physically....honestly this is really hard for me (not that it isn't for others). I am one of those people that get told things that should be positive, and right away I can flip it to a negative. I.e. " you have such a small butt" in my head becomes "it would be better if my butt were bigger cause then my tummy would be more porportionate and not seem so big".

I honestly can say that I like my brown hair cause it is thick & a brown that is warm or rich in colour. I like that I don't have to dye it (although I add blonde or red streaks when I am bored).

I have always liked my eyes. They are big & dark brown, with dark long lashes. My oldest son has them & I love that my 15 year old step son has them too (even though they aren't from me, they don't look like either of his bioparents' so I get to say they are from me!) . All the kids have dark lashes too.

My babes both have a lot of facial features that are mine, and I think they are absolutely adorable. People constantly comment on how cute they are, so I think it is helping me to realize that I must not look all that bad either if I share the same ones

britesideoflife

Great poll & task!

The sugar is an interesting one as I haven't been paying much attention to my sugar intake, but have been tracking it and I am always in the red. I do take half a sugar in my coffee and I am not so keen on consuming too many artificial sweeteners so I am not sure what the alternatives are. I have tried cutting sugar out of coffee completely (I managed with tea) but I just like coffee with sugar!

Things I like about myself physically....hmmmm...like most people I have a hard time with that idea. The first would have to be my eyes - they are very green and I often get comments on them. The other would have to be in agreement with Carolina_r - the concept of motherhood is amazing and I often look at my kids and think - My body did that! It created two perfect little people (Well....my two year old is often NOT perfect...LOL)! For that reason I actually quite like my stretch marks...they are my 'lifetime battle scars' - they show me what my body did.

bluestarlight19

I have tried tracking sugar but I think MFP is way to low, so I mostly ignore it. I don't eat much sugary junk in itself, It usually comes from my morning coffee and then if I have a yogurt or any kind of fruit it shoots it way up. There is no way to eat fruit and stay under it. That said, I try to stay lower since type 2 diabetes runs rampant in my family. I mostly crave chocolate though, not really salt or sugar directly, can't stand lolipops or regular sweets but I could polish off a box of chocolate chip cookies or chocolate truffles in no time.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR BODY?

I like a lot of things about my body, and it looks so much better with the weight off it.
1. my eyes gray/blue with a dark ring around the outside of the iris.
2. hahaha....my boobs....my husbands favorite part too. Always was chesty since 6th grade! I do wish they hadn't sunk so much after I stopped breast feeding though
3. my legs, they look ok still now, but man, i remember when I biked all the time and started running...wow they looked great then. I can't wait to get them back into that kind of shape

McCallsmommy

Sugar: I'm glad to hear that a lot of you guys are always in the red! I don't really junk out on sugar, but I'm always way, way over. Like everyone else, my sugar intake comes from my morning Coffeemate (an indulgence I'm allowing myself right now), and my evening chocolate covered banana, and whatever sugar is in the non-sweet food I eat. If I cut out my two indulgences, I would still be over, I'm pretty sure. So I just try to keep is down, but I don't get too up in arms about it.

My body: I think it's great that you guys have found appreciation for your bodies through having babies! I have, too. I can't say that I like my stretch marks, but I do love remembering how I got them. I think my son is the most beautiful person in the world, and everyone says he favors me, so I guess I think I'm beautiful, too! I am going to think some more about what I like about my body... This is a good challenge for me, because since I put on so much weight, and then got pregnant and had so many other changes, I feel like I don't really know my body anymore. I need to find something to appreciate about it.

livehappe

Hey,

Like the task, and I agree with a lot of the comments above. MFP sets the sugar really low. Carolina, loved what you did to manually adjust it yourself. I think that's a wonderful idea.

For one week, I stayed under MFP sugar levels and saw my biggest loss though over a short period. However, the withdrawl was awful and decidedly, not worth it. I may do the manual adjustment to make it work for me.

The challenge this week is hard for me. I'm going to be real honest at the risk of depressing you all. I hate my facial features; I am what our society refers to as a "Ginger," as pale as snow, carrot red hair, and freckley all over. I have always been teased about my looks. My nose has a round ball on the end of it. My eyes are too close together. My lips are thin. But, the saving grace for me, as a teen and twenty-something, was that I knew I had a fabulous figure.

At 22, I decided to reinvent the rest of myself. I figured out self-tanner, and blond hightlights, and I dressed well to highlight that figure. I tricked others and myself into thinking I wasn't too bad. These days, self-tanner takes too long, babies made my hair grey, and no longer can I look in the mirror and say stunning body. As soon as my figure went, I felt quite hopeless. A lot of you said, you were happy your babies had your favourite feature. I am elated that all of my kids look like their handsome father, but have my silly personality Although i see where stretch marks and excess skin can make one feel amazed at childbirth wonders, I have 4 kids, 1 set of twins in the mix, and my stomach looks like something it might take a hollywood make-up artist days to capture. I love my children. I am proud to have breastfed all of them, etc... but my boobs are almost indented from the experience and some days I resent that. And, let's not even talk about teeth. I've lost 4 teeth from childbearing.

So- here's what I can honestly say I like right now:
1) My heart- I can make it thump, thump through 2 hr workouts now
2) My lungs- I've went from being on a puffer full time to throwing it out
3) My legs- I can run 10k now without them tiring and cramping...

and because of those 3 things, I'm able to work on restoring the rest of myself, and hopefully my confidence along the journey.

I hope we are all still in it together in a year from now... I hope I have a different answer... "my abs" "my butt" "my biceps"

McCallsmommy

robincsmall - I'm a Ginger, too!! (and so is my brother and sister) My brother calls us the "forgotten minority." (he's joking, of course) When I was little, I remember hearing a mother tell her son to put on sunscreen or he'd get "ugly freckles." I was confused, because my mom always told me that freckles were beautiful! And I still choose to believe her. I am so glad you posted, because I was having trouble thinking of what I liked about my body... and you reminded me that I love my hair and freckles! Sure, it would be nice to be able to get a tan, but we're unique. I'm glad we're in the club together.

livehappe

mccallsmommy- you know, I worried when I posted that I might upset another Ginger. But, I should really clarify- I think there are many beautiful Gingers out there... Robert Redford, Julianne Moore, Marcia Cross...to name some of the notables. My self-perception is just so unhealthy because I remember what it meant to be a Ginger during my childhood and teen years. My dad told me once that I was "no Marilyn Monroe," but both of my parents always told me that I was smart and hard working, and from there forward that's what I valued as my gift....When it came to my body image, I was an athlete and knew I was strong and fit for many years, and that was good too. But yes, I like your brother's label "the forgotten minority" because it's true. I just thank GOD that South Park's Kick a Ginger movement aired when I was too grown up to care.

Jaytee79

Will post tommorow when I have more time!

McCallsmommy

Oh, robincsmall, I'm glad, too!! (thankfully, I haven't seen that one...) What a yucky thing to hear from your dad... but it sounds like your parents taught you to value what is important! I don't know you, but you sound beautiful to me. Lets me redheaded friends.

carolina_r

Mccallsmommy and Robincsmall - Thank you for sharing this! I believe my husband would qualify as a ginger (pale skin, freckles, red beard, can't go out without sunscreen...though the hair on his head has gone more brown with age...does this count?). One of my best friends is also a ginger...I have seen the way they both struggle with their skin. My friend has tried every self-tanner under the sun...but I have always been jealous of her beautiful, porcelain-like skin! To this day, in some parts of the world, being pale is preferred - this whole "gotta be tanned" business is a more recent phenomenon, and in some countries marks you as a "labourer" (and hence lower in status!). Plus - think of how many people dye their hair red? I know I've done it numerous times during my high school and university years. GINGERS ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!!

pmur

I do look at the "Sugars" everyday and everyday I'm over my limit. I then look at what I've eaten for the day and on most days it's fruits/milk/yogurt and my tea. On days I've not eaten fruits, my sugar is within range. Yesterday, I thought I definitely will not be over by much but boy was I wrong. The 5 dates that I ate for snack shot up my sugars to double the required
What I do is look at it and if everything is natural sugars then I don't get too worked up. If there are things using refined sugars then I curb.
I used to use 3-4tsp of sugar in my tea. I've slowly cut it down to half a tsp now. I used to mix an almond drink powder to my milk which was full of junk sugars. I've totally cut it out, I've been drinking plain milk for the past two days. I may add half a tsp of the powder for flavor once in a while. Other than these two changes, I'm sticking to what I eat. I've already cut out on all the junk and that itself has brought down my sugar numbers and it's helping me lose wt. The only thing I've done so far is to cut the chocolates and junk. Other than that and reducing my sugar intake, I've done nothing so far and I've been steadily losing a pound a week. I guess sugars are the devil

1) I used to love my waist, it was long and slender. It's still long but with my baby pouch I'm hoping it will get back to where it was.
2) I too have naturally wavy hair and love the fact that I don't need to get it styled in order to look good. My sister dies to get her curls
3) My boobs of course for making the miracle food for my 1.17kg preemie. It seems preemie moms make high calorie BM(didn't know this) and my little one gained well on my milk alone. Although my body didn't seem to co-operate to push the pregnancy to term, I am glad he is getting his complete food, gives me some peace of mind!
4) My hands and feet - Always got complemented for beautiful hands and feet and have been asked to be a feet/hand model. I refused but wonder what feet and hand models do

pmur

I just saw the new "Group" feature. Can we move our discussions there after creating our own group. That way we can have all these threads in one place

carolina_r

I just saw the new "Group" feature. Can we move our discussions there after creating our own group. That way we can have all these threads in one place

I am already on it!!! I started making the group, but then got interrupted by the baby...but it should happen by this weekend Thanks for the reminder!

carolina_r

Alright, ladies - I have created a group, and you should all have received an invitation to it! We can continue this week's topic here on this thread, but next week's topic will be posted on the group forum.

gracecaudill18

I don't really eat a lot of suger except for that one week a month lol. But i'm glad someone made a group for moms! I'm new to this site and my daughter is almost a year old but its jus so hard to stay motivated all by yourself, but I'm tryin. And 5 things I like about myself are
1. I love my red hair...it used to be really long, but I donated it a 3rd time to Locks or Love
2. My feet...they are little and my little toes lol
3.My eyes they are a deep blue
4. My eyelashes...they are naturally VERY long and everyday people think I'm wearin fake ones
5. My legs

CourtneyLeigh83

Like many of you, I find the MFP sugar levels to be low. I don't worry about my levels too much as I know I am careful with what I eat and I am not too far off.

As for what I like about my body...(thanks for making us all think about this because it's probably not something we think of enough)
1. My nose - it is really small and growing up my brother called it a ski-jump nose. I have gotten compliments on it for as long as I can remember and my daughter has inherited this feature.
2. My freckles - I have lots of dark brown freckles and I think they are fun and add a bit of personality.
3. My complexion - I have been lucky to have a pretty clear complexion, while I am fairly pale, I have never had any issues with acne,
4. My neck/collar bone - since I have started losing weight I have a pretty defined collar bone.
5. My abs (sort of) - while I am definitely not where I want or need to be in terms of my weight, (most of it being in my stomach), I love that since I have been really working on my weight and exercising I can actually feel that there are abs in there (somewhere)...now the goal is to find them

SmangeDiggs

Hi...i found you all again..lol Its almost the end of the week for me but ill join in on this one anyway. I track my sugar and am over most days but i eat a reasonable amount of fruit everyday which really bumps it up. I love fruit and i refused to stop eating it to meet my sugar count so im happy going over for now.

What a fantastic question to ask, unfortunately my list of things i like is fairly short as my confidence is so closely related to my weight. I can say i do like my eyes - apparently they look like cats eyes and are a funky green. I hope that as i continue down this healthy lifestyle road my appreciation of my physical attributes improves as i would love to be able to role model a strong healthy self esteem to my daughter.

chelbean23

Hi all,

Would love to join your group! I only joined MFP last Tuesday - am a mother to a bouncing energetic 5 year old and a beautiful 4 month old - both girls! I am done having kids now and would like my body back please! Still getting used to this site but would love the support of a group that understands how hard weight loss is when you have kidlets to concentrate on!!

redmanis

I'm just started Mfp 2 weeks ago and I think I added most of you as friends, sorry if I missed some. I would love to join this group! I have 3 kids. 5,3 and 3 months! I lost all 90 lbs. With my first. I lost all 70 with my second. I gained 70 with my third, and have lost 40 of it. I want to lose 30lbs, 37 would be great so I could be 150 again. I look forward to our journey!!