Getting started again after gaining it all back

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Mayraaleli
Mayraaleli Posts: 2 Member
edited April 2015 in Getting Started
So last year around this time I lost about 15 lbs extra after losing all of my 40 lbs of baby weight. This year has been hard in comparison. I was in the hospital for a blood clot at the beginning of the year, then food posining and bronchitis to follow. Along with moving to a new home, being a full time college student, commuting total of 2 hrs a day, and having a 2 year old at home, needless to say it's been stressful. Due to illness I didn't work out for three months and wasn't concerned about counting calories, however I'm ready to hop back in the wagon! I have been back to working out for almost a month but I stepped on the scale yesterday and I was 15 lbs heavier than I was back in January! Yikes! I don't sleep a whole lot and my days are very hectic any suggestions on how to eat healthier when on a tight schedule. Dinner is my biggest challenge sometimes were not all home until 7 and cook dinner around 8 to eat it at 9. I think the heavy late dinners are killing me, my better half is very tall and enjoys hearty dinners so it makes for another challenge. I am 155 ... Looking forward to be down to 140 again before the summer is over.

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  • MarAnna43
    MarAnna43 Posts: 3 Member
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    I don't know what your entire schedule is like, but at my busiest, I find that making meal(s) one day during the weekend helps me. I am able to pack lunches and snacks so that I don't feel like binging when I get home from work. Also, the crockpot is a saving grace. It will work while you do, so food will be ready as soon as you get home. There are also tons of posts on Pinterest and cooking blogs about making crockpot meals and freezing them in freezer bags. You pretty much devote one long day and can potentially prepare a month's-worth of food. If time is your enemy, this removes the lack of time from the equation. Again, I'm only telling you things that have helped me, but I hope that some of them could be transferable to your own situation.
  • edog882015
    edog882015 Posts: 3 Member
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    I feel your pain and have been there. i was 190lbs after birth of 2 kids, work full time, married, run a household, etc... Lost 60lbs about 5 years ago and now am sitting at 148lbs, down from 156lbs in last 4 months, goal is 130lbs, and am 43 years old. Think about spending one day a week (Sunday for me) prepping for the week - cook up a couple soups, poach some chicken breasts and chop up for lunches (I pack containers for lunches with chopped chicken, raw spinach, cheese, fruit and veg), pre make some egg cups (a dozen) for quick AM sandwiches (spray muffin tin, drop an egg in each cup with spinach or peppers or whatever you like - cook in oven 350 for 15 min or til set as you like. serve on toasted English muffin and take it running out the door to work) , stock up and prep your fruit and veggies, prep 2 crock pot meals so you can toss in the pot in the AM, and make a shopping list before hitting the store Sunday AM. this is pretty much how sundays go for me, but then I have a little peace of mind and I can relax that the week is prepped. Heavy late meals are a killer - your better half may have to just adapt to the change of lighter dinners, after a few they will soon realize they feel better and probably sleep better on a lighter meal so late at night - also, you do sound like your life is pretty stressful - this may sound weird, but consider the effects of stress and cortisol on weight gain/retention. think about taking 20 minutes twice a week to just sit in silence - have your better half sit with the kid, close your door, turn out the lights and light a candle, soft music, sit with closed eyes and just be still for 20 min, listen to your breath and empty your mind. just take a short break from your life for 20 min. your mind and body will thank you for it. give it a shot if you are interested. good luck to you. your body remembers 140lbs; it will go there again. just treat it right! -eli
  • Mayraaleli
    Mayraaleli Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you ladies! These are some really great ideas!! Looks like I'll be investing in a crock pot ASAP.
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
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    ^^ Meal pre-planning is the best advice for sure. Check out the Recipes section on here for meal ideas. There’s actually a thread going on now dedicated to weekend batch cooking.

    If you like cooking from books, I love checking out the bargain books section at my bookstore for cookbooks, especially for the slow cooker, that include nutritional information. A lot of them do nowadays, and it makes it so much easier to know which recipes fit within my goals.

    Also, don’t forget about the Recipe calorie calculator under the Food tab - you can input all of your ingredients, use the final weight of your food in the “servings” box, and then you can weigh your serving portion, and add that to your food diary. This makes it easy if you want to serve more food for the hubby, but control how much you're eating.

    Best of luck! :smile:

    P.S. If you don’t have a food scale, it’s highly recommended!
  • hrtunstall
    hrtunstall Posts: 49 Member
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    What works for me is keeping a ziploc bag of salad & a container of some type of homemade soup in the refrigerator at all times. This plus an omelet or meat added to the soup or salad & I have a meal ready to eat.

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