How did I let myself go?

MFP can help you reach your goal. You must log your food or it can't work. So even if you don't have a food scale, you can log foods and portion size. In a week or so , you can figure out what your problem eating has been and start to eat a more healthful diet. Habits take about 3 weeks to make so give yourself that time to start to change and best of luck!

First off.. being a new mom is hard enough! Eating schedule, sleeping schedule, .. it's all off for a few months. I remember it feeling like a blur.
Secondly.. while your health is important, at the beginning of parenthood you're so focused on your baby it's easy to sort of put your health on the back burner temporarily.

Tips:
Buy a food scale. You can find one for no more than 20$. I suggest this because it will teach you portion control. It's really easy to 100% trust labels, but they can be up to 20% inaccurate.

Log everything. Even if it's just a little bit even if it has 0 cals. I'm not suggesting this forever, but especially in the beginning. Also, log honestly. It's your diary after all.. so even if some days you go over, try and deal with it and learn from it. We are only human after all.

Don't think of it as a super dreadful, restrictive diet. The amount of calories you get, you can spend them on anything. Hypothetically if your calorie goal was 1500, you could eat 1500 in Oreos if you pleased and still lose weight (granted you are logging accurately) obviously this isn't recommended.. but remember that you can have the foods you want, as long as it fits your calories. (To lose weight anyways) you will find that cravings for junkier food will decrease because once you realize that 2 cookies is generally 150 cals.. it's not even worth it! But knowing you can have it, helps!

Sodium, fat and carbs don't contribute to fat loss. Sodium may cause you to retain water and therefore show extra pounds on the scale, but it will not cause you to gain weight.

Exercise calories.. due to possible error, a lot of people on here recommend to only eat 50-70% of your exercise calories back.

And lastly, it's trial and error. You will find what works best with your body. You may find yourself adjusting your calorie intake to better suit your needs. This is not a race, slower weight loss will create better long term habits. Good luck!

What would you tell your friend if she were experiencing the same thing?

Be kind to yourself, is the first step. Trying to go about weight loss from a stance of self-loathing will beget more self-loathing.

P.S. congratulations on the baby! And on getting through the worst of it and feeling ready to take on some self-care!

Hi Claudia,

I'm overweight now, but wasn't as a new mum, so am happy to share what worked for me then. I used to walk miles and miles every day with the babies in the buggy. I had twins and instead of driving or using public transport I'd just wheel the buggy. Round the park, along the canal, into town and back, to meet up with friends. Most days I walked at least five miles, often more. The babies loved the fresh air and seeing the world whizz by. And I found it destressed me to be out of the house all the time. We did lots of fairly active things together too. Went 'swimming', played in the park a lot, went to music and story groups that involved physical movement. Anything that gets you out of that indoor slump in PJs.

Babies are great weights too. If you carry your baby around a lot, they get cuddles and you get toned upper arms.

For food, I used to buy salads from a local cafe or cook very easy dinners - grill a steak, fish or chicken with some microwave veg. Not ideal but better than raiding the snacks.

And yeah, your weight is no one's business but yours. What matters is that you and your baby are happy together. But showing your child that you love exercise and healthy eating has to be a good thing.

claudiatsosie wrote: »

Being a new mom has its difficulties. So far worrying about my health is one of them. I’ve gained so much weight that I’m starting to hear the negative complaints from quite a few people. The lack of motivation led me to a downward spiral of depression and anxiety. Now I think it’s time I clapped back and focus more on my well being. I am not so great on dieting but if you have any advice or ways that you get motivated feel free to share. Add me as a friend and let’s motivate each other!

I became overweight after my daughter was born. The reason was that I ate too many calories for my activity level.
My lifestyle changed after my dd came along. I was more sedentary and ate more food to make up for lack of sleep.
I didn't actually know how many calories I needed.

Set up a reasonable goal with MFP like losing 1 lb per week. If you are 20 lbs or less overweight you might want to aim for .5 lb a week. If you are breastfeeding you are supposed to eat a bit more. Search out threads on breastfeeding here and see what is recommended.
Give it time.
Just start with logging what you normally eat as accurately as you can. Then work on reducing portion sizes of higher calorie foods and adding more lower calorie foods like vegetables to your day. Make sure you are getting enough protein, fiber and fats. A digital food scale is useful.
Try to get enough sleep.
Walking is good exercise you can do with your baby outside or around the house. There are lots of free workout videos on You Tube that are 30 minutes or less.
If you are depressed and anxious seek treatment.

Don't worry about what other people think of your weight.