Covid + Baby = I need help losing weight!!!

lulumed24 wrote: »

Hi, my name is Lucy.... I hate writing bios on websites because I’m not much of a writer. So, I’ll just make my intro short and simple. I gained a lot of weight due to Covid quarantine boredom and because I was pregnant. I’m currently on maternity leave since June and I’m absolutely fed up with being so overweight and hating what I look like. Thus, I’ve decided now that my body is ready to lose weight, I need to begin my weight loss journey and get back into my old clothing and ditch the maternity clothing. I’m a complete idiot when it comes to weight loss, dieting, and exercise.... the gym is a terrifying and anxious place because I don’t know what I’m doing and I can’t afford a personal trainer. I’m unfamiliar with carbs, percentages of certain foods and “macros” etc. Before I was pregnant I naturally have an athletic body, I would play basketball all the time for fun and my metabolism was fast so I never had to watch my weight or diet or workout. I loved to be active but I never did weight lifting or workout routines, any physical activity I did was for enjoyment purposes. Therefore, I am eager to learn from others, absorb as many tips and have some help from folks in regards to working out, dieting, macros, weight loss. I’m currently 175 lb and I want to reach my previous weight of 130lb.... here is my journey. Can anyone help me out/give me advice? And also- what’s your story?

The good news is to lose weight you don't need to go to the gym, you don't need to know anything about macros or carbs. You just need to ensure you're consistently in a calorie deficit.

If you're breastfeeding, that can naturally create a deficit, so don't try to go to hard at the weight loss, it can dry up your milk supply - would suggest initially set yourself for Maintenance and see how you get on for 4-6 weeks.

If you're not breastfeeding, set yourself to 1lb per week maximum, I know it's tempting to stick it to the maximum of 2lbs per week, but looking after a baby is a stressful/tiring enough time without feeling like you're starving. The weight didn't go on in a couple of months, so don't expect it to come off in a couple of months.

Check out the stickied posts particularly about accurate logging and calorie counting 101 https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-health-fitness-and-diet-must-reads#latest most people who struggle with MyFitnessPal do so because they try to lose weight too aggressively and they give up or because they're eating more than they think because they're guessing weights/portions and picking wrong database entries.

Exercise is not necessary for weight loss, but it is good for overall health - cardio and mental in particular. That doesn't mean you need to sign up to the gym and workout 24/7, it could just mean walking a little more than usual, doing a Youtube workout at home, etc. Improving your Non-Exercise Activity level (NEAT) is also a very good way to increase your calorie output without tiring yourself out or increasing your appetite too much.
See https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

I mentioned above you don't need to know about macros for weight loss, and whilst that's true, it's helpful to understand macros to ensure you're getting adequate nutrition for health and also to make sure that what you're eating helps you to feel fuller for longer. For many people the default macros set by MFP are just fine, they are set to approximately the recommended daily amounts. There are all sorts of different ways of eating, but that's something you can look into further down the line, I've put a bit of a summary of each macro below:

Protein helps maintain muscle whilst losing weight, supports many functions such as hair growth, nail growth, etc. The amount shown in MFP should be thought of as a minimum rather than a maximum. 1 gram of protein is around 4 calories.

Fat plays a key role in helping the body process some vitamins, brain function and hormone production. Aiming for around the MFP goal should be fine, where possible aim to cut down on saturated fats (cheese, baked goods, etc) as these are the ones that can cause issues with cholestorol. 1 gram of Fat is around 9 calories

Carbohydrates get a bad rap, particularly in the age where Keto is the diet of the hour, but eaten in moderation they are good source of fibre (which assists with digestion) and are usually your body's go to fuel source for energy. When thinking of carbs most people immediately think of processed products with a lot of added sugar, but fruit and vegetables are mostly carbohydrates, as are cereals, grains, etc. 1 gram of Carbohydrates is around 4 calories.

Once you're comfortable with your calorie counting this is an exceptionally helpful thread for improving your nutrition: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

I would suggest to start with logging what you're eating normally for a couple of days, use a food scale if you have one to see where you might be eating more than you think and to see where you might be able to cut down on calories without having too much of an impact on the way you eat initially. It's tempting for people to drastically overhaul their diet but this often isn't very sustainable. Implement some of those changes to help get you to your calorie goal for maintenance (if breastfeeding) or weight loss (if not).

Small changes could be something like:

• Switching out a calorific drink for a diet version or lower calorie alternative (think Diet Coke instead of Coke or coffee with low fat milk instead of full fat).
• Cutting down on or switching condiments (example light mayo instead of regular or switching to mustard)
• Changing cooking methods to reduce use of cooking oils (grilling, roasting or dry frying instead a tbsp of oil is around 100 cals so it's an easy way to cut out extra cals if you cook a lot)
• Adjusting ratios on your plate (example if you might normally have plate of meat, potatoes and veg and the potatoes normally account for half a plate, decrease the potatoes and increase the veg).
• Eating smaller sized "treats" (I swapped to kids snack size chocolate bars, rather than buying large bars of chocolate, still get my chocolate, but in a portion more appropriate to my calorie intake).

Hope this helps!