Monday 28 January 2013

Dieting Tips from a New Mum

People often ask me how I lost  my baby weight. Here are my top dieting tips:

  1. Try to have a varied diet. For example, for dinner on Monday, have a cheese, tomato and ham toasted sandwich; on Tuesday, add mustard.
  2. Don't kid yourself : you're going to eat that leftover birthday cake. Make sure you put a piece on a plate and eat it in another room, rather than over the sink in the kitchen ; you're more likely to have seconds when it's next to you and you're taking bites straight out of the cake.
  3. If you're lucky, your child will be a poor sleeper during the day, forcing you to take at least one walk for the desired duration of nap (eg, if he needs an hour long nap, you're going to have to walk for an hour).
  4. You may be feeling bummed out about being on one income, but it does mean you can't have both coffee and cake when you find yourself at the nearest cafe after walking for an hour.
  5. Breast feed if you can. Sure, it's good for the baby's health, bla bla bla, but it also means you can't drink too much alcohol before your sweet one starts solids (well, I suppose you can, but remember you'll have to pay for extra tutoring in high school).
  6. There should be a small window once a day for about an hour you can cram an entire day's housework into. Work at warp speed, lose weight.
  7. Again, a poor sleeper helps. Stand on the spot and rock or jig your baby, or walk around the house. For a real aerobic workout, combine all 3. Your baby still wont settle, but at least you can burn off some of that birthday cake.
  8. Try to eat your chocolate stash in one sitting, so you wont be tempted to graze on it later.
  9. Shop at expensive grocery stores so the prospect of refilling your chocolate stash after last night's binge is diminished. That, or the prospect of your family eating more than beans on toast for a week is increased.
  10. Find methods other than eating to cope with the stresses of motherhood, such as long showers (when someone else is watching the wee one), drinking your own body weight in coffee (helps with points 3 and 7 if you time it right) or create a blog (and post entries rather than clean the house).
And don't worry too much about your weight : people are comparing you to when you were heavily pregnant, so you're always going to look slimmer in their eyes. 

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