Diet Makeover

My weight has always bothered me. And then I had a baby....Now, my weight plagues me.

My weight was steady from 2002 when I married my husband, Matt, until at least March 2010, when I began trying to conceive. We were in Mexico, and I gained 10 pounds and got knocked up in the same week. I gained about 30 pounds on top of that throughout my pregnancy.

After Charlie was born, I began nursing and lost some of the weight. Then, it stopped. Then, I gained 20 more pounds. I felt awful: sluggish, achy, fatigued. It was my thyroid. Once that was taken care of, I continued exercising, lost those extra 20, and got within 13 pounds of my 2002 weight.

Then, Christmas struck. Five pounds back on. Suddenly, some of those work clothes I had put into rotation for my return in January left me with a family sized muffin top.

Then, I returned to work. Today, I can't find a pair of pants to fit that are not lycra, spandex, or luon.

In October, my doctor told me to lose those last 15 pounds. I lost 2, then gained 7. Lost 6, then gained 4. I want to have another baby, and I know my weight poses the potential to hinder conception.

So, it is time for a diet makeover.

And not just for me. No, no. This is for the entire family.

I love chips. I love ice cream. I love donuts.

I am busy. I am tired. I can't think of anything new. The baby needs me. I'm sick. My back hurts.

There are all my excuses. I cannot keep doing this. I can do this. We need to eat better.

Matt and I used to eat well. When I was pregnant, however, that mind-numbing fatigue often led me to heat up frozen pizza instead of cooking a healthy meal. When my thyroid crapped out, the story went the same. Now, we are just lazy and have fallen into a bad habit.

Matt means well, and he has made dinner once or twice, but really, the only time I resent him for not making dinner is when I don't have any ideas or anything to make.

This is about being prepared, planning ahead, working together. We now have a growing little boy, and I want to instill in him healthy habits.

Now, we already do have some healthy practices. We sit as a family at the table. We drink water. We eat at a set time. Veggies are served at every meal. All meals are balanced with starch, protein, and "free" veggies. And we do have some go to meals that the whole family loves, but we need to be consistent in replacing the bad habits we have developed with those better meals.

We cannot eat fast food once a week. Matt and I need to stop the late night snacking. No more treats when Charlie goes to bed. Focus on the "sweet finish" being something healthy.

And above all, PLAN AHEAD.

We will still eat meals that are not the most nutritious. There will be special hot-dogs, pizza, crescent rolls, but I will be accountable when we have these, and I hope this reduces the frequency of the higher fats foods appearance.

This isn't about losing weight, but if that is a side-effect, yay. This is about being better to our bodies, and teaching our son that we respect ourselves enough to take the time to think about what goes into them.