160.4 - 150s I miss you!! :(

Exercise: Nada :(

Ate:
Fried eggs n toast
Iced coffee
Iced green tea
Chicken pot pie
2 bowls of Life cereal w Truvia & soy milk (the Life is gone now - what a relief!)
Celery n peanut butter (we've run out of pb too! What am I gonna eat tmo?!)
Water

I craved peanut butter all day today and finally broke down in the early evening. I've gotten my 4-yo addicted to spoonfuls of it, so he helped finish it off. I at least had celery with mine!

Baby STILL has diarrhea. :( But she seems to feel fine. She's eating and p'ing normally, so I think it just needs to run its course.

I'm boring today. Just a day in the life!! I've got one kid asleep on my belly and one snoozing beside me...better get them in their beds, so I can be alone for a tiny bit before passing out myself!

160.2. Blah.

Exercise: NONE! :(
Ate:
Vat of oatmeal w raisins & macadamia nuts
Uncrustable (remind me to never buy these again)
Iced coffee usual
Water
A few apple slices w peanut butter
Sesame bagel w PB&J
Life cereal w Truvia & almond milk
Life cereal w sugar & almond milk
Bites of spaghetti
Iced green tea - 2

Why am I addicted to peanut butter??? I'm slowly but surely slipping back into my carb rut. I don't have enough other, better food around the house. I don't want to go to the store bc I'll be out of town next week (visiting my superb mommy!!!). I don't even know if I can call this a diet anymore! It's hard right now. :(

On the plus side, I started back to work today. Baby took a long nap so that was nice. It was a good workday! It wasn't hard to sit and work for 4 hours, but I barely made a dent in my 2000+ emails!!

160. Down is good.

Exercise: walked ~6 blocks and played tennis w/big sis1 (We lost, but we'll get 'em next time! We're just warmin' up.)

Ate:
Peanut butter n jelly on 2 rolls
Eggs n whites
Sourdough toast
Chipotle burrito bowl w barbacoa
Red mango yogurt w twix n Reese's
The rest of Res' red mango
2 iced coffees - one super duper delicious by fab big sis2!
Diet coke
Water water water
Microwave Popcorn

Baby had diarrhea last night and today. I don't know why. So I was up twice last night, feeding more than usual. I drank a ton of water today to make up for that. Sometimes, it seems like water is almost more important than food for breastfeeding.

I wish I could've resisted the candy on my froyo but I just could not! CANDY FIEND!!!!!

Big sis2 left today and took Awwsomme nephew with her. :( We'll reunite in a week though, at my Mom's house.

I start back to work tmo!!! Aaaaack! I don't know if you'll ever hear from me again!!!!!

156.6!!!

Exercise: Walked 40' w/baby, fab big sis1 & awwsomme nephew!

Ate:
Fried eggs & egg whites
2 pieces dry sourdough toast
Chicken Alfredo pasta
Grapes grapes wonderful grapes
Iced coffee usual
Water
Apple
4T peanut butter
Nachos
Hummus & pita
1/4 BLT
Pita chips
S'mores Goldfish
Bites of stale BK Cinnabon
TWO Coke Zeros (BAD!)

I am shocked that I lost weight! It must be baby's feeding schedule. She has to be in a growth spurt bc she's eating like a newborn again. She'll get up only once at night (sometimes twice) but once 5-6 am hits, she wants to eat every half hour until about 8 am. Crazy!

Tomorrow I surely won't be so lucky. Fab Big Sis2 came into town and insisted on going out for appetizers! I wasn't even hungry but I dug right in!!! Dang it! Oh well, it was fun. :) And she bought!!

159.0(2)

Exercise: nothing really, but I took 4 kids 3 places & after getting in & out of the car 3x, I'm ready for my nap

I ate:
Fried eggs from my NEW frying pan!
Trader Joe's gluten free granola
Soy milk
1/2 Potbelly pizza sandwich (shared w/my 4-yo -- see pic of him rubbing his belly bc it was sooo good!!)
1/2 small bag salt & vinegar chips
Coke 0 + a splash of Cherry Coke
Small Red Mango cake batter froyo w/M&Ms & Butterfinger (I weakened) (while the froyo was awesome, it was really just a vehicle to get the candy into my mouth)
Iced coffee (the usual)
Water
Life cereal w/Truvia (DANGER ZONE - I've been known to eat a whole box of Life in 1 day.)
Soy milk
Cocoa Puffs Brownie Bites (I've gone off the deep end)

Ugh. Today turned into a carb binge. :( I hope I can do better tomorrow.

I'm glad I didn't gain today bc yesterday seemed high calorie. I'm trying to let hunger be my guide but it's getting harder to be "good." After Red Mango today, who knows what tomorrow holds!! And the problem is, I want more when I eat junk. More and more and more. It doesn't do to have a little! So I hope I can stop now. But we HAD to go to RM, bc it closed in Indy and Drew has to get his fix when he visits!! We even went before lunch so we wouldn't ruin our dessert appetites. ;) I blame eating the Life, too, on Drew. I normally don't allow it in my house!!

159.4

Exercise: Walked all over Shedd Aquarium and to/from car. Looooong walk!

I ate:
the chicken out of leftover Chicken Lo Mein (again, someone has to clear out the fridge)
Tons of grapes (I LOVE grapes. I once wrote a poem about them.)
Iced coffee w stevia & skim milk
Venti iced coffee from Starbucks with equal & skim (CRUCIAL to surviving today's visit to Shedd)
Clif Builder's Protein bar (vanilla almond - my current fave)
Apple
2T chocolate peanut butter
Cilantro lime shrimp
Chicken Alfredo (pasta - aaack!)
2-3 strawberries

Husband just got home from a trip & keeps saying he wants a cookie. I'm praying I can resist that once he breaks down and makes a run. He seems to think if he says it enough times, I'll go. He's wrong. In case you're wondering, he's no longer on the diet!

I'm exhausted. Baby was up at 3 am. Then awesome big sister1 (see pic) & I took 4 kids to Shedd. We managed to avoid the crappy (I assume), overpriced food -- a huge accomplishment!! Shedd was really nice. I was so excited to finally see the Jellies Exhibit. Jellyfish are awesome. They're 95% water and they eat and poop through the same opening!! I know that's gross but hey - I hang out with boys all day.

Day 10 - 159.6

Ate:
Fried eggs - 2 yolks n a few whites
2 Iced coffees w skim milk n stevia
Small apple
2T peanut butter
Triple Delight (Chinese)
36 oz water
Uncrustable (what can I say - trying to clear out the freezer!)

I am down 3.5# since Friday! What an accomplishment, since I traveled & went to a wedding & grad party. I tried mostly to not overeat and not eat the junk. I had A piece of cake + a few bites. A piece of fruit dunked in chocolate. I wanted to park myself by that chocolate fountain and at the time, it actually seemed important to my happiness. ;-) But I knew how badly I'd feel and how mad I'd be at myself later so I didn't do it!! Yay!

Gearing up to lose weight while nursing - Dukan Diet - 1st Steps

I had a baby about 3 months ago. My 3rd. I'm 41. I was in my 30s for the other 2 pregnancies, and while it has never been easy to lose weight, I was able to get my baby weight off without too much of a fight -- those 2 times. But when I got pregnant this last time, I was NOT expecting it and I was about 10 pounds over my ideal weight. I'm 5'6" and my ideal weight is 140. That's a size 6 for me. At that weight, I feel great -- healthy and "light." Now that I'm post partum, I weigh 163. I haven't seen the scale move in a few weeks, so I think it's time to diet.

I've been hearing a lot about the Dukan Diet. It sounds similar to Atkins, but healthier and more realistic. I know a few people who have had success with it. I didn't think I could do it while nursing, but I found a modification that is supposed to still allow you to lose weight while providing enough nutrients for your baby.

I should also mention that I loooooooove sweets. I was nicknamed the "candy fiend" when I was little, and the name still applies. If I could eat anything I wanted, it would be cookies and candy. And cake. And just about anything I can find with tons of sugar. I never really want to eat healthy foods. I also am often very lethargic (big shock, huh?!). (Although God has been helping me a lot with that!!) Since Dukan is supposed to help reduce sweet cravings and increase your energy, it seems worth a try.

Dukan has several phases. The first is the Attack Phase. You lose a lot of weight during this phase (up to 10#!) and it lasts 3-10 days depending on the person. Mine will last only 3 days. I'm using a free app on my iPhone -- iDukan -- to help track my progress. (DID I MENTION THAT I'M ALSO TRYING TO DO THIS ON THE CHEAP?! There's a lot of free info out there, so I'm utilizing as much of that as possible.) iDukan helped me figure out how long my Attack Phase should last. You can do this at http://www.dukandiet.co.uk/.

SO...THE BASIC RULES...

Eat as much as you want from the allowed foods list.

Drink at least 1.5 quarts of water daily.

Eat at least 1.5 Tablespoons of oat bran daily.

Walk 20 minutes a day.

THE ALLOWED FOODS...

Unless otherwise stated, the foods should be les than 5% fat.

Lean beef, veal or rabbit (avoid ribs)
Chicken and turkey (except skin and outside part of the wings)
Ham (low fat and lean)
Beef, veal, or chicken liver
Any fish (except canned in oil or sauce)
Shellfish and crustaceans
Eggs (up to two per day, unlimited egg whites)
Dairy products (low fat, below 2% fat)
Sweeteners (except fructose based)
Vinegar, mustard, spices, herbs, garlic, onion (as spice), lemon juice (only as spice, not for drinking)
Sugar free chewing gum
Coffee, Tea, any drink with 0 calories

I'm not ready to start the diet yet. I still need to shop. But I'm SO ready to not feel like a sausage in my jeans!!! Once I get started, I'll post my daily weight and what I eat, etc. I also plan to post pics - maybe minus my head!! I also plan to get my husband on the diet and I'll post his progress too. But he's shy, so no pics of him!

My progress will be slower than typical, bc I'm nursing. Oh yeah! That reminds me...here are the

ADDITIONS / MODIFICATIONS FOR NURSING MOMS:

eat all of the protein you want (from list)

eat all of the veggies you want (from list) (below)

2 T of Oat Bran per day

one slice of cheese per day

two slices of whole wheat bread

two servings of fruit

1 1/2 quarts of water per day

walk 25 minutes per day (I HOPE I CAN DO THIS! It's hard with 3 kids and usually no sitter, and not sleeping much at night!!)

APPROVED VEGGIES:
Artichoke
Eggplant
Asparagus
Cabbage - all types
Beetroot
Broccoli and Purple sprouting broccoli
Carrot
Chicory
Courgette or Zucchini
Celery/ Celeriac or Celery Root
Cucumber
Leek
Fennel
French beans - String beans
Mushroom
Onion
Palm Heart
Pepper
Pumpkin - Marrow - Squash
Radish
Rhubarb
Salad leaves
Soy Beans
Spinach
Swede
Swiss chard
Tomato
Turnip

Thats it for now! I hope you'll follow along, and feel free to cheer me on!