The other day I was listening to The Jillian Michaels Show podcast and a new mom called in. She had a 4 month old baby and was a marathon runner before pregnancy.
She asked Jillian for advice on finding time to hold down a job, be a mom, and exercise.
Jillian sighed and replied that this was the one situation where there wasn't a simple answer. She understood the time constraints of motherhood and gave the new momma tips on how to find bits of time here and there to squeeze in a workout. At the end of the conversation, she said something like, "Now, you can control your diet - that is the easy part."
I hate to say this, but Jillian, I disagree. I can (somewhat) easily squeeze in a 30 minute workout 4 to 5 times per week, before Ina wakes up.
However, I know this sounds like an excuse, but I have found that I am too mentally exhausted to keep track of my Weight Watchers points. I have a good idea of how many I am eating, but with the large amount of calories I am allotted while breastfeeding and running, it is just too much.
When I get home from work I honestly feel like there isn't any more room in my brain to think about how many points I have eaten, and how many more I can eat. I have actually been getting anxiety surrounding the subject, and I don't want to waste anymore of my emotions / brain capacity on something so trivial when I have such a beautiful baby to pay attention to.
So, I have decided to switch from points tracking to Weight Watcher's Simply Filling Plan. You can read more about it here, but basically I am allowed to eat from the power foods list until I am full. I have 49 points a week, plus any extra I earn while exercising, to eat whatever I want (you can call those my wine and ice cream points).
I am going to try the new plan for 30 days (I was so inspired by Kim's 30 day diet experiment turned lifestyle) and report back on what I think.
I can already tell I am going to like it, if yesterday is any indication. I didn't feel like I was cheating, but I didn't have to keep track of anything.
My breakfast and lunch were so boring (not because of the plan but because of my pantry options) that I didn't even take a picture.
Breakfast - overnight oats with vanilla greek yogurt, skim milk, and oats with a banana
Lunch - hard boiled eggs, carrots, and clementines
Dinner - grilled chicken and roasted potatoes, carrots, and onions with 2 tsp of olive oil
Snacks - popcorn and a grapefruit
Run - 3 miles on the treadmill - I earned 7 extra points and didn't use any of them - yet.
Good luck with Simply Filling! I think you will do great. :)
ReplyDeleteHi! I've been reading for a while and feel like I know you, which makes me a total lurker, I know. But I love your blog and your Ina is SO CUTE. Anyway, thanks for this post! I think it's a good reminder to remember that just because something feels like it may not be working the way we thought it should or imagined it would doesn't mean we should toss out the whole effort. This is definitely something I feel like I learn over and over again.
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe, thanks for reading! I have to learn it over and over again too! :)
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