For eight years, I spent many hours in the gym focusing on weightlifting and hitting new personal records. As told in a previous blog of mine, I started off in all body-weight exercises and eventually worked my way up to free weights on top of doing cardio.
I had my first-born son, got the baby weight off plus some. When I had my twin boys, I couldn’t get the weight off like I wanted to. I worked my way up to lifting those 200-pound deadlifts, the 90-pound bench press, and the 155-pound bar squats again. Why wasn’t the weight coming off? I was eating healthy like I was before. Was I really eating healthy like I had done pre-babies? I had to recheck myself.
I’ll admit, I tried many fad diets in these past eight years. I tried HCG, Keto, Mediterranean diets, and more. Then, I decided to read my nutrition labels and count my calories/carbs/fats/sodium.
“It can’t be this hard, right?” Correct.
I researched and studied what these nutrition labels mean in the store. It was a lot to take in.
Please note: I am not a certified nutritionist nor can I advise what to do or what not to do. I can however share my story.
In these past eight years, this is what I learned and what worked for me. This is also what I had to go back to getting rid of that stubborn weight post-twins.
- Shop the outer shelves in the stores where the meats, dairy, and produce are. Inner aisles tend to have items that are loaded with preservatives and added sugars. You won’t believe some of the stuff big companies put into our foods. This brings me to rule number two.
- Prep all your food and cook at home. Avoid “easy” (I know… as busy moms, it stinks). If it’s frozen, has a long shelf life, or involves eating out, try to eat those very sparingly.
- Read those labels! My golden rule that I learned to follow is that if a label has five or more ingredients, I shouldn’t be eating it. If a label has an ingredient on it that I don’t recognize, I put it back on the shelf.
- I adopted this rule from my aunt. My meals consisted of 400 calories or less with 30 grams of carbs or less. My snacks consisted of 100 calories or less with 15 grams of carbs or less.
- Healthy fats keep you fuller for longer periods of time. Think nuts, avocados, or olive oil!
- Research online for what may work for you, get yourself plugged into groups on Facebook (take some of what people post on there though with a grain of salt) or meet with a certified nutritionist.
- Prep all your food and cook at home. Avoid “easy” (I know… as busy moms, it stinks). If it’s frozen, has a long shelf life, or involves eating out, try to eat those very sparingly.
- Drink your appropriate water intake. If you struggle with drinking water as I do, add lemon or other fruit to your water.
- Avoid caffeine or lower your intake. If you must have caffeine, try to watch what you are adding to your drinks. Coffee is a must in my house, and I can’t do black coffee. I got hooked on something called ‘Nutpods.’ If I don’t have that on hand, I got for milk. I add a splash of that in my coffee and nothing else.
- Have a sweet tooth? Try frozen fruit for a snack. I found keeping a bag of frozen blueberries in my freezer for emergencies is a lifesaver.
