Calories Overload!

It is really not easy to keep within 1800 calories! And I don't even mean 'special occasions' like when I'm back at my mum's.. Example of a regular 'good' day:

Breakfast: a slice of wholemeal bread (74) with peanut butter (75) and a cup of milo (100) - 249 calories

Lunch: white rice (normal portion) with a chicken/fish/egg dish 520 calories 

Dinner: white rice (normal portion) with a chicken/fish and a vegetables dish 520 calories

Snacks:

1 cup of low-fat coffee-flavoured milk 193

Isotonic drink (100+ after exercise) 83

Banana 67

Grapes 111

Hot green tea 5

Pokka sugarless green tea 0

Total for the day = 1648 calories. 

And that is my minimum if I don't take any junk or extra snacks!! One junk snack will tip the total over the top!!

But since I'm breastfeeding, I will definitely top up to 1800 if I haven't hit that by after dinner. And I definitely eat something whenever I feel hungry, cos I don't want baby to end up hungry too!

But... Imagine how difficult it would be to lose weight just by dieting if I were not breastfeeding.. Calorie intake probably shouldn't exceed 1500..? Aiyo.. Hope I manage to slim down while still nursing so that I won't have to suffer hunger! 

Today is the third day that I have seriously tried to keep to 1800 calories.. And the first time that I succeeded..  

Monday: had kaya buns for breakfast. Many calories.. Then as I was inexperienced and unprepared and had just started eating dinner at 6pm (instead of 9pm), I was very very hungry by 8pm.. By then I was only left with my daily portion of grapes for a snack.. Ended up eating cup noodles at 10pm : /

Tuesday: had McDonalds hotcakes meal with mocha frappe for breakfast! Sure die of course... But at least I had better control over the distraction of calories for the rest of the day, and I wasn't really hungry at night.... But but but I still felt like eating something! If I felt hunger, I would have eaten, no question, because I need to eat for my baby. But.. not hungry!! Urmm, ended up eating some chocolates.. : (

Today, it's 8pm now, and I have only consumed 1361 calories!! My grapes are still waiting for me, which is another 111 calories... Then I can still anyhow eat another 428 calories!! And I am NOT even hungry! (But gotta make up to 1800 no matter what. Cannot risk meimei's well being.)

Learning points: 

1) One high-calories meal is enough to bust the total for the day. Especially when I can't just skip meals for the rest of the day because I'm breastfeeding. 

(I will skip meals if I indulge earlier in the day when I'm no longer breastfeeding!!)

2) Need to plan how to spread the calories over the day in order to keep within the max, without having to go hungry. 

(Once I stop breastfeeding, I don't mind going hungry!!)

3) Need time to get used to eating different amounts of different types of food at different timings. 

(The body is amazingly adaptable!)

I must endure..!!

Electronic Weighing Scale

Came across this website where the blogger slimmed down from 90+kg to 60+! 

She started on her journey in 2008, so it's not a very updated blog, but it was still a nice read. And I got a very good piece of advice - get an electronic weighing scale! 

http://kaithequeen.blogspot.sg/2009/05/how-to-get-started.html?m=0

Using my old weighing scale, I thought I had dropped 2.5kg to 57.5kg... But ya, that type of reading has too much room for error.. Human error.. Deceiving myself.. Parallax error.. Etc etc.. Electronic one is more accurate. 

Sigh. Wayyyyy to go......

Changes in Routine for a Slimmer Mummy!

Used to eat dinner at 9pm after the boys went to bed and I finished nursing meimei (who is usually already very sleepy by 7pm+ and has to wait for her brothers to go to bed at 8pm before I can attend to her). Then still had to wait a while for the food to settle before going for my run at 10pm : (

Now I eat dinner with the boys at 6pm. This means that I can go for my run once I settle meimei around 9pm. 

It is definitely less demoralising cos I no longer have to run so late. 

Otherwise I would reach home around 11pm, and after cooling down, only finish shower around midnight. (Soooo late!)

It also means I'm eating more healthily since I won't be eating hawker food for dinner anymore. Additional bonus of eating less cos I'm not a very good cook, ha! And it's fattening to eat too late at night! 

(Previously I looked forward to having a nice yummy albeit sinful dinner at the end of a stressful day. But now I'm more stressed about being fat.)

But since I'm breastfeeding, I shall allow myself to eat a small supper at night.. something like yogurt, banana, milo, plain crackers, etc. 

The second big change in routine is to do a exercise DVD in the afternoon. Initially I was hesitant about how this would affect the kids. But then I thought, if I heard about another sahm taking a one-hour break to do her own stuff every afternoon, I definitely wouldn't think it was too much!

Will be doing my exercises after lunch, when Didi and Meimei are napping and Kor Kor is watching his daily dose of DVD. Thus I'll only be 'neglecting' him for 30 minutes max. Not too bad la, he will get a happier mummy in return, heehee :p

By exercising in the afternoon (instead of at night), I will be making full use of the increased metabolism for the rest of the day. (Exercise ups the metabolism which stays up for quite a while even after the exercise ends.)

Having done my exercises early in the day, I feel good for the rest of the day too! : ) I can also have a proper rest at night and prepare for the next day's play activities. 

But I'll still be continuing my runs! Running = calorie buster!! Die calories die! But will cut down la, maybe just twice a week since I can only run at night. 

Exercise Part Two - DVDs

Started borrowing exercise DVDs from the library 2 weeks ago and I have found them to be very useful! Especially since I can't go to the gym or meet up with friends to play sports. 

I will be using different DVDs every few weeks since they are from the library. No point buying cos from what I read, the body adapts to physical training very fast, and thus it's more of a workout by not sticking to one same workout. I'll do a simple review on each as I try them. 

This was the 1st DVD I tried. It was way too fast for me to keep up. It's not about the fitness level (which can be trained).... It's my poor coordination.. Cannot catch up! That's why I like running haha  

A friend recommended taebo and I happened to come across this! So lucky! : )

Much easier to keep up. The instructor herself just had a baby 10 weeks before she did this video, and she was very encouraging throughout the exercise. Still a good workout though! Muscles aching everywhere :p

10-minute workouts - very suitable for me! Cos I have to keep pausing to attend to the kids :p The instructor is also very nice : )

I wanna try a proper taebo DVD soon!

Counting Calories

No, I'm not counting every calorie that goes into my mouth. Instead, what I usually do is to do a tally at the end of the day to get an idea of my calorie intake. Gosh, I didnt know that some foods were so high in calories! Eg lor mee is 500+, fried fish bee hoon soup is 700+!! In contrast, fishball bee hoon soup is only about 300. Drinks is another 'hidden-calories' killer.. Since I realised this, I have cut out Pepsi which I used to drink 1-2 servings everyday, and cut down on other soft drinks, juices, milo (which I started drinking a lot when I was doing confinement) and coffee. I now drink sugarless green tea when I need a cold drink, and hot green tea in place of milo and coffee. 

I have been using the iDAT app by HPB to keep track of calorie intake. It's very useful cos it includes most local foods. Another useful website is this

http://www.nutrition.com.sg/do/dolocal.asp

As I am breastfeeding, I need to consume a minimum of 1800 calories per day (according to many websites). Thus calorie counting also helps me to make sure I'm eating enough to produce good milk for my baby. 

Exercise Part One - Running

I started jogging in early June, and now I'm up to 5.5km. I attempted to go for a run every night but sometimes did not manage to do so as I had to factor in meimei's feeding times. For instance if she had not woken up for her feed by 10pm, I would forgo the run as it was too depressing to go out so late. 

However, even when meimei's feeding time wasn't an issue, I also ended up going out around 10pm.. The boys went to bed at 8pm.. I finally had time to attend to meimei.. She fed till about 9pm.. I ate dinner (which my hubby bought back)... Rested a while for the food to settle.. 10pm left house.. : (

 

And because I planned to run every night, each day I felt crappy thinking 'still gotta go run at the end of the day...'....

After 3-4 weeks of this, I decided to only run on alternate weekdays. Thus I was able to have a better state of mind on the other days - 'ahh.. I can rest once the kids go to bed'.. It was easier to get by with days of rest, and I looked forward more to the runs : )

I also discovered that isotonic drinks are quite high in calories! One can is about 190 calories..!! And a run of 5km is only about 300 calories lor... But I still drink some la, cos I must make sure I'm in the best state to produce good milk for my baby. Just not drink too much, and only drink if I run at least 5km. 

I am also using a very useful app called Runkeeper. It uses GPS to track the distance covered and also provides info like duration, elevation, pace, etc.. And it's free! 

My Weight Loss Journey

Gosh! It has been 4 months since my last post! That was about the time when I started going to my in-laws' every weekday in anticipation of meimei's birth. I was probably too tired to blog then. 

Now, we have settled into a routine with 3 young children, and my foremost concern is my weight and size. As with everything else that I do, this means a lot of reading - books, magazines, Internet. I'm only at the beginning of the journey, but I'm confident I will definitely lose all the baby fats (though I might not get bak my prebaby hips), so I wanna share my 'tricks' here for others who also want to slim down : )

Some history first: I started exercising when baby was 2 months old. But I only ran 3km once a week for the first two weeks, partly to ease into the habit and partly to allow my body to get used to the physical exertion. 

Good thing was, my stamina and muscles adapted pretty well. I guess mentality plays a big part, cos I do like running and I see myself as a lifelong runner. Unfortunately, my knees didn't take it so well.... I suffered very bad pain during and after the runs.. Initially I attributed to i) age; ii) weak joints due to pregnancy & childbirth; iii) too much sports in my younger days.  

But very luckily, the pain disappeared after a few weeks! Perhaps it was due to the glucosamine supplement which I started taking recently... But I think it was probably because the pain was caused by the sudden increase in exercise.. :p I am very happy, and shall continue taking glucosamine just in case. Prevention is always better than cure!

Oh ya. My weight at 2 months post- baby was 60kg..... >.<

My aim is 50kg. So that's 10kg to lose. No fixed timeline cos I'm still breastfeeding and baby's health is priority. Not gonna do anything funny until I wean her around 1 year old.