About that diet

I started a diet on October 28th. I was desperate to lose this baby weight. As many Moms can relate, baby weight takes time to come off and it can be so frusterating trying to get it off because how many moms have time to exercise while raising little kids? I like to have my babies close together so that gives me even less time to get the baby weight off before it's time to get pregnant again. I can't do a serious diet because I'm nursing so I kinda felt trapped with this weight. I asked my older sister to get advice from her doctor for me on what a nursing mom can do to lose weight. She had a suggestion and I took it.

She said....

Drink 1 gallon of water a day
No sugar including honey
No grains
I also avoided fruits and vegetable that are High Glycemic which means they turn to sugar faster than other fruits and vegi.

I started this on Oct 28th and lost 26lbs in 6-7 weeks. I was loving it. (The weight loss not the diet) I went off it for Christmas and enjoyed myself. I started it again after I got home and all my company had left and I have since lost 12 more lbs in January. That makes a total of 38 lbs in less than 3 months. I had no idea it would come off this fast but the more I saw results the more I wanted to stick with it. I have had some people ask me to post some reciepts and I'm so sorry I am just barely getting around to it.

When I tell people about it they say "No grains, what do you eat then?" I felt the same way when I first thought about it but you just eat lots and lots of fruits and vegi with some meat and you can have dairy and fats. It's really important to eat and not starve yourself. When I first started Avonlea gained 2 lbs in 3 weeks which is some serious weight gain for a baby. I hope that means she was nursing that fat I was burning. I also got "No grains, the word of wisdom says to eat grains." I know that too. I am only going off them for a little while so my body can learn to burn it's own fat as energy and not use the food I eat as energy. I think the gallon of water is so so important. The number 1 thing you can do for losing weight is to drink enough water. You eat way way less when you drink that much because you really don't feel hungry. Also when your not eating "fun" foods you eat less and you don't snack at night during a movie which also helps.  I also learned that I really needed to plan what to eat so I didn't get overwhelmed in the moment.  

Here are a few links to some recipe's we used.  Quinn was so good about searching for new recipes and then coming home with the ingredients and making dinner most nights.

I didn't take a picture of my breakfast but I eat the same thing every morning. I drink 1 quart of water before I eat any food, then about 4 eggs with milk and cheese, a banana, and grapefruit.

These are some things I eat for lunch. Grilled chicken with cheese and I like it with mustard then strawberries and cucumber.

Frozen bluberris with ground beef, tom, bell pepper, and cheese.

This is a dinner worth trying. Santa Fe chicken with mashed cauliflower. The chicken is quite good.  The cauliflower isn't mashed potatoes but it's ok with the chicken.

Chicken Recipe:  We didn't follow the recipe exactly.  No cheese topping and we do at least twice or three times the amount of vegetables it calls for.  Honestly, I don't measure them exactly.

This is a taco, only you don't roll the shell. We eat it with beans or meat. Instead of flour or corn tortilla it's garbanzo beans (or chickpea) ground into flour. It's called socca bread. We top it with salsa or we make our own hot sauce.

 Socca Bread: This recipe is really easy and basic.  You can find it here with more details about socca, or just run with my basic info.

1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) chickpea flour
1 cup (8 ounces) water
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan
1/2 teaspoon salt

This is lasagna but instead of the pasta it has zucchini. It's actually quite good. Make sure the sauce doesn't have sugar in it.

  Lasagna:  Like most all the other recipe's we changed a few things (nothing major at all).  We replaced the sugar with stevia and the flour with zantham gum (you would have to convert the measurements though!).

Almond flour pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup. It was not good, but you are welcome to try it.

This is pizza without crust and baked zucchini slices, both of which are good. We have had them many times. We make our own pizza sauce because most have sugar and I like ours so much more.

Meatza Pizza:
2 eggs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 lb ground beef

I brown the meat about 80% (to drain grease and speed up the cooking) and then combine it with the other ingredients.  Spread the mixture on a cookie sheet.  Top with sauce and whatever toppings you like.  We love a ton of vegi's (spinach, tomato, mushroom, green pepper, olive, etc).  Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes (or more if you don't pre-brown your meat), top with some cheese and broil (top rack) until melted.

And don't forget lots of salad. If you put egg and sunflower seeds it really helps to fill you up. Most Newmans or Annie's salad dressings won't have sugar.