Monday, 15 June 2009

• How I Stay Skinny & Toned

  From reading some of your blogs, I've noticed that a good bit of my friends on here are girls struggling with eating disorders, and moms who can't get rid of their baby weight no matter what they try. I've offered advice to some of you, after reading your blogs about trying to be skinny. I've had several of you ask me for tips, and thought it would be easier to respond to all of you at once by writing a blog. I thought it might be helpful to others as well, and since staying in shape is something that's always been important to me, I thought it would be a fun blog to write.

  Just so you know my blog is worth reading.. let me start off by saying that I am a mom who weighs 107 lbs. at 5'4. I wear a size 0 jeans, and I am a C size bra.. So no, I do not look like a stick figure or like I am wasting away. I lost 11 lbs. the first week after having my son, and was back down to my old size within the first 2 weeks. But on top of all this, I am healthy. I eat whenever I'm hungry, and I never go a day without eating at least 800 calories.

  When I got pregnant, I was very concerned about my body. I have always been in shape, and it's where my confidence stems from. I've never had beautiful hair, or a model's face.. but ever since high school, girls were jealous of my small figure. I didn't want to end up with a flabby belly or stretch marks. My goal during pregnancy was to gain the smallest healthy amount possible. That way, I would minimize my chances of getting stretch marks, and reduce getting extra flabby skin. They say you should gain 25-30 lbs. while pregnant, so I was determined to gain 25.
  

  I have always eliminated certain foods from my diet. I can't say I never cheat.. but while I was pregnant and shortly after, I was much more strict about it. I didn't eat any fried food, any fast food other than salads or subway, hot dogs, hamburgers, eggs, muffins (they're packed with calories), or soda. I actually decided that the only beverages I would drink while pregnant would be skim milk, 100% juice, and water. I stuck to this almost completely. Very rarely did I cheat. Sometimes while working at the restaurant I would have a tiny cone cup of diet soda, or on the rare occasions we went out to eat, a glass of iced tea.. but to eliminate me drinking these things at home, I never bought them. The only beverages available in our house were milk, juice, and water. It helped my husband be healthier too. I also eliminated most junk foods. If I were going to eat junk, it would be something like tortilla chips and salsa, as opposed to Cheetos or a donut.

  They say you gain at least 5 lbs a month during the last 3 months of pregnancy, so this meant that I could only gain 10 lbs. during the first 6 months. I walked a good bit during the first 6 months, between not driving and waiting tables 4 nights a week. I ate whenever I was hungry, but like I said, healthy foods.

  I ate a lot of pasta, chicken, wheat bread, cereal, and Eggo waffles. Eggo waffles only have about 100 calories per waffle, and are surprisingly filled with nutrition.. even the chocolate chip kind. Not all waffles are healthy. The homemade kind certainly aren't, unless you have a special low-calorie recipe. I learned to eat Eggo chocolate chip waffles instead of cookies, when I was craving junk. They taste like junk, but they don't leave you with that bloated stomach feeling afterwards. I live off of Eggo waffles for real. Cereal is another excellent thing for you.  Eat cereal and skim milk for a meal. Even cereals such as coco puffs and fruit loops are packed with nutrition. Check the calories on any cereal you buy, and make sure it is under 150 per cup. Most cereals are very low in calories and have 20% of at least 10 different vitamins and minerals.

  Eat small portions whenever you're hungry. Many people have a tendency to fill a bowl or plate up with something.. They are usually no longer hungry half way through, but they finish it because it looks good. You don't want to do that. Put some foil over it, and stick it in the fridge for your next meal. It will save you money too.

  By my 6 month mark, I had succeeded at gaining only 10 lbs. During the last 3 months, I only gained 4 lbs. a month, as opposed to the usual 5 lbs. or above. So by the time I had my son, I had gained only 22 lbs. This was all right though. Although doctors say you should gain at least 25 lbs., they say you can gain less if you are overweight. I was not overweight, but I weighed 117 lbs. when I found out I was pregnant. 114 lbs. would have been a good weight for me as well, so it was fine that I gained 3 lbs. less than the recommended amount.

  When I had my baby, I expected to lose 15 lbs. of it. I figured an average 8 lb. baby, the placenta, the water weight.. I would only have 7 lbs. more to lose, and this would be a piece of cake. Well I was wrong. Somehow I only lost 7 of it from giving birth. I didn't understand this, considering my son weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. What about the 11 oz.? That was almost a pound! ..and what about the placenta, and the water weight?? I didn't get it, but it was time for me to get to work. I had 15 lbs to lose, and I was not going to be seen in public until it was gone.

  The first week, I ate only 800 calories a day. Under 800 is considered anorexic. I ate 400 calories a day in food, and the rest in liquid. I would eat 4 Eggo waffles a day. They are more filling than you'd think, for only having 100 calories in them. Also eating 4 very small meals a day is better than eating 3 regular sized ones. I would have a glass of juice every day. V8 Fusion is a great juice to have, because it has a full serving of vegetables and a full serving of fruit in every glass. I would also have 3 glasses of skim milk a day. If I wanted anything else to drink, it would be water. Make sure you take a multivitamin every day while on a diet like this, to make up for any nutrition you are missing. In my case, I was still taking my prenatal vitamins.  Also while eating only 800 calories a day, you don't want to waste calories on junk food. Your body needs all the nutrition it can get.

  As a general rule, don't eat anything 4 hours before you go to bed. It will sit in your stomach all night and turn to fat. If you need a drink, have water. When trying to lose weight, you don't want any calories in your system 4 hours before bedtime.

  Well through this diet, I had lost all 15 lbs. in just 2 weeks.. The only problem was, my stomach was still squish. I looked great with clothes on, and was now comfortable going out again.. but I hated my body naked. The doctor said no exercise until 6 weeks after the baby was born. As soon as the 6 week mark hit, I started running and doing crunches. Well running didn't work well.. It only makes you lose more weight. If anything, it tones your butt and thighs, but that wasn't where I needed it. I needed to tone my stomach. Crunches didn't work well either. My stomach was so weak, that I was using my back and neck to lift myself instead of using my stomach.

  I ended up losing more weight, probably from running and my diet. At 105 lbs, I realized that I needed to stop losing weight. My stomach was out of shape, but if I lost anymore, I'd have to start shopping in the little girls department. There is nothing attractive about a stick figure, and I didn't want to lose my C size boobs I got from pregnancy. This is the problem I see with a lot of girls on here.. skinny girls who are unhappy with the flab on their stomachs. You need to work out you're stomach muscles! Losing more weight won't do shit for you! I cannot stress this enough.

  Well I made a frustrated post on my myspace, labeled "Read if you know anything about getting good abs." I got about 7 responses. I immediately eliminated the ones that involved a gym, buying equipment, or leaving my home. I was stuck home with the baby, and didn't have room in my apartment or money to put the equipment in my home. The best advice I got was do leg lifts.

  To do leg lifts most effectively.. Lie on your back, and lift your legs up without bending your knees. Have someone push your legs down to the floor, but use your stomach muscles to stop them before they hit. Lift them right back up again and repeat. I started off doing 4 sets of 8 every other day. Then I moved up to 4 sets of 10, 4 sets of 12, and finally 5 sets of 20. Now I can do 100 leg lifts a day. I don't do them every other day now. My abs are fit, and I'm just trying to maintain. I tend to slack off a little in the winter too. I try to do them once a week now, just so I don't lose all the work I've put into them. They are pretty easy to get back though. They work really fast. You should see results in 2 weeks if not sooner. They are also pretty cheat-proof. My abs are now firmer than they were when I was in high school.

  Another mistake I see a lot of girls making, is eating the bulk of their food for dinner. So many girls, including myself sometimes in high school, would skip breakfast and lunch, and only eat dinner. Even if it is 5 hours before you go to bed, you are training your body to hold onto it. You do not want to only eat once a day. It slows down your metabolism. I realized this back in high school, and tried something new that worked much better.

  I'd eat 1000 calories a day, all in groups of 200. That's 5 meals a day. A bowl of coco puffs and skim milk is 200 calories. Most 6 inch Subway sandwiches have about 400 calories per sandwich. I would cut one in half, and eat it as a 200 calorie meal with some water. I'd have the other half a few hours later. Don't guess on calories. Find out. I would eat Subway, because they had a guide that said how many calories were in every item on the menu. Some other places do this as well. The nutrition facts on most things you buy at the store tell you how many calories per serving size. Measure the actual serving size. It's probably a lot smaller than you think.

  I guess to sum it all up.. eliminate high calorie foods from your diet, eat between 800 and 1500 calories a day (depending how intensely you are trying to diet), eat several small meals, don't eat 4 hours before you go to bed, and do leg lifts. I wish you all the best in your goals to keep your body in shape.

  I cut my face off of the picture because I looked bad haha.. and I just wanted you to see my toned belly after having a kid. Oh and you can tell it's me because of my tattoos, so you know it isn't someone else's pic. The proof is in the pudding? I guess you could say. Tell me my diet doesn't work.

  

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