Womze - Cross Cultural Parenting

After nine months post-partum, I began to worry that my post-pregnancy weight is here to stay.  The first time around, I went up a dress size and I didn’t care.  I simply went shopping for new clothes, got rid of many of those that couldn’t fit and enjoyed my baby. 

At nine months, I stopped breastfeeding and within two weeks, my clothes were sagging around me and I needed to go shopping for clothes again.  That episode made me distrust the claim that breastfeeding helps you to lose weight since I only lost weight after I stopped breastfeeding.  But I have since found literature that pointed out that some people experience the weight loss benefit of breastfeeding after they stop to breastfeed.  I can’t locate that reference now but according to a 2004 study at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, breast-feeding weight loss may be a myth.

In the first six months after giving birth, the study’s 81 nonbreastfeeding mothers lost fat from their whole body, arms, and legs faster than the 87 breastfeeding moms.

My decision to breastfeed however had nothing to do with a promise of weight loss, nor do I think any mother should be base her decision to breastfeed on that.  In fact, losing weight would have been a tall order for me considering how hungry I constantly was.  Nonetheless, I desired to lose the weight, breastfeeding or not and thankfully, the hunger went away with the end of breastfeeding.

Second time around, I wasn’t as hungry as before, both during and after pregnancy.  My lesser appetite may also have been responsible for gaining less weight so that I didn’t go up a dress size, but there was 15 pounds to lose so that I could breath in my clothes. 

With the benefit of experience, I planned to be patient.  “It will fall off after nine months”, I told anyone who cared to listen.  A friend warned me that it wouldn’t be easy because I was younger than 30 the first time and now on the other side of the metabolic divide.  I haven’t seen any literature that cites age 30 as the magical age when metabolism starts to slow.  According to this ivillage article, every decade the body loses more lean body mass to fat and a higher concentration of fat makes it more difficult to lose weight.

The reason you may find it harder to lose weight as you get older is down to changes in your basal metabolic rate (bmr). This drops by two per cent for every decade of your life. Also, you lose 3.2kg (7lbs) of lean body mass with every decade, which is replaced by fat.

Whether my friend is right or not about the difficulty I would face with losing weight simply because I’m now over 30, I decided to be proactive about my fitness and hit the gym.  After 6 months at the gym, I’ve barely lost two pounds. 

Imagine that, two pounds in 6 months!  But I was not discouraged because I could feel the results, I could breath in my clothes.  I could close the buttons on my pants.  I could see the definition of my waist - not striking, but visible.  I could raise my arms up without fearing that I would rip my shirt sleeves.  All good, but everyday (yes, everyday) when I climb on the scale, I find it hasn’t budged. 

Now, I don’t want to be nitpicky since I have achieved my desired results and I’m breathing in my clothes.  But I was bothered, if I can’t manage to lose weight after 6 months of working out (I concede this sometimes involved only one workout in a week or none at all, but some weeks, I got three in), what hope do I have as I get even older.  So I decided to turn things up a notch…address the FOOD angle.  

I was doing okay with food, I thought, until I decided to write down everything I ate.  Walking by the kitchen counter, pick up a packet of crackers, pop into mouth, make baby’s bottle, notice second packet of crackers on the kitchen counter, grab it, tear it open, oh my goodness!, what am I doing?  I’m not even hungry!  It’s after lunch and I’m clacking away on the keyboard at work, I need a break, I take a stroll, to the vending machine, get a pack of Famous Amos cookies, crunch crunch crunch…oh my goodness!, I didn’t even want that! 

I wrote down everything I ate for three weeks, and in that time I lost 2 pounds.  6 months of working out, I lost two pounds.  Three weeks of mindful eating, I lost 2 pounds.  I guess you shouldn’t plan to lose weight without addressing food intake.

I started to visit the gym when my baby was about 4 months old.  I go 2 or 3 times a week during my lunch hour at work.  Three months later, I’m yet to see a remarkable difference on the scale, however, I’m able to fit into several of my old clothes.  Even though the scale is refusing to budge downwards, these are some of the other benefits I experienced from the practice.

1. I felt more energized - I could get to the end of the day without nodding off despite multiple sleep interruptions at night from baby.
2. I ate healthier breakfasts - I would eat some oatmeal or cereal or pack a breakfast sandwich to ensure I didn’t have to exercise on an empy (or sugar-filled) tummy. 
3. I ate healthier lunches - I had to pack my lunch so that I could eat at my desk while I work, since lunchtime is spent at the gym.  This meant I ate what I wanted at the quantity I wanted.  
4. I eat healthy snacks - I pack along items such as bananas, yogurt and raisins to snack for when I’m hungry before my workout.
5. I save money - I don’t spend money on lunch and snacks.
6. I’m well hydrated - I make sure I drink plenty of water before my workout.

While one good habit perpetuates another, the same is unfortunately true for bad habits.  My last visit to the gym was 4 weeks ago.  I had a lot of tasks to complete at work and felt I couldn’t make time for the gym.  So I threw myself into the work and cut out my lunchtime workouts, with the intention of getting back into the routine once my workload becomes lighter.  It has now ocurred to me that my absence from the gym is fueling several conditions.

1. Tiredness - I deserve to be tired if I’m waking up every 3 hrs at night (baby now sleeps through the night), but was less tired when working out.
2. Junk or no breakfast - I’m in a rush in the morning (because I can’t get out of bed on time because I’m tired).  So I get to work on an empty stomach and gobble up whatever muffins or cookies may come my way.
3. Big lunch portions - I buy lunch (too tired to pack lunch), and feel compelled to finish it even when the portion sizes are bigger than I need.
4. Vending machine junk - I make trips to the vending machine for cookies when I need a snack.
5. I spend more money - on lunch and vending machine snacks.
6. Drink less water - I tend to drink very little water unless I make a

   conscientious effort to do so.

Which six conditions do I want to experience?  The answer is easy - tomorrow, I return to the gym.

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Update @9pm, July 16

I did not go to the gym.  I succumbed to several excuses not to go.  The no-exercise-cycle is hard to break.  I did start my day with breakfast, packed my lunch and drank plenty of water.  So I feel that’s an improvement.  Tomorrow…