Nursing Mom Starting Weight Watchers-NEED HELP PLEASE!!!

Honestly if you can go to the meetings you should. Sure, you can go it alone, but your weight loss will be enhanced if you remain committed to your goals with the assistance of your support group.

As far as eating goes, shop the perimeter of the store. This means stock up on fruits, veggies, lean cuts of meats and low fat dairy. Avoid most things in the aisles - they are processed foods chock full of refined sugar and junk, which basically means that they will satisfy you for a short period of time then you'll want to binge on them again. They do nothing but sabotage a healthy eating plan.

If you absolutely must buy the junky food, only buy it in small amounts and pre-portion it into baggies. That way if a craving hits, you won't overdo it on the doritos and you'll only eat one serving. Get a kitchen scale at Bed, Bath, and Beyond - you don't need to buy a super expensive one, may about $10-20 - and measure out serving sizes according to the package.

Make Sunday (or naptime) your cooking/prep time. Make enough baggies of snacks or food for the week, including snacks for your daughter. Set a goal to eat at least 5 fruits and veggies each day. Have a piece of fresh fruit with each meal, have one veggie for lunch, one for a snack, and one for dinner. Right there, you have 6 fruits and veggies. Attempt to eat at least one green salad every day with either lunch or dinner. Also, try to eat 5 smaller meals (3 mains of breakfast, lunch, and dinner with 2 snacks) throughout the day. I give myself one 'cheat meal' a week where I can eat something I normally do not indulge in. I also eat pizza every Saturday - 2 slices with a salad, not half the pizza! My daily indulgence is a dark chocolate Hershey kiss. It is only 25 calories and (as I justify it to myself) has flavanoids and antioxidants good for a healthy heart.

If your daughter has a sweet tooth, make it healthy! Do ants on a log - spread celery sticks with peanut butter and top with a few raisins, make smiley face muffins or mini-bagels - toast a whole grain muffin or bagel, top with peanut butter and sliced bananas in a smile. You can still satisfy her sweet tooth but in a healthy way.

Feel free to PM me for other healthy tips and tricks. A while back I dropped 45 pounds by changing my eating and exercising. I refuse to use any goofy, gimmicky, wacky products or so-called 'cleanses' nor do I cut out food groups or take pills. People ask me what supplements I take and I tell them food - it's the greatest supplement out there!

I agree that getting off the junky foods is essential and weaning yourself away from this feeling of being full. Full is relative. I fyou get used to eating freshly prepared foods processed foods start to taste pretty awful. And of course, you want your children to eat the good stuff too. They won't grow up with a taste for junk as much then. From what I've heard going to the WW meetings are essential for it to work. It's really the support that puts you over the top. Good luck to you.

I did weight watchers while nursing. It's slow but I lost all the weight and then some (and slow is healthy!) I did weight watchers online, there are lots of tips there. I think they recently increased the amount of points they allow breastfeeding moms so make sure you know how many points you should use.

For a treat, I loved the Skinny Cow brand chocolate cones-- they are three points and I found I could resist a lot worse temptations if I knew I had one waiting for me in the evenings.

I totally understand what you are going through, while I have seen many go thru ww but they always gain the weight back. Have you tried Hypnosis? It works! I have seen it myself, you get to learn how to eat better, control stress and lose the weight for ever! Try Positive Changes Hypnosis.

Weight Watchers has a line of cookies and snack cakes in the grocery stores. Also, a great chocolate fix could be fat-free, sugar free chocolate pudding. It also gives you a milk serving. I use chocolate milk made with the no sugar added nestle quick to get a milk serving and to get a chocolate fix. A serving of skim milk is 2 pts, and the nestle quik is 1 pt.

I know of a couple of ways to make cake - or cupcakes. I box of cake mix and one 16 oz can of canned pumpkin makes an extremely moist cake - or a cake mix and 10 oz. of diet soda. Any flavors you want to try.

Good luck

Hi V.,

If your little baby is only 6 weeks old and nursing you really shouldn't cut calories right now - you and your little one need all the energy you can get. Your best bet is to make every calorie count. Cut out all trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. Minimize your processed foods (white flour, white sugar) and drink lots of water. Weight loss doesn't have to be complicated and just reading nutrition labels will do wonders for your waistline. Good luck.

Congratulations and boy do you sound like an amazing person! And tell your Navy/reservist husband one Navymom here sure thanks him. Anyway, how about some of those sugar free puddings or low cal pudding pops. And actually I guess chocolate isn't horrible all of the time, especially the dark chocolate is good for your metabolism so if you slip up and make some chocolate chip cookies I know of a nice fleet of sailors who'd sure love some treats! AT any rate, the weight will fall off as you know eventually, and in the meantime with the ages of your children, probably some biscuits and cookies hanging around won't hurt either. It appears that it's all in moderation. And for mama, you know all that will help you, so try the six meals a day in smaller proportions. Seems to really work. And again, you sound amazing being a mom and nurse and Navywife. Thank you!S.

I've done weight watchers 3 times...before my wedding and after my two kids. Each time I lost the weight and kept it off even though I didn't continue on the program. Anyway, I had beans a lot b/c they were low in points and filled me up. I bought tostadas (great and very low in points), put refried beans, shredded lettuce, maybe a little low fat sour cream and, if I had any, a little Taco Bell sauce. My all time favorite! Also I would make a little salad with kidney beans, canned "fiesta" corn and I took a little fat free ranch and mixed it with bbq sauce for the dressing. Also delish and filling! Soups are great too - very low in points. There are a few vegetable ones that are 0 points! As for treats, tootsie rolls are low in points and those little 100 calorie 3 packs of hostess muffins and great too. The one downside of weight watchers for me was that I felt like I was eating a lot of processed foods and in turn quite a bit of salt. But, I looked at it as only temporary so it's not the end of the world. In the beginning, I was VERY hungry but I quickly got used to never being full...which is a GOOD thing. I would also suggest going to the meetings. They really keep you on track. Best of luck to you!