The Life Long Battle of Losing Weight

I lost all my baby weight and then some with Weight Watchers. I have counted my calories before, and I think weight watchers is just easier and more effective. I work out when I can, but it hasnt been necessary to lose weight considering I dont do it regularly. I need to get on that! lol. I am not trying to lose anymore weight, but I was losing about 2 lbs a week until I reached where I wanted to be. I personally think its the best way, and I think its fun. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!

Counting calories (both eaten and burned) and creating a deficit should give you the results you want. Sometimes label are sabotaging our efforts by being understated in calories or by listing multiple servings of an item in a small container. You would expect that to be ONE serving, but when you read carefully it might be three... Just double-check everything. Another good free website where you can keep track, find an online buddy or recipes is: www.sparkpeople.com.
Do you look/feel thinner? Don't go just by the scale, go by a pre-pregnancy pair of jeans - do they fit? Maybe you gained some muscle mass and that's why the scale is not moving.
Lastly – mention your struggle to your doctor, maybe he can run some tests (i.e. tyroid).
Either way, just aim to be healthy and active for your kids, the weight loss will eventually follow.

I'd also recommend seeing a dietician. They can take a look at what you're eating, what you like to eat, and make suggestions on how to incorporate those into a weight loss plan.

I can tell you this, though. Your body is like a thermostat, and it will adjust to your caloric intake. An adult should very rarely need less than 1800 calories/day - usually that is a sustainable goal for weight loss. Anything less is really for people who are less active because of medical reasons.

Everyone I know who does Weight Watchers swears by it - including most dieticians I know.

I've had a harder time getting back in shape after baby number 2, but I had some serious medical conditions and have hit my mid 30s, thus my metabolism isn't what it used to be.

Good luck. Just make sure you're looking to change your lifestyle and not just a diet. If your body thinks you only needs a certain amount of calories to survive, it will adjust to that amount of calories. Once you go back to a higher caloric meal plan, you'll gain all the weight and then some.

I have a great diet: http://www.cinchplan.com/healinghappens
It works, but...... a diet is personal. In my opinion a diet can work, but learning how to eat will insure that your success lasts. So, it's one thing to go on a diet, and another to educate yourself on portion sizes, etc...
The other thing is training the brain. There are techniques to learn to "think" like a thin person. If you have always been an over eater this is something to consider. If you have trouble losing weight because of metabolism, etc... but are good at following the diet, then the diet link above alone should be a shoe in for you.
Contact me if you would like to discuss it.
All the best on whatever you choose.

Losing weight has always been an issue for me too. So I know how frustrating it can be when you're working your butt off and not seeing the results you want. I have two kids as well, my second being 10 months old. From what I've heard, and now am experiencing, losing the weight after the second one is harder. And if you're like me, even if you lose some weight, your body doesn't quite look the same as it used to.
My suggestion, or at least what has worked for me so far, is to stop weighing yourself all together. Unless the number is that important to you, I just go on how I feel (both physically and mentally). I have found that once I stopped looking at the scale, I began to look more closely at the particular PARTS of my body that I wanted to change, rather than feeling overwhelmed and fat all over. Then would focus on that area for a while, and move to a different part. Of course you always have to go back to the original workouts you started out with, but at least you're not overwhelming yourself with the huge job of an all at once, all over makeover.
If it helps, cause sometimes it does for me :), remember that you have done an amazing thing with having children. Your awesome dedication so far to better yourself is an admirable thing. Hang in there!

Sometimes you need to trick your metabolism into thinking differently. Eat mmore calories a couple days then eat less than you would need for a while. Don't overeat all the time though.
Plateaus are frustrating. Also if you look into Weight Watchers it will guide you as to eactly how much you should be eating. THe bottom line is if the calories you take in are less than what you burn you will lose weight unless your thyroid is out of whack or there is another underlying medical issue not diagnosed.

There is a whole lot of evidence these days that strongly suggest that many of people's weight issues are directly related to how much Omega 6 to Omega 3 they consume. Due to mass agriculture, our cows and chickens are not being fed grass (source of Omega 3), but are rather being fed corn (source of Omega 6). As a result all our meat and dairy are Omega 6 rich and Omega 3 deficient. All oils and spreads that aren't derived from olive, canola, or nuts are Omega 6 rich. Check out the studies, they are truly fascinating.

I don't know if they have this where you live, but recently I signed up for a fitness boot camp. I've always been athletic, but like you, the second baby really did a number on my body and I wasn't losing weight using the traditional methods that always helped me before (same things you're doing). I figured, what the heck, if the boot camp doesn't work, then I'll just resign myself to being this size. Well, I'm 3 weeks into it, and WOW is my trainer kicking my behind! My jeans are a little looser and I feel like I finally have some stomach muscles in there. The thing is, having a trainer and a small group of other moms is really helping, because the trainer pushes me to the point where I literally think I'm going to throw up. Harder than I would ever push myself! Having the other moms there is great because I can see that they are working just as hard as I am, and nobody feels sorry for themselves. I think the key is, you just have to push yourself to your breaking point. There's really no easy way! I think you're on the right track, it sounds like, but maybe if you can afford to splurge for a month, try a boot camp and see if that will "get you over the hump." I justified the cost this way: if I didn't lose the weight, I'd need to buy a whole new wardrobe. Boot camp is cheaper than a whole new "fat" wardrobe. =) Keep up the good work, and good luck!

Hi J.,
I've been an athlete all of my life (competitive figure skating for 16 years, complemented with dance, cross-training, etc. and I continued the pursuit of physical exercise in my adult life with Triathlon). I had 2 kids and some pretty severe feet injuries over the last 8 years, and had some issues with hitting plateau after plateau where it seemed like the harder I pushed, the less things changed. It took a registered dietitian and consistent food journaling, coupled with a radical change to my cardio workouts in order to jump-start my metabolism again.

This doesn't have to be super-expensive. It sounds like you belong to a local health club, so talk to their Personal Training department and schedule a consultation. Take a print-out of your Calorie counter journal with you. Also, if you'd rather not spend the $$ on that, just look at your gym's group fitness schedule and become a cardio-junkie (5x a week of Cardio). Weight training classes are great, and necessary - keep doing them, but nothing gets you going like cardio! Get a heart-rate monitor and take a Fitness test to see where your heart rate training zones are (everyone is way-different). Burning the maximum calories will happen in Zone 3 (under your anaerobic threshold). I love step classes, but they hurt my feet injuries, so I stick to Cycle classes mostly, and typically burn about 600 calories each class.

Also, increasing your cardio work, means you'll need to adjust your diet accordingly. A body needs complex carbs for fuel, so don't skimp on them!!!! Eat a bowl of oatmeal, a whole wheat English muffin with Peanut butter, etc. about 1 hour before your cardio work. Then, re-fuel with a carb/protein mix within 45 minutes after. (I like fruit and yogurt smoothies with protein powder, or fruit and cottage cheese.) I eat an 1800 calorie/day diet most days in the off-season and 2200 calorie/day diet during Tri training season because I burn more like 1000 calories in those workouts. Make sure you take your multi-vitamin.

I'm not a Personal Trainer, just an avid athlete who has learned through trial and error how to change my body during difficult times. Feel free to message me if you have questions.

C.