Weeks of pie and cookies are not going to help me shed any of this baby weight so this week I baked something on the healthier side: vegan breakfast cookies. They do have a handful of dark chocolate chips but overall contain good fats and fibre. My favourite thing is that you can pretty much make your own creation – like when you mix your own muesli. (I will try to post the recipe soon but breakfast cookies recipes abound and it’s easy to find one online that suits your palate. All are easy to modify with additives of your choice).
I put in coconut flakes, pepitos, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, ground chia, and chopped dates. I am not someone who thinks that woman should rush to lose weight post-partum but it is also easy to fall into very poor eating habits with a newborn around. And there is this prevailing myth that breastfeeding will take care of all those pregnancy pounds. For many it does not.
It is true that you will be using more calories when breastfeeding but some factors tend to work against a new mum. Firstly with a newborn it is difficult to make meals so you’re always quickly grabbing something with one hand and that tends to be crappy nutrient deficient foods that are empty calories. Secondly, as when woman are pregnant, we can overcompensate for the actual amount of extra calories that are needed and just eat whatever we want. Lastly, with a first child at least, there’s not a ton of running around that needs to be done. With second and other kids that’s not so much the case ;). I easily find myself with 14,000 steps on the pedometer. (north Americans average less than 5,000 and 10,000 is recommended for health benefits which is about 5 miles).
Last time I was almost a year post-partum before I realized how much pregnancy weight I was still carrying. This time I ‘d like to lose the pounds sooner and in a way I can maintain over time. It is very important to me, not that I hit a target weight, but that I can keep up with my kids and participate in activities.
Conflicting Messages 