new mom in a slump

**Outback Jess** · October 29, 2006, 03:49 AM

Re: new mom in a slump

Hey Amby,
Welcome! Girl it sounds like you are in a major transition in your life. #1 Transition having a baby and caring for it...#2 Going back to work and still having that infant and their infant needs and schedule...Now you are bringing Atkins into your life, and it's like having TWINS...in the beginning there is so much to read and figure out, and then planning meals, shopping organizing and eating foods, drinking all your water and exercising. Then throw in managing all of our emotions and induction flu symptoms...THIS IS ALOT ON YOUR PLATE!

Congrats on choosing this way of life, but it is a way of life!
I would encourage you to be patient with yourself and realize you are still getting use to the big picture, baby and work.
I would encourage you to get the food organized and focus on that.
I would encourage you to get a min. of 64 oz of water and as you begin to meet that objective, and keep up with everything else, then add to it.
I would encourage you to exercise 3 times a week, and then add a day at a time as your life allows.

You are a brand new mother, not getting all her sleep, and going back to work and you are highly stressed and still finding your way with all the balls you juggle.
Take this one step at a time, FOOD, then the WATER, and then the EXERCISE so you can really WIN and start to see the positive effects. Try to do it all, and you might not do so well, get frustrated and quit...Quitting will get you nowhere. Aktins is not a quick weight loss diet, it is set up to be a way of eating, a way of life. The key principals of water, diet and exercise are things that must be specifically adopted...As you begin to loose weight and feel good, the next phases allow for customizing! But, all of this comes as you develop in this way of life.
Do what you need to do, to make this journey stick. The weight will come off, but most importantly there is a really wonderful do-able lifestyle that can be developed that is highly prized above weight loss.
I want to see you win! I want to see you here Jan 1, thriving and enjoying your life and child

**cleochatra** · October 29, 2006, 06:51 AM

Re: new mom in a slump

Are you nursing your baby? If so, you might want to hang back out of induction and follow maintenance during that period.

If not, your general feelings of tiredness are the induction flu coupled with new baby. The feelings will subside! Congratulations on your new addition!

**G-Mom** · October 29, 2006, 07:34 AM

Re: new mom in a slump

I was going to tell you the same thing, but Cleo said it already. Ketones can be dangerous to a newborn.

Can you go for a walk around the neighborhood with your baby? Get your hubby involved too, he can help! Have him watch the baby, so you can get some alone time. This is a great way for Dad to bond with baby.

I know this time in your life is tough. I can't imagine having a baby at 22. I could barely take care of myself at 22. Best wishes, dear!

**2big4mysize** · October 29, 2006, 07:56 AM

Re: new mom in a slump

some of what you are feeling can pe post partem depression so talk with your doc about this.

ketones are not dangerous for babies, heck neonatal brain tissue uses ketones ofr buildingblocks. What is dangerous is if the baby is niot processing its internal sugars and building up ketoines of its own making to get to ketoacidousis a sign your baby is type one diabetic.

you do need to make sure if you are nursing your body is providing enoung cals for the baby to thrive because the human body's reactions to less food is to shut off nonessential for that body's life functions and making milk ofr babies is not essintial for your life. you also need to be sure you have an adequte supply of vits and minerals (wich will be lacking on induction eating) for you and the baby since you inly get one chance to grow them right!

remember exercuse is any new to you activitiy so ifd y'all don't walk the baby then that would be a great exercise. you can use your baby as a weight and do some upper body weight training by lifting him over heat holding him out in front etc

Since you are sleep deprived and sleep is needed for weight loss ask somebody to help you with one of the late night or early morning feedings so you can get some shut eye.
fix meals in bulk and freeze or refrigerate then for quick on the go eating.

hope you are getting your vits taken.

**amby1510** · October 29, 2006, 12:03 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

Thanks everyone for input! You all gave me some great ideas and words of encouragement.

I stopped nursing around 3 weeks and begin this WOE after that. I made my husband get up with the baby this morning so I could catch up on some ZZ'ss. I am feeling better already. It also helped that I was looking forward to hearing from all of you. I am really going to try to stick to my goals today. I have decided coffee is my friend and it will give me the jumstart I need in the mornings. I have been adding splenda and carb countdown choc milk to it. I have been wanting to take my baby for a walk, but where we live has been cold. Today and yesterday there were 20-30mph winds. It sucks really bad. I will just start my workouts and if they get interupted then they get interupted. As for my husband helping out, he does pretty good sometimes, but he is usually working on things he wants to do "home projects" and so that doesn't always work out.
I drank my coffee, feel pretty good, and started drinking my water. I am feeding the baby and then I will get myself something to eat. I plan on going into my workout after that!

**Outback Jess** · October 29, 2006, 12:18 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

Great to hear back from you Amby. Sounds like the sleep did you good...Build slowly and think long term and healthy...You will find the best way to get it all done! It's something that takes a little getting use to, but your routines will start to comet together...Your committment sound strong...
Good luck to you!

**2big4mysize** · October 29, 2006, 12:42 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

good for you getting some sleep.

since it is cold out is there a mall near by you can walk in? also remember as far as weight loss goes it does not matter if you do 3 10 min exercise periods or one 30 min and actually the more shorter periods help weight loss cause you get the post exercise pumped up metabolism 3 times instead of 1 time. now as far as cardio vascular health goes the cardio docs like 20 continuous mins but work up to it cause you got body reshaping and hormones from post baby carrying and birthing going on too.

remember this isn't a race to return to prebaby weight this is a life long commitment to health and a smaller you so you and DH can grow old enjoying yourselves and spoiling all the grandkiddies.

**DAWNIMMEL** · October 29, 2006, 01:13 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

Amby, I remember when my daughter was born, I went through a similar situation you are. I went back to work after six weeks, but I only worked two days during the week and weekends. I also had an hour commute each way and a colicky baby. I also suffered from post partum depression which wasn't talked about then like it is today. My husband would get up for work at 4 am so he couldn't care for her. My saving grace was that she would sleep late on the mornings I wasn't getting up at 5:00 to go to work, so I would feed her at 4:00 then she would sleep till nine. I was lucky. I exercised a lot, it helped with the depression. All I can say about the exercise is try just 10 to 15 minutes twice a day. Oh to make you laugh, I went from a size 2 to over 200lb with my pregnancy. We didn't know I had hashimotos. Best wishes to you and your family.............Dawn

**G-Mom** · October 29, 2006, 01:35 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

Amby, you may want to use cream instead of carb countdown milk. It's higher in fat, lower than carbs and more natural, which is all better for weight loss.

**G-Mom** · October 29, 2006, 01:38 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

ketones are not dangerous for babies, heck neonatal brain tissue uses ketones ofr buildingblocks.

I see what what you are saying, 2big, but I have never read anything definitive that it is ok to be in ketosis and breastfeed. I did find this ongoing study however:
http://uuhsc.utah.edu/obgyn/documents/13822_tidy.html

With this info: Since women on a LCD may have elevated ketones in their milk this may change the smell and taste of the milk, possibly affecting the amount of milk the baby will drink, and this may decrease her milk supply. The ingestion of ketones by the nursing infant is probably not harmful, since it is known that a baby will use ketones from a fasting mother for energy without any known problems.

**amby1510** · October 29, 2006, 02:08 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

Well the plan I had since the last time I wrote didn't work out lol. I am writing this with one hand as I feed Liam with the other. He should go to sleep after this feeding since he's been up for awhile. He is such a sweet heart!

I was on the Atkins diet maintenance when I found out I was pregnant Jan 06. I stopped and gained weight pretty fast. I was then diagnosed with toxemia (pregnancy induced high bp) it was horrible!!! I was on bed rest a month before I had him. Before i was diagnosed I didn't really do much physical activity because of how horrible i felt not knowing that it was my bp all along. I gained 70-80 lbs during my pregnancy!!! I knew as soon as it was over with I had to get back to this WOE.

I know some of depression off and on I have has to do with the fact that my body feels so foreign to me. It has changed so much and I guess I expected too much too fast.

Thank you all for the support. It kind of brought me back to reality and made me realize it does take time and I do have a lot going on right now. I tend to be hard on myself and think I should be able to do EVERYTHING. It doesnt help also that a girl from work had her baby 1 week after me and you cant even tell she was ever pregnant. SHe hardly gained anything and can fit back into her prepregnancy clothes. She is so skinny and here I am feeling like a big huge cow.

Well got to go, Liam's asleep! Need to take advantage of the time.

Thanks everyone!

~ Amber

**2big4mysize** · October 29, 2006, 02:13 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

that taste thing is funny since every food a mother eats will change the taste of her milk.
but even as that study says they have shown that baby=ies can and do use ketones for fuel..

Many folk seem to be overlooking the fact that carbs in milk are called lactose and those are made in the body not taken directly from the eatten food and deposited in the breast milk supply any more then the protein in the diet is shoved into the supply unchanged. All low carbers have sugar in their blood stream and make sugar every minute of every day as the supply demands it. we just don't bolus an extra supply every meal as high carbers do.

**2big4mysize** · October 29, 2006, 02:16 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

Originally posted by amby1510

Well the plan I had since the last time I wrote didn't work out lol. I am writing this with one hand as I feed Liam with the other. He should go to sleep after this feeding since he's been up for awhile. He is such a sweet heart!

I was on the Atkins diet maintenance when I found out I was pregnant Jan 06. I stopped and gained weight pretty fast. I was then diagnosed with toxemia (pregnancy induced high bp) it was horrible!!! I was on bed rest a month before I had him. Before i was diagnosed I didn't really do much physical activity because of how horrible i felt not knowing that it was my bp all along. I gained 70-80 lbs during my pregnancy!!! I knew as soon as it was over with I had to get back to this WOE.

I know some of depression off and on I have has to do with the fact that my body feels so foreign to me. It has changed so much and I guess I expected too much too fast.

Thank you all for the support. It kind of brought me back to reality and made me realize it does take time and I do have a lot going on right now. I tend to be hard on myself and think I should be able to do EVERYTHING. It doesnt help also that a girl from work had her baby 1 week after me and you cant even tell she was ever pregnant. SHe hardly gained anything and can fit back into her prepregnancy clothes. She is so skinny and here I am feeling like a big huge cow.

Well got to go, Liam's asleep! Need to take advantage of the time.

Thanks everyone!

~ Amber

good for you rethingking things. Curious why you stopped maintnenance since that is a very healthy way of eating during preggo. there was even a dietician who worked for Atkins that wrote articles about it while she was preggo with her twin boys.

Oh and congrats on your new bundle of joy.

**amby1510** · October 29, 2006, 05:19 PM

Re: new mom in a slump

Thank You!

There was a couple reasons I stopped Atkins when I found out I was pregnant. 1.) A lot of people around me were not supportive of this WOE and when I announced I was pregnant, the first thing out of many of their mouths were "you need to stop your diet". Even though I explained over and over how Atkins is a way of life and I was on maintenance they did not understand. I felt extremely pressured to stop. My mother would pay attention to what I ate! I was also a little concerned myself after they started saying this and I began to question whether I would be able to continue Atkins and still provide my baby with all the nutrients.

2.) Of course after a while I got major cravings and I decided that this is the one time in my life I can gain weight and it be ok. I wanted to live it up and give into my cravings.

I regret it big time now!!!!

Oh and by the way I have drank 60 oz of water already

and got 20 min on the elliptical machine! Now I am going to do my crunches!!! It feels good to get the endorphins going again!

Thank You everyone for the encouragement, you really helped me and probably prevented me from quiting.

~Amber

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