"Let Them Eat Cake"

 One of the most common issues that women have to deal with in their own lives is body image. More specifically, many struggle with the issue of weight (myself included). This is even more prevalent amongst women who have had children---not that it isn't a frustration for many women without children. But, if you have kids, especially several kids, your life might look a bit like this (Lose weight, or be wanting to lose a bit of weight; get pregnant; try to stay in shape and eat well but you just feel SO sick and SO tired so all you want to eat is carbs and the thought of a salad makes you ill, so you might have gained more weight than you had hoped; have the baby; don't move much for six weeks because you have to recover from giving birth, but yet you are starving because you are CONSTANTLY nursing and you might even be rather depressed and, darn it, food is comforting; start working out and eating well, but you have a baby, or perhaps two, three, or four, etc. other people in your home that need your attention (hot food? what is that?) Fast forward a year.  Perhaps you have lost the baby weight, and if you have well done. But, there are still those other pesky pounds that you want to drop.  You work, you eat well, you figure your body out, you get pregnant again, and the cycle starts over.  Believe me, I know, I have been/am still there.
   When I got married, I was a mere wisp of a thing (I realize now looking back) and I married a man with the fastest metabolism I have ever seen.  My goal: FATTEN HIM UP.  I only succeeded in fattening myself up a bit. "Don't you feed him?" his family would ask. "No, I steal the food from his fork and eat it myself. Can't you tell?" my twenty-pounds-heavier self would reply.  Baby number 1 is on the way.  Sitting at a desk all day while being pregnant, is not good for water weight and no, despite what some people say, you can't eat whatever you want. Fifty-five pounds later (added to that previous twenty, I was now seventy-five pounds heavier than when I had gotten married two years before. Lost some weight, exercised, ate okay, struggled with infertility, diagnosed with PCOS---one of the side effects of this, by the way, is that it is really hard to lose weight, yippppeeee---have baby number two, deal with it all some more, have baby number three.  Decide that, if I don't lose this weight now, I never will.  Lose seventy pounds. Yay!  I now weigh only way five pounds more than when I got married. Gain back fifteen pounds because I let myself slip into some bad habits, pregnant again. Currently, with baby number four at the age of one, I am working on losing that fifteen pound weight gain that I had before baby number four came along.  What is my point in all of this rambling? To say, "I have been there, I get it, I know what it feels like." I have also learned a lot from all of my mistakes and from the few things that I did right.  I am, therefore, going to share some of what I learned with you.

Strive to be Healthy: I am never dieting. When my kids ask why I am going running, I answer "mommy is trying to be healthy." Because, I am.  I have three daughters and I want to convey to them the fact that I am striving for good health in my life, not dieting because I am stressed or anxious about how much I weigh.

Make a Lifestyle Change: There is no quick fix. You can't just pop a pill and lose 60 pounds in a month. You can't eat like a bird and workout a lot until that weight is gone, and then go back to your old ways.  The weight will come right back on.  And, none of these things are healthy.  It needs to be a lifestyle change that you can maintain over the course of your life. It will be slower, and probably more work, but you will be happier in the long run.

Be Happy With Yourself, Wherever You Are: This might be the hardest to achieve, but it is really important.  Do I currently weigh exactly what I want to weigh? No. But, I am eating well and working out, so I can be proud of myself and, hopefully, someday I will reach my goal. But, even if I don't, I need to not be constantly dwelling on the things that I don't like about myself. Think instead about something positive. "My tummy may not be a washboard, but I like my hair."

Own Some Clothes That Fit Well and You Look Nice In: No, you don't want to buy a new wardrobe if you are trying to lose weight. But, you need to have a few things to wear that make you feel pretty.  Learn how to dress for the body that you have Now, not the one that you hope to have in the future.

Drink Water: In order to lose weight, you need to drink TONS of water. Take your weight, divide it by two, add 16 oz. if you are working out, that is the amount of water you need to drink each day.

Think About Something Else: Don't let this rule your life by dwelling on it continually. Do not worry or stress about what you weigh. Do what you know you need to do to be healthy and live your life.

Don't Watch The Great British Baking Show: All I want to do is bake and eat, especially cake. I advise you stay away for now.