Health, Diet, and Fitness Question!

Well, this is what I've been doing and it has been successful so far. It's also how I lost the weight when I was joining the Navy. (I'm 15 weeks postpartum btw)
1- I drink alot of pop too. I can't drink water. All I taste is nasty canteens from bootcamp. lol. Anyhow, for the caffeine headaches, you must taper down slowly!!! Or take caffeine pills use tapering on those. But, since your body is used to that much, I wouldn't do it any other way. I had to do that when I was pregnant. It takes awhile, but much better than being in pain.
2. As for exercise, I do not ever do my exercise in big chunks. I do 5-10 minutes here and there. My son used to never sleep more than 10-20 minutes, so it used to be impossible. But, if you do those intervals (assuming you get your heartrate up) than it'll keep you burning the calories. Get some ankle weights. Those are great, and you build leg muscle which helps burn calories. I like doing the Wii games for exercise when I have time or pick my son up and dance.

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This is difficult. Loosing weight is a lifestyle challenge but slowly like losing
2 pounds a week is healthy and what will stick!

1. Trying to quit soda? To wean off regular soda, try diet soda. Then to wean off that, try club soda (0 kcal, 0 sugar) with lemon in it. This will give you your fizz in your mouth that you crave!
2. Try exercising in 10 minutes bouts for 3x daily. Like 10 mins. in the morn, 10 mins afternoon..and 10 mins. evening. If not that, then set out 1/2 hour or 45 mins. to a video that you and your kids can enjoy like Zumba or dance videos.
3. For diet, we all know what is healthy and what isn't right? If you are not sure, start by keeping a food diary for 2/3 days and look over it. Then you can see what you should eliminate or substitute certain foods. For example, substitute regular sour cream with fat free sourcream. Or drink fat free milk three times a day as a snack to fill your tummy in between meals. Think of healthier snacks like walnuts, almonds or fruits (apples, pears, oranges). Have whole grains with protien in the morning, then a plate of veggies with 1 whole grain for lunch, and for dinner have protien (fish/legumes/tofu/chicken) with veggies and 1 whole grain.

By the way i'm studying for my license in dietetics so answering.this question was good practice for me!

OH and don't forget portion size!!!! Just eat enough until you are satisfied. Try to eat only when you are PHYSICALLY hungry and not EMOTIONALLY hungry. Huge difference. Knowing the difference between the two...is what will help you.

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1. Eat a little less, Move a little more.
2. Your having caffeine withdrawal headaches. How about tea?
3. Come up with a comfortable and workable w/o schedule and PROTECT that time always. Don't schedule classes, appts. anything....I make EVERY T/TH my yoga days. Saturday's I always fit in a walk/hike/climb/swim/outing with my kids.
4. Checkout the new Zumba videos, probably available at the library now. You're kids will LOVE dancing with you and you all get to work out. Even the infant will enjoy watching and the music.

I have seen a lot of 'tea instead' suggestions. You might need coffee instead, if you are currently getting a high amount of caffeine in your soda. Some soda has a LOT of caffeine (mountain dew anybody?). Others not as much. So depending on what you are accustomed to, you might do better starting out with some coffee and then switching off to tea later on... or using some combination of the two (coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon). Lots of people only drink tea with sugar, and if you are getting that from a restaurant or a drive thru, you are likely getting almost as much sugar/high fructose corn syrup as you would in the soda you are trying to avoid. Coffee is easier to indulge in without the sugar... add some half and half if you need to or lowfat milk.. it'll still have a lot fewer calories than commercially sweetened tea will. You will need to reduce your caffeine intake at some point I assume... but one battle at a time. Sounds like the sugar/calories are your bigger enemy right now.
:)

1 - try drinking tea - green tea as less caffeine (but enough to help with the headaches) and it has great health benefits (http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/health-benefit.... Oh, you might not like the taste of some, but keep trying - there are several types, flavors of green tea and each have the same health benefits.

2 - even 20 minutes, 4-5 times a week is better than nothing. If jogging is too hard on your body, try speed walking. Take the stairs whenever you can... heck take them several times a day if you have some that are convenient. I work in a 20 story building so I would do a set of 20 in the morning and a set in the afternoon.

Remember not to rely on the "fad diets." Healthy living is a lifestyle. A friend of mine lost a good amount of weight just cutting back on the sodas; eating less meat (beef) and taking in more veggies. Eating fresh is always healthier than eating foods that have been processed. Hmmm... if you are able to grown your own garden - that would be a great family/kid activity and you would get exercise with all the squatting, digging, raking, weeding, etc. When my LO gets old enough, she and I are going to take some yoga classes together. As a family, we make it a point to walk in the evenings around the neighborhood for at least 20 minutes. Oh and most important - try to have fun and remember not only are you doing it for yourself but for your kids =)

I quit drinking diet soda last year and it was NOT that bad at all. Took about a week or 2-I don't miss it at all now. I will have it only once in a while and that is enough. I mainly just have water now though and prefer it actually.

If you need caffeine how about iced tea? If you did Green Tea you would be getting weight loss benefits as well! It is not the caffeine in soda that is the problem as much as everything else in it. A little caffeine everyday will not hurt you at all.

If you can afford it join a gym with childcare. This will change your life-I promise!! Most gyms will give you a week trial period for free-try out the ones closest to you. I did this when my kids were little and it was amazing...they loved it b/c they had a chance to play with other kids and it gave me an hour break for myself. I was in excellent shape then. We went every other day.

I've gotten myself off cafine a number of times and a tappering dose is the best way. It only takes a week to break the caffine addiction. Try green tea. it has a minute amount of caffine- just enough to kick the headaches.
With kids I think a piece of home excersise equipment is the key. You can break it up if you have to. I did 20 min 2x/day on my eliptical juggeling a kid. You may need to focus more on diet than excersies until your youngest is a little older. Cutting sugar and white flour products is the best way to curb cravings and lower callories. Add more fiber. If these tricks don't work for you, then I suggest counting calories or joining weight watchers. you my be eating more than you realize.

First off, way to go for trying to take charge of your health! It is always difficult to lose weight/get healthy (I gained 50 pounds with my 1st baby so I understand!) but once you make your mind up, stick with it. I ended up losing all of my baby weight, plus 10 pounds, and this is how I did it:
1. Diet: I tried EVERYTHING. For me, counting calories and following the 400 Calorie Fix (from Prevention magazine) worked wonders. I ate 4 400 calorie meals a day, and it kept cravings at bay (I could eat whatever I wanted, it just had to be 400 calories). It is a decent amount of work for the first 2 weeks (looking up calories, adding everything up, keeping a list, etc), but once you get the hang of it, it is easy and it becomes second nature. I have kept the weight off for 6+ months now following this.
2. Exercise: I started jogging. I found out that I love running and the fast results you achieve from it. Plus I do local 5k races which gives me motivation. And, I can strap my 1 year old in his stroller and take him with me without having to pay for a gym membership. Basically you have to find something that works for you.

Good luck to you, and you go mama!!

Can you walk before your kids are awake or after they're in bed?
I'd cut back on the caffeine slowly or start drinking iced tea.
Cut back on any processed or fast foods that you might eat in the week. Cook from scratch, it'll be healthier!
Good luck!

My son turned 3.5 years old yesterday and I had in the back of my mind that you can only use the "I just had a baby" excuse for three years.

I was a Diet Caffiene Free Pepsi ADDICT. Once I FINALLY listened to all the "diet experts" that said "don't drink diet soda" it all clicked for me. It was such a HUGE trigger for me. All I wanted was either salty or crunchy foods when I drank soda. Now I can't even finish a can and NORMALLY I could down 2-3 without even THINKING. Now my new "drug of choice" is the Bret Michael's Trop-a-Rocka Snapple. The sweetner doesn't trigger me like soda did. Maybe it was the combination of sugar/ bubbles?

I also started mixing in fiber into my water three times a day. I thought for SURE I was going to be able to tell it was in there but NOTHING! Fiber really helps and it's cheap/easy to do. I bought the expensive stuff but the Wal Mart brand works JUST as good!

Good luck, weight loss is such a pain but SOOOOOO worth it!

Weight Watchers is great! Good Luck ....