The Mama Perspective | Mum Blog

Yesterday marked 100 days in a row since I started my calorie counting journey. I haven’t done it to be obsessed with the numbers or lose a drastic amount of weight. Here’s why I did do it though.

I have an under active thyroid so losing weight is difficult as it is. And I love my food, a lot! Still, I knew there must be something I could do. 

What made me begin?

I was around one month postpartum with my second child (Jack) and I was thinking about what I could do this time round to feel better about myself. Now, let me just say, my goal wasn’t/isn’t to look perfect, become drastically thin, or appeal to anyone. It’s about me – how I feel within myself. I wouldn’t say I love myself as much as I used to when I was younger but I’m learning to accept my new body and the person I’ve become since being a mum and battling some low self esteem and anxiety issues over the years. 

At first, I’ll admit, I probably wasn’t calorie counting in the healthiest way. I was losing weight so much quicker this time round early postpartum that I was weighing myself daily, sometimes twice. I had to see the number going down otherwise I wasn’t happy. Eventually, I told myself to be less harsh and started to weigh myself every other day, then once a week, and now I’m not sure when I last did. But I remember that the number has stayed the time. Maybe I need to try harder? Or my body might just be where it needs to be now? Either way, I feel comfortable in my body. I’m nothing like my 21 year old self – but I’m not supposed to be. I’ve carried and birthed two children and also grown into a woman. 

Go back a few months ago, I was skipping meals. I was feeling so tired in the evenings that I said I told myself I wasn’t hungry even if I was. Luckily, my husband always knew when I needed food the most. It’s the way to my heart! And he always did his best to get some food down me, if it was tea and toast some nights.

Calorie counting has helped me realise just how much I love snacks and food as if I didn’t know that already. And when you’re married to another foodie, well, it ain’t half the challenge to improve eating habits. We’ve done it together though which has been good. 

The more I entered food into the MyFitness Pal app, I was appalled at the calories on screen as if it was lying to me. It was a “What do you meeean?!” kinda moment. 

Having a calorie deficit and making small adjustments has helped me to reduce the amount of snacks I used to eat daily, be more mindful of what’s going in my body, and also realise the relationship between my food and what that meant in terms of the types of food I thought I wanted. 

What about staying active? 

I’m nowhere near as fit as I used to be. Runner me, who? I’ve thought about the gym. I’ve been before, pre-babies, never as an every day goer but mostly on weekends. Then it became an occasional thing once I had Freddy (my first child). And to be honest, this time round, I just haven’t had a feel for it like I thought I would when I hit six weeks postpartum. I’ve taken the time to listen to my body rather than meeting society’s standards for postpartum life and I feel much better for it. It kinda makes me feel sad that I wasn’t this way with Freddy.

So, after having Jack, I decided to be active in other ways. Chasing two kids around is bound to count as one way, right?! But the other is, walking. It might not sound like much but when your daily steps go from 2-3k to 15k some days, that’s a huge difference. I try to walk wherever I can. And pushing a pram round makes it all the more of a workout! I’m going to miss the benefit of moving around so much when I’m back at work next year so I’m going to try to make the most of it for as long as I can. 

How am I feeling today? 

Today, I’m one stone and two pounds lighter since around the 2-3 postpartum mark. Although, I’ve been around this weight for the last couple of months since my thyroid reverted back to hypothyroidism after thyroxine was working overdrive on my body – great!

You might be wondering why I carried on looking at the food choices I’m making when my weight seems to stay the same now. And it’s because I still care – I want to keep all the hard work I’ve made.

I’ve learned that taking care of myself doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It’s about progress, not perfection. It what feels good for me. It’s a walk with the pram. It’s making a better food choice, but also enjoying the foods I love because I’m making the better choices first. It’s looking in the mirror and slowly learning to say, “I’m doing okay.”

If you’re a mum reading this and you’re feeling stuck, tired, or unsure where to begin – just know, you don’t have to do it all at once. Ha, my husband is gonna give me a look for saying that when I struggle to listen to my own words sometimes! Start small. It doesn’t always have to go smoothly. But do it for you.

Because you deserve to feel good – not for anyone else, but for yourself.