Nursing and portion size

[gunhild.k]

Hello all, I'm nursing my very hungry 3 month old (100% on demand, no pumping) and am finishing off the Jan whole30 but going to extend it through February bc I'm not happy with my results. (It's my 3rd baby, the two older are already in school). This is not just a post pregnancy reset, I'm looking at changing my habits long term as I'm tired of jojo-ing back and forth.

My two biggest problems are portion size (I feel like I always serve myself too much) and snacking between meals. I have not been able to shake the snacking but I think I'm eating enough at each meal. Actually, I think I'm eating too much. I have not been able to kick the urge to snack at all and I'm wondering if it's my mind playing tricks on me or am I doing something wrong.

This is a typical day:

Breakfast: Vegetable soup, 4 egg omelet with a splash of coconut milk, 1 fruit

Lunch: 2 cups cauliflower rice (baked with some ghee), 1 cup of Mel Joulwan's chocolate chili

OR chicken salad made from 2 cups of shredded grilled chicken, 1 apple, capers, 1/2 to 1 avocado or mayo, celery stalk, leafy greens

OR 2 cups homemade coconut creamed spinach, 7oz salmon, 1/2 baked sweet potato

Dinner: Tomato soup, 4 of the whole30 salmon cakes or homemade meatballs, 1/4 cup mayo.

Snack in between lunch and dinner: waaaay too many almonds.

Though I'm normally physically active (run 2-3 times a week, lift heavy eights 2-3 times a week) I haven't gotten back to the routine yet. At the moment I'm only walking 10-12k steps a day and doing 30 min of yoga every day. And physiotherapy for the pelvic floor muscles - I want to lift heavy again!

I will admit that losing weight is a very important factor to me. I have a size that I like that is normally only attainable through excessive dieting, but not long term sustainable. I was hoping that if I got to a place of eating 3 balanced meals a day I would in time get there (or close) without starving. I'm about 12lb away from there at the moment. During the January whole30 I only lost about 4 lb.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!

 

[jmcbn]

Actually you could probably eat more as an exclusive BFer. the recommendation is for x4 full meals, or x3 meals and some snacks, and many mums sip on coconut milk throughout the day.

That size that you like that is only attainable through excessive dieting, but not long term sustainable is probably that because it's not where your body wants to me, but rather where you think you should be, possibly largely influenced by the medias perception of the perfect female body - which, I might add, is not sustainable for anyone long term who actually likes to eat.

Keep doing what you're doing - fuelling your body efficiently to feed a young human. You're only three months post-partum, and despite what many celebs would have us believe it's perfectly normal for you still to be carrying some weight as your post pregnancy hormones settle back down again and your body finds it's happy place.

That's the overall goal here - balancing out the hormones & removing inflammation to improve overall health. Weight loss is sometimes, but not always, a side effect.