Am I eating too much?

[Aiionwatha]

Since having my baby 2 months ago, I'm about a stone heavier than I was before I got pregnant. Back then I was 9 st 6 lb, now I'm 10 st 7 lb (I'm tall - 5 ft 8").

I'm breastfeeding but not exclusively.
I can't seem to shift this extra weight.

This is what I typically eat in a day, but according to my calorie counter app it's several hundred cal over what I should be eating.
Breakfast: bowl of homemade yoghurt with sugar free mueali, a tsp of honey and berries.
1 slice thick homemade brown toast - half with peanut butter and marmite, half with marmalade
Coffee
A tiny glass of orange juice.

Lunch: it changes, but usually something like a quarter of a potato and egg tortilla, some salad and a packet of crisps.

Dinner: something like a homemade chicken casserole with brown rice and steamed spinach.

Snacks: a few chocolate biscuits / piece of cake. A few cheese on crackers. I probably have about 3 snacks a day.

Is this a lot?

No magic. Forget calories. You don’t need to count them.

People are overweight because they eat the wrong food.

Dieting whilst BF can cause your milk to dry up please be careful.

Yes, calorie dense food. See how this works.

@Lastlid I agree. Calories in and out is increasingly being shown to be less relevant than what and when you are eating.

I didn't lose that last stone or so until I'd finished breastfeeding - for me that was at about the 2 to 3 year mark each time.

For many women, our bodies will hold onto a reserve of fat in case you're breastfeeding in a famine etc.

You're tall and slim, have just had a baby and are breastfeeding. Relax and enjoy your food.

@Lastlid OP is not overweight in the slightest

OP I am sad that you've asked this on here. This site is basically pro ana now and people express some really unhealthy disordered approaches to eating. You're not overweight. Please enjoy your baby and ignore some of the awful comments here.

It's not the meals doing it it's the snacks. Look for healthier snacks. Or just live and eat the cake.

Is it? That's awful!

3 or 4 harribo! Not worth bothering!

Anyone interested in what are the right foods please view this page and others from a group of GP surgeries in Essex. They are having fantastic success there. They don’t count calories either.

https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/calorie-restricted-diets-why-they-often-dont-work/

@Lastlid I agree too.

I have reached a bmi of 22 on my no calorie counting, unlimited cheese, low sugar eating plan.

It's not helpful to look at food as right or wrong. Everything is okay in moderation but most people are unable to moderate and get fat. For some cutting out entire food groups might be the only way forward but it's by no means the best way or only way.

Absolutely this.

Ffs someone on this thread says she eats 3 or 4 haribo!!!

There is one food group, (the one that we don’t actually need) that too many of us eat in HUGE quantities. We don’t need to consume food that tops up our glucose levels in the vast quantities that many of us indulge in. It is that food group, consumed in large quantities that is making the nation obese, T2 diabetic and along with high blood pressure etc etc. A good number of NHS GPs are recognising this now and persuading patients to adjust their food choices. And having amazing success. Many GPs watching this success are mimicking their methods. They have no choice really, do they.

Would that nasty food group be carbs by any chance. Carbs the ever villain. Better send an email to Japan's Health Minister then. How the hell do women manage to have an average BMI of 21 and men of 23 despite eating rice for breakfast , lunch and dinner, and to add insult to injury, being one of the country with the highest longevity.

Unless of course, there is more tho sickness and obesity than what influencers on Insta tell you.

Definitely not too much. Your diet seems healthy. Your breastfeeding so need to be eating a balanced diet and regularly so your baby gets what they need. It's only been two months since having baby, be kind to yourself.

I had assumed it was processed sugar. We all need carbs.

That’s the myth. Actually we don’t need them at all. What we do need which is very little, can be generated from the food we eat from the other food groups. This is recognised by NHS GP surgeries now in quite a range of localities throughout the U.K. where a huge amount of success is being demonstrated.

@Lastlid do you mean things like bread and potatoes?

Vegetables are carbs. We need those.

Yes. Bread, potatoes, pasta, cereal. They are glucose once consumed.

We need vegetables but the carbs that are in them we don’t need. We don’t in practice need to eliminate carbs altogether. We just need to keep the levels low. Carbohydrates are effectively glucose that is essentially the same as sugar. When you eat a carb dominant diet over many years it takes its toll, the body cannot cope and health deteriorates as we get older. If we keep glucose levels low we can avoid ill health later in life or in some cases earlier than others.

Some of the NHS websites now explain all this and is well worth a look for any mums wanting to stave off weight increases, high blood pressure and T2 diabetes.

Why not take a look at some of the NHS websites that cover this well. The information is out there for us all to read.

I mentioned Hampshire earlier. The New Forest PCN is a group of surgeries in Hampshire under the NHS. They have a lot of useful stuff on this on their website. They cover a number of surgeries in the county and not just one.

https://newforestpcn.co.uk/network-services/diabetes-metabolic-health/

Take your pick on the options including obesity and metabolic disease.

Babies one and two, the weight fell off. Number three, the saying of nine months on, nine months off was very much true. So definitely don’t give yourself a hard time so soon.
Saying that, and looking at your food diary.. I’d have the yogurt or the toast for breakfast, not both. The tortilla and salad for lunch is fine, but I’d save the crisps for an afternoon snack. Dinner sounds good, maybe up the veggies (or the casserole might have lots, I don’t know?) So then you have your three meals plus 2-3 100 calorie ish snacks (so your crisps or a biscuit or a small piece of cake).