Affective Diet but BLEAH!!! (warning, preg. mentioned -not mine)

[Kandamariano]

As I sip my green tea and long for the days when I had an entire pot of coffee, I feel jealous of my husband's takeout food that he's eating on his break today. I just finished my toaster-oven heated Michelina's dinner and languished over the half-eaten cheesecake in the fridge. Yes, I left it alone, but the fact it was there kind of haunted me.

It amazes me how much I think about food when dieting. I never counted glasses of icewater before, and part of me wants to cave and treat myself because of everything else going wrong right now. I tried putting a picture of a baby on the refrigerator as a reminder, but we've had to keep putting off IVF for so many different reasons. The reality is, we're looking at age issues in addition to my weight. I've heard that being overweight can add years to your fertility age, similar to how smoking affects you. Since this is a one-chance deal, I'm struggling with raising money, losing weight, and organizing my life over the next few months while we build up to undertake our one chance.

I was invited to a baby shower for a family member. She is glowing, happy, and excited about the new arrival who will be coming along next month. My husband doesn't want us to go (it's Jack and Jill) and he's gotten really low about the whole thing. We'll probably not even talk to each other that entire day.

I have lost a lot of weight so far. I have come down to around 223 pounds from 265. Once upon a time, I lost a lot more in preparation for this, but ended up depressed when my husband lost his job a few years back and gained some. Now at 35, I can't imagine how so much time has passed from when we first decided to pursue IVF. I feel like the highschooler who put off a thesis for half the school year, and now it's coming due and I'm not even ready to sharpen my pencils.

[TreeHugger]

Congrats on your weight loss so far. Very admirable.

I give you credit for trying to lose while gearing up for an IVF cycle. What's your secret? I'm not trying to lose so much as I NEED to eat healthier, cut back on coffee and sugar, etc. And the stress of our third, and final, IVF coming up is making me eat everything in sight. It's really bad, and I don't know how to find some self control.

Good luck and hang in there ... I know that giving in makes me feel worse than craving something. Sigh.

Jennifer

[Kandamariano]

Well, what I did kind of sucks. I cut out all caffeine and started drinking green tea and having something to drink at all times. Sometimes, I make watered down Koolaid. I take prenatal vitamins and eat three tv dinners all under 300 calories each a day. . . that's breakfast, lunch, and dinner as tv dinners or entire cans of soup (as long as you stay around 300 calories). Then I allow myself one 150 calorie snack like yoghurt. It works very well but the problem is it gets annoying. I am feeling much healthier and I'm basically doing things like the nutrisystem diet is, but cheaper. I get Michelina's entrees and even breakfast is some sort of pasta or meal. You don't feel hungry, and my doctor says it's really helping me get healthy. I just have to make sure I choose well. It's calorie restriction. The doctor said I could even have one of the tv dinners for my snack and still lose weight if each meal I choose is around three hundred calories and I eat four of them a day. He said the weight watchers and healthy choice is probably better for me because of the variety. I'm still experimenting but you can't cheat really if you focus. I recommend using a toaster oven to heat them up and take weekends off once in a while so you don't go nuts. Just ask your doc and watch sodium and preservatives.

[Kandamariano]

Oh and giving up coffee has been terrible but I understand now that caffeine kind of messes with the metabolism. It's good to stop drinking it anyway because when I get pregnant, I'll have to stop drinking it anyway. The headaches almost killed. I'm doing much better now though.

[TreeHugger]

I'm surprised your doctor didn't suggest eating whole foods instead of processed, packaged foods. For the same calories you could have fresh fruits and veggies, organic protein and whole grains ... nutrients you need when TTC. Just a thought.

[Kandamariano]

The doctor was just happy something was working. It's not like a lifetime diet, and basically this is resulting in decent weight loss at a healthy rate. Raw foods tear up my stomach, but I make sure I get plenty of fiber and take my vitamins. I eat natural yogurt or granola for my snack and I'm still quite healthy. My body is reacting positively with a weight loss of around a pound - 3 pounds a week. That's not "Biggest loser" rates by any means, but its something I can do, something I can afford to do, something I can stick with, and something that is working, so my Doctor is in agreement that this is what is best for me right now.

[TreeHugger]

That's great! That's 1-3 pounds more than I'm currently losing.

I really didn't mean to make you feel like you had to justify ... I apologize if that's the case. I was just curious. I love reading about and discussing nutrition, and I'm sure it sometimes annoys people.

Best of luck with your upcoming cycle!

[Kandamariano]

No problem. I wish raw and hollistic food would work. I tried raw and healthy and it was too expensive with saving up for IVF and made me sick as a dog. I tried Atkins and same thing. Sugarbusters . . . and I felt like I was starving to death. I even tried chewing nicotine gum and overdosing on caffeine. The last twenty years of my life has been the yoyo affect. It's driven me almost crazy. This works thank goodness. I can finally lose weight and get healthy! I think it has a lot to do with having carbs and protein in the morning to be perfectly honest with you. Chicken alfredo is the usual dish of choice and I'm not hungry all the time. I also chew normal gum a lot now.

Another thing I am doing is taking tagamet because my doctor found out the pain in my stomach was because I have bad heartburn and it presents as hunger pains. So my body would think I was hungry when it was just a sore tummy.

Now, the big complaint I have is my waist is all stretched out and since I'm losing weight it's looking funny and deflated. I guess when there's a baby there, it will get really pulled out of shape. LOL.