Tuesday, June 21, 2011

A Loss of 14 Points?!

Oh no!  The day has finally come.  My points value will be changing very soon to the standard 29 per day rather than the 43 per day that I have been enjoying as a nursing mom.  Even though I have been pumping several times each day at work, before I go to bed, and in the morning after I nurse my son, my milk supply has been slowing dwindling down to almost nothing.  I managed to provide milk for my first son until he was almost 9 months old, but my second one is not as big of an eater, so my milk isn't lasting as long.  With all of the milk I have stored in the freezer, I probably have enough to last until he is almost 8 months old - not too bad, considering I went back to work when he was four months old and have been pumping since then.

The funny thing is, although I will miss the bonding I experience while nursing the baby, and it is really convenient to be able to nurse him to sleep if nothing else will work, the thing I am going to miss the most is those 14 extra points I get through Weight Watchers.  Those points have spoiled me during the past several months.  I am used to eating a certain amount and having plenty of points for dessert or an extra snack after dinner.  I feel like now I will have to re-adjust my entire eating strategy as though I were starting WW from the beginning again.  It is almost as though I weren't really on a "diet" before - I was just eating a little healthier.  Now I feel like I am about to start a true diet, which I am not looking forward to.

The good thing is, I only have about 10 more pounds to lose until my goal weight of 145.  I have been stuck at 154 for a month now, and I am pretty sure the reason is that I am still using the higher points allowance for nursing moms even though I am not producing as much milk.  I definitely need to reduce my daily points allowance, but I have been putting it off because I know I will have to eliminate several of my daily snacks and reduce my meal sizes.  I mean, 14 points is a lot of food!  It is about half of the 29 points that I will be allowed to eat soon. 

I am giving myself this week to stay at the 43 point level, but starting Sunday, I will be changing my daily points allowance to 29.  This will give me a week to mentally prepare myself for the change in diet, as well as mentally prepare to stop nursing.  I am just not making enough milk to satisfy my baby, so I know it is for the best.  With all the pumping I do, I am only getting one bottle's worth of milk - a lot of effort for not much return.  I am happy with making it almost 8 months, though, which I know is more than most working moms are able to do. 

I will definitely NOT miss the pumping, though, or having to wash all the pump parts every day.  So, this week, I will say goodbye to my 14 points, goodbye to my breastpump, and hello to more bottles to wash!  Oh, and hopefully hello to a skinnier me!

2 comments:

  1. You're that close to goal? That is fantastic! Surely your new daily points will spur you on to your goal. Good luck!

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  2. Wow! That is a drop in points. When the new PointsPlus program came out last November, I felt like it was Christmas every morning because I'd only had 18 points on the old program. I don't use the extra points though. :)

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