I'm never one to advocate "giving up" but I think I need to take a break from all this. For two months, I've been faithfully tracking calories (1500-1600), measuring food, attempting to work out, but I think I've burned myself out. I was awake & out of bed over 8 times last night (I counted) - I have an 11 week old baby, and I also suspect I might have some post-partum depression. I have a killer headache and it's only 10:15am. I think I'm going to make a vow to NOT count calories, not worry about the scale, and not work out for the next two weeks.

While I'm very driven to do this - I think I'm doing myself more harm than good by not resting. Does anyone "take breaks"? I don't see this as falling off the wagon. I see it as a mental health rest.

I'm in the same place, mentally anyway. I've been working my butt of for about a year now and I'm finding that my motivation is lessening every day. I still have goals to reach and I don't want to undo all of my hard work...it's not that I just want to go all out and binge for weeks, my head is just swimming at this point...calories, exercise, water, vitamins, nutrition, measurements...it's all getting to be overwhelming and I think I'm at a breaking point.

I am taking a break, too. I'm still counting calories and trying to work out, but I'm weighing less and resting more. I don't want to push myself so hard that I really do fall completely off the wagon and gain it all back.

Sometimes we all need a break! Your mental and emotional well being are just as important as other aspects of your health.

Considering that your BMI is in the Normal range, why not take a break? That said, I assume you're not going to be taking a break from making good food choices, even though you aren't tracking calories. And I assume you're still going to get some exercise in every day, even if it's not a "workout." If those are both true, then go ahead.

OTOH, if your plan is fast food and couch sitting... well, that won't work out well.

If you think you have depression, you might want to talk to a counselor or to your doctor...

Good luck!
Jay

I honestly think that you should do whatever is best for your health. If that means taking a break from counting/planning etc, then so be it. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. It seems like you're dealing with a lot and it might help if you had someone to talk to. Could your OBGYN suggest a counselor?

Good luck! Hopefully you'll continue making healthy food choices during your break, and perhaps you'll get to do some walking/low key exercise. I'm sure you know that those endorphins are big mood lifters!

Oh my goodness an 11 week old! Oh sweety give yourself some time. I didn't even think about counting til DS was 9 months! By that point I was back to pre preg weight and just losing what needed to be lost before preg. Just do your best eat sensibly when you can and if you're breast feeding give that a chance to do it's own thing. For me breastfeeding didn't equal weight loss until about 3 months. Getting used to being a mom was a HUGE transition for me, I needed time to just deal with that. The added stress of weight loss was not a priority. I promise it all start to come together and things will fall into place. Good luck!

Oh, dear! Out of bed 8 times! I remember those nights. Please, be good to yourself. Give yourself a break. You can eat healthfully and take walks with baby in the stroller and that will keep you in the right direction. Please allow yourself to get some rest, and do talk to your doctor about possible PPD. There will be time for counting calories and logging workouts, but this is not the time...

Completely agree! Now is the time you need to focus on your mental health, being a new mom, the fun moments with a brand new baby
Take some time, and give yourself a break, you're body is going to take a while to get over the 40 weeks of shananigans it's gone through.
I think it's absolutely a good idea to keep making good choices, go on some walks with the little one and leave it at that. You don't need to add on to the stress you're surely going through right now.

If you are feeling like you are going through some post partum depression, absolutely talk to a Doctor about it though - for your sake and babies

Congrats by the way

I took a break when my work got very stressful for a couple of months. It was a kind of a planned break. In the past, I've lost the thread completely when that happened and wound up gaining back everything I'd lost. This time around, I made a conscious decision not to let that happen - to take a maintenance break rather than let myself regress into anything-goes-land.

The good news is, it worked - I took the break and managed not to gain, managed to get back on the horse once the work stress had passed.

The bad news is, I've been back on the horse for 6 weeks or so now, and I am not sure I've started losing again. So, not feeling so hot about this plan at the moment. I am trying to be patient, but the jury's still out as to whether this is going to work for me.

The only reason I can see that you shouldn't take a break was if you were a professional actress or model. You know, where the tabloids would snap a picture of your post baby body. In the real world, that doesn't happen!! You're forgiven for a good two years after baby! LOL!

Enjoy your baby! What you don't want is to look back on this year and have fond memories of hugging your treadmill.

A break right now would not be a bad thing.

One of the best things I did when my kids were little was to nap when they did. I unplugged the phone, put a note on the door, for visitors to come back later, and we all took a nice peaceful nap! It helped so much.

Definitely take a break - you have so much on your plate right now! You don't need any added stress, especially with a new baby and possibly dealing with PPD (please ask for help with this, I had PPD with DS and getting help can make all the difference). I had my daughter in January and didn't start concentrating on weight loss until June...after I had gotten used to dealing with my two little ones and settled into our new routine. You've got lots of time, for now rest and focus on your newborn (and fitting in sleep whenever you can!).

Some people (like me) enjoy the normalcy and control of continuing calorie counting during pregnancy and afterward - not everyone functions like that! Sometimes it is just too much, too much to process or record, too much to watch, one more thing to try and find mental space for when your capacities have been reduced by sleeplessness!

Be gentle with yourself if you need, and do, please do, get checked out for postpartum depression. I suffered with it with my first daughter and it was a nightmare. I hadn't realized how distorted everything was in the middle of it until I looked back and wondered what happened!

Thank you very much for the support. I will be taking a break from this (wonderful) site until the stress in our lives has gone down a little. My husband is right in that I am too preoccupied with my current body image issues and that it is putting too much stress on our family. It's nothing to do with sabatoge or jealousy like some relationship/weight issues do - I really have been too focused on the little things like calorie counting and complaining I need to go to the gym, rather than recovery (I am only 12 weeks post partum) and just sitting down with my husband when the baby naps. . Arguing tonight, words tossed around (the "divorce" word which was the scariest thing I heard in my life), I need to take time away.

Thanks girls. Will see you soon.

Keeping you in my thoughts

Oh wow -- 11 weeks. Yes, you have too much on your plate to be counting calories. I agree with the people who said take walks with the baby and nap with the baby. Right now, just enjoy baby. It's not like you gained a tremendous amount in your pregnancy. It will drop naturally.

And babies are a lot of work -- just surviving the lack of sleep is a job in and of itself.


Hugs.