Weight loss - no longer so balanced?

Well, my balanced weight loss plan has all but gone out the window! We found out yesterday that our 5 week old likely have Cow's Milk Protein Intolerance. Basically that means that her little belly doesn't break down the proteins like it should. So this mama is already officially dairy free. Annnd it's already harder than I thought. I never thought about how much dairy I consume on a regular basis and never knew of some of the random things that have traces of dairy in them - like lunch meat? What on earth?

So my plan for having balance is kinda thrown off. But my plan is to still do weight watchers, but just dairy free. My only fear is truly getting in enough nutritious points to keep my milk up. I am already starving and consuming huge amounts of food to make up for the lack of carbs, sugar, and dairy.

Anyone have awesome recipes to share?

The balance in weight loss

I just had a baby 5 weeks ago. 6 weeks is the "safe mark" to begin workouts and to begin a modified diet.

SO, on the 1st we will be at about 6 weeks and begin both. This is going to be a loonnng journey. I'm exclusively breastfeeding our little one and so I have to lose slowly in order to not compromise my milk. So this will be a weight loss journey full of balance.

My balanced plan is this - 

To lose 31 lbs by the official first day of summer

Workout at least 5 days a week *walking or on the eliptical*

Watch the biggest loser and look at pictures for motivation :) 

Follow the old weight watchers plan with my extra points for breastfeeding

This plan equals out to be 31 lbs in 30 weeks. My biggest struggles will likely be giving up soda and eating so much salad! Here's to hoping I'm successful! I'll do a weekly weigh-in and update on Wednesdays. Please join me in your own balanced weight loss journey and weigh-in with me!

Finding Balance

As a mom, I'm finding one common theme among my momma groups - the need for balance. We are all so quick to identify ourselves with a group or a type of parent that we throw balance out the window. We figure that it's worked for others in that group so it must work for us. But there are some things we need to consider!

* All babies and children and mothers are different! No one method or style of parenting is going to work all the time, with everyone in the family.

* Just because we identify with certain characteristics of a certain type of parenting group does not mean they are our identity. I've known moms labeled at "attachment parents" that ended up sleep training a particularly difficult child. I've know moms labeled as a "hippy" that didn't enjoy cloth diapering. But these moms felt they needed to hide their decisions and their choices from the others in their label group so as not to be judged.

* The moms in the "other" parenting groups are NOT the enemy! We are in this together. We need the support of one another. Just because one moms choices are not the same as my own does NOT mean we cannot be friends. We are different, yes. Maybe our children are vastly different also. But we are not bad because our choices differ. We are just....different.

This blog will be dedicated to finding the balance in life. The balance as a parent, as a financial planner, as a wife, as a lover of Jesus Christ, and many other things.