Weight Loss and Nutrition From a Mother's View
When you have a child, as a mother, you do everything possible to make sure your child is given the best nutrition available for that child. You may do some research on breastfeeding your baby verses giving him formula. As your child grows, it's important to make sure your child is given a proper, nutritionally, well balanced meal even down to the snacks that you give your child fruits are better than cookies or chips. Suddenly, as a parent, you become your own nutritionist. You know how much food to give your child so he does not over eat.
You make sure your child has enough protein so he can build his muscles well while growing up or enough vegetables for the vitamins. Should a child come inside reaching for a snack before lunch or dinner, you tell that child it's not time for a snack or it's too late for a snack. When he pulls out too many cookies, you cut it down for a normal portion in order not to have too much sugar. As a mother, you also become a trainer, of sorts, for your child. They need to be outside because the outdoor air is good for them or they need to get some exercise to burn off some of their energy. However, even with all of this knowledge being used towards your children, somewhere in your head, it becomes lost when it comes down to taking care of yourself. As adults, we know we are eating too many foods that will pack on those regretful pounds but we do it anyway. What happens with those words, "your getting too many cookies put some back" or "it's too late for a snack"? As a mother, you portion control everything your child eats and yet, as an adult, you forget what a portion actually looks like for a normal size adult.
When you go out to eat as an adult, nutrition seems to be thrown out the window and what becomes important is "how much am I getting for my dollar being spent". Next, we jump on a scale because our clothes are beginning to fit really snug and realize we've gained way too much weight! So what do we do next? We go spend more of our hard earned money for some type of diet plan to tell us or show us what we really knew all along. What a portion size looks like again. What should we be eating for a snack? How to plan a well balanced diet in order to get adequate nutrition for our bodies. Oh, and yes, they remind us that in order to lose the weight properly, you will need to exercise at least three times per week for at least 30 minutes each time, in order to burn more calories than we are taking in during the week. It just seems so odd that when it comes down to raising our children, as mothers, we are the experts.
However, as for taking care of ourselves as adults, we have to pay someone else to be the expert when the knowledge given really isn't that much different than how we raised our children. When planning a diet, or a healthier way of living, think about what you would feed your children. Plan a well rounded balanced diet. Make sure you cover all of the basic food groups, even down to the snacks you eat and at what time of the day or night you are eating those snacks. When planning your exercise, which again, you should plan on at least doing something three times a week or more, plan something that will keep your interest. Like a child, you may enjoy playing some type of game or sport, such as tennis, racquetball or get involved in some type of team sport such as soccer, softball or football.
Even for an individual person, there are so many ways to exercise that you could do something different every day of the week, from an exercise DVD to one of the newer WII games that provide exercise. Something as simple as walking for thirty minutes can give you the exercise you need and also help give you more energy. I find that when I'm exercising, not only does it help increase my energy, but it also improves my overall attitude and outlook for the day. At any rate, bring back that motherly instinct. Think about the meals you would plan for your children. Would you let them have that snack? Also, would you tell them it's time to turn the television off and get busy doing something more productive? It is really all basic knowledge that lies within most moms. However, as moms, it just needs to be applied to ourselves.
Belinda Gomez is a stay-at-home mother of 3 boys, and enjoys writing in her spare time. You can learn more by visiting her blog, Decisions of Weight Loss http://decisionsofweightloss.blogspot.com
