Hi. Don’t shoot me. But. I gained weight.

It’s not because I got lazy or gluttonous or forgot about my promise to document my weight loss journey. It’s because of…things.

Thing 1:

I get stressed. I eat. Stress food is not kale or smoothies. Stress food is Fudge Rounds and Dr. Pepper. I also realize I would probably have a little more mental clarity if I just ate healthy stuff. This is something I am working on!

Thing 2:

Eating healthy (which for me, is raw vegan) means eating a lot. Fruits and veggies aren’t cheap. When I am diligent about my “diet,” I can burn through my whole supply of fruit in a few days. After that, I despise going to spend more money at the grocery store or farmer’s market on more expensive fruit. However, investing in my health now is definitely cheaper than eating cheap junk, and paying the consequences (read: doctor/hospital bills) later. I am working on this as well!

Thing 3:

This is the big one. I can handle Things 1 & 2, but this particular Thing is beyond my control. I am a nursing mommy. When I started this “diet,” my milk supply went way down. I don’t really understand why that happened, but it did. Also, after a day of eating pretty healthy and increasing my water intake, I began to break out. That’s to be expected as our bodies start to detox, but I know if toxins are escaping through my skin, they’re also likely to be getting in my milk.

Thing 3 is really what contributed most to Thing 1. I want to lose weight, and I know I have the willpower to do it! The thought of having to stop breastfeeding, though, is pretty scary to me. I don’t want anything I’m doing for myself to harm my baby.

Conclusion: I’m going to need to slow down. I can’t quit everything cold turkey or my dwindling milk supply is going to be riddled with toxins.

New plan: Replace snacks with smoothies for a few days, and drink lots of water. After detox has ceased, I’ll replace a meal with a raw vegan one.

Have any of you nursing mothers experienced this? What did you? Halp?