Here is the first question I asked, your great questions and my responses and my follow up question:
Hey Brooke! I am plateuing and have been for 3 months at 131 which is about 10-13 pounds above my natural weight. I am breastfeeding my second child. With my first child I plateaued too at about 127. Then I stopped breastfeeding my first and the weight came off easily. I do not want to stop breastfeeding right now but would like to continue on my weight loss journey. I do IF (16-20 hr fasting window) NS NF, moderately limit other starchy carbs , limit fruit (maybe 2 apples a week and a handful of berries per week), have 2-3 nourishing, hearty meals full of fat, fiber, protein and greens (if I do have a 3rd meal that one is small) and 1-2 glasses of red wine a week and about one joy eat per month if that. I get pretty great sleep (shockingly! — gotta love my hubs) and I am not stressed out. Is it possible to lose more weight? What are your suggestions? thank you!
Answer:
Hey Scholar – jumping in at Brooke’s request to answer your question.
Take another look at this thought: “I do not want to stop breastfeeding right now but would like to continue on my weight loss journey.” Ask yourself why. What if you plateau until you’re ready to stop breastfeeding? Is that okay? Why or why not? It’s possible that this round of breastfeeding turns out similar to last time. How do you want to think about that possibility on purpose?
My response: why I want to lose weight is because I just want to, I desire to and because I don’t believe this is my natural weight even though I really love myself and my body right now– some of my compelling reasons are– feel like myself, look good in my clothes/ bathing suit, move to my next one big goal, represent what I sell (I am a weight loss coach), I already have a healthy relationship with my body and food so that is healed (did a lot of the work years ago with brooke — obvi there is still some to do in general here! hahah). It is totally totally okay if I plateau until I am ready to stop breastfeeding — truly. But if there were some easy things brooke thought I could do now, I thought why not do them now? it really is just a point blank question – if there is nothing she or you think I could do to lose weight now. – that is totally fine and I am good to go. I want to think (and I actually do think and believe 100%) that no matter what I will lose the weight when the time is right and breastfeeding plays a role in that. Feeding my baby is more important that getting these last several pounds off :). So please let me know what you know about low hanging fruit/ if there is any low hanging fruit to lose weight now – if not that is cool. I am also curious as to what you know about hormones and how they are affected when you are breastfeeding and how that plays a role in losing weight? Thank you so much — I know it is a long one! xoxox