I was determined not to gain too much weight during my pregnancy. I lost five pounds during the first trimester because I was too sick to eat more than cereal and fruit. When I started feeling better, I made sure I didn’t fall into the “eating for two” trap and stuck to my healthy eating habits and kept as active as possible. This worked up until my final month. I hit 34 weeks and said “Screw it!” and gave into my cravings.
I craved sugar and lots of it! It started off with pineapple and root beer. Not too bad. Then it turned into root beer slurpees. It didn’t matter what the temperature was, I wanted a root beer slurpee every night. There was one day that I asked Ryan to go get me one and he was meeting with a friend and asked me to go get it myself and I lost my mind! I didn’t have many pregnancy meltdowns, but this was one. And yes, he did run and grab it, he’s pretty amazing!
In the final weeks, I wanted ALL THE SUGAR! I would have a slurpee, two chocolate bars, and sometimes a bag of candy every night. Luckily, this was only during the final couple weeks but my body is HOOKED on sugar now.
For the first month I was home, I was eating a sugary treat every single day again. While I was still recovering from surgery and getting used to not sleeping through the night I didn’t worry about it. But now I’m feeling like myself and I’m used to this new sleep schedule and it’s time to break this addiction.
Here are a few things I’m currently trying.
WHAT I EAT, MY BABY EATS
I have been eating a chocolate bar almost every single night. Earlier this week, I went to buy my nightly chocolate and the worker knew me and asked if all the chocolate was upsetting my baby’s stomach. I was shocked because for the last couple weeks he has been having terrible gas at night. He grunted, groaned, moaned, and farted all night long. We were given some natural gas relief drops that helped but I felt so bad for my little uncomfortable guy.
I had never heard that chocolate can upset your baby’s stomach. Within two days of not eating chocolate, his nightly gas has almost disappeared. And I crave it every single day, but keeping my baby comfortable is way more important than my cravings.
INCORPORATING PROTEIN IN EVERY MEAL
I’m trying to make sure that with every meal that I have protein to keep me full longer. I have gotten into a bad habit of scarfing a quick bowl of cereal in the morning over the baby. And it’s not like the cereal I have is nutritious (often it’s the sugary type). Eggs are quick and keep me full much longer.
I also cooked up some protein muffins I found on Pinterest so I have something I can eat while nursing or on the go which has been very helpful too!
EATING THROUGHOUT THE DAY
On days that I miss breakfast or eat too light of a lunch I spend the night stuffing my face. I know that I have to keep a steady and healthy diet while I’m nursing but it’s easy to forget when you’re focused on a little. I have to force myself to eat when I’m hungry, even if it means holding a fussy baby in one arm and cooking up some eggs with the other.
EVENING SNACKS
My sugar cravings hit me the most in the evening. My favourite fitness blogger Belinda Norton suggest sticking to a rich chocolate protein shake if you’re having a night craving. Since I’m avoiding chocolate, I’ve found a mango or nice sweet grapes help with that evening sweet craving.
I’m not perfect! I’m still giving in to my cravings about every other day, but I’m working hard to break this habit ASAP. As I said, after I get the all clear from the doctor at Week 6 I plan to start a 12 week meal plan to help me take off the remaining baby weight.
Please help! What do you do to battle sugar cravings?
