Introducing Dieter #1: Mamacita

Briefly Introduce Yourself:
I'm MAMACITA. I am a stay-at-home WORK@home Mom & I have baby weight to lose. Just 20 pounds. I am guessing at that number because I refuse to officially weigh-in until Saturday.

Why have you started this challenge?
* I really miss my skinny jeans! I know I could get there quickly if I purchased the MATOL diet, but it is sooo expensive & not deemed "safe" for nursing mothers. I plan to set aside some money in a six-month c.d. and if I fail to reach my goal by my son's first birthday, then I will allow myself to use that money to purchase my diet food. But I really don't want to have to do that. I'd love to have that money for something else, to have as a reward for meeting my goal! So to help myself stay motivated, I am gathering my friends to participate in this six-month slim down.

Tell us a little about your weight history:
* I have always been a little overweight. Not enough to elicit too much teasing in high school, but enough to be invisible to most of my guy friends and to never even be asked to be a bridesmaid. Once I got out of college & started working I lost 25 pounds by joining Weight Watchers. I always thought I would have liked to get more tone, but after getting married & having a baby, I lost my desire to count points. When my husband & I were trying to have a second baby, things weren't going so smoothly in the fertility department, so to cheer myself up I switched over from the South Beach Diet to the pricey MATOL diet. It worked like a charm and I lost about 25 pounds in maybe 3 months. While we were TTC I actually weighed 10-15 pounds less than I did on our wedding day. Much to our delight, I did eventually conceive a son, the apple of my eye, and now I have some extra dimples on my thighs!

What's your diet plan &/or approach?
* It seems like I do really well on carb-restricted diets. Otherwise I seem to eat too much of the processed carbs & then slow down my weight loss. But it helps when I watch my portions, so I like weight watchers or else calorie counting for that. I weigh my food like crazy at home! I also believe I need to eat enough calories and that it is possible to eat too few. And like Weight Watchers suggests, I need to be hitting the gym almost daily. So I am aiming for 30 minutes 4-5x/week. We'll see how that goes with a 3yr old & 5 month old!