by Lisa Putnam

Created on: November 13, 2009

When I found out I was pregnant I continued to be as active as I possibly could by continuing to teach ballet, working full-time, and being physically active with my family. When I was 5 months along, however, I began to get bouts of severe dizziness. My doctor recommended that I quit teaching my three weekly ballet classes. The same week that I held my last ballet recital was also the last week I worked as a coach at an after-school program. I ended up spending most of my time laying on the couch. The weight started to pile on and by the time I had given birth to my 6lb 14oz little girl I had gained 47 pounds.

I began an exercise program and breastfed exclusively, which helped me lose almost 30 lbs. in the first month alone. The next month, however, I lost 1 lb. I was just as active as before and I continued to breastfeed exclusively, but my metabolism was at a standstill. I decided to do some research and I found some very interesting information:

Avoid caffeine. Avoiding caffeine may be a new concept to many people, after all, aren't diet pills and diet drinks laden with the energizing stuff? Well, it turns out that most of the research on weight loss with caffeine had been done on animals. When tested on humans it was found that caffeine increases the level of cortisol which leads to an increased buildup of fat in the abdominal area! Caffeine also stimulates appetite by triggering hypoglycemia through the sympathetic nervous system causing the person to have high fat food cravings and an increased appetite.

Avoid high caloric drinks such as sodas, juices, and your morning mocha latte. Luckily there are many low calorie and no calorie flavored waters. Try them all because although you might think one flavor is disgusting, another flavor by the same brand may be your favorite. Exchanging your can of soda for a 0 calorie flavored water may not seem like much, but that 180 calories that you just saved will add up quickly. Before grabbing for that diet soda know that it is not only found to cause bloating, but it may also increase your appetite for food, especially sweet food.

Avoid high fructose corn syrup. The problem of HFCS is that it turns off the body's receptors that controls appetite therefore causing a person to eat more! Plus, HFCS is more readily metabolized into fat than regular sugar. Unfortunately, the average American eats about 62 pounds of the stuff every year! Avoid HFCS by reading labels and opting for brands that use real sugar..

Eat 3 servings

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