Planning and preparation

I just wanted to add two more things. First of all, I decided I would divulge my beginning weight. It was almost 163 pounds. With every other pregnancy I went back down to around 150, but with Haddie, I was stuck over 160 that's what pushed me over the edge and gave me enough drive to get serious!
Secondly, my mom told me once that experts say the key to weight loss is planning and preparation. You also have to stick to the plan. I have started making a more detailed weekly menu that includes what I am going to eat for lunch each day. Because we all know that kid food like chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and such isn't exactly weight-loss friendly.
Last year, before Haddie was born, I stumbled across this book called The Everything Meals for a Month Cookbook by Linda Larsen. I didn't do much with it because I was preggie and tired. But I have just rediscovered it, and I LOVE it! If you take a Saturday and make a big pot of your favorite (healthy) soup and freeze it in individual portions. Or a big batch of spaghetti sauce, or lasagna, or any healthy foods and freeze them in individual portions, it makes lunch SO much easier.
I have also been using her methods with dinner and breakfast. I made a quadruple batch of pancakes, flash freezed them and put them in a gallon freezer bag. I did the same thing with muffins. You can also do waffles, breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches and breakfast is so much easier for the kids in our family who don't like cereal. For dinner I make a normal sized portion, split it in two, freeze each one and then I have two meals from one! Last Saturday I picked 15 different meals, froze them each in two portions and. . .wa-la dinner for a month! It's confusing at first, but I'm getting the hang of it and it certainly helps with weight loss if you are prepared!