When I started on my journey in January 2013 to lose an extra 50 lbs I’d been carrying around for years, I knew I had a lot of learning to do on the topic of nutrition.
I had just had my third child in May 2012, and you could say I was carrying some baby weight, but honestly I was overweight before I had kids, so this was a much deeper issue for me.
I had read the fun book Eat This Not That a few months prior, and I’ll have to be honest – I was truly surprised by most of the recommendations. I didn’t know if I should eat a hamburger or a BLT. I didn’t know the caloric impact of a sundae or a basket of French fries. I didn’t know which foods had more fat in them than others. I didn’t know anything about nutritional decisions.
Luckily, I recognized the importance of nutritional knowledge to the success of my ultimate outcome, so I resolved to read at least one book each month.
Nutrition Books That Fueled My 50lb Weight Loss Journey
I would consider Eat This Not That the impetus to the realization that I had a lot to learn about nutrition. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a nutritional book because it doesn’t teach you anything about the way your body uses food to function, but it is definitely a good gauge of your nutritional know-how. A quiz book of sorts!
The following books are what really helped me the most. They were all great in their own way, adding to my nutritional knowledge foundation bit by bit in different ways. I have listed them in order of importance, i.e. how much they contributed to my nutritional knowledge and making me better at distinguishing good foods from bad.
Atkins for Life – This book helped me learn a lot about the role sugar plays in our bodies. It’s a pretty technical book, which I loved. This was the first time I found the term “insulin resistance” explained in a way that I could understand.
This Amazon review basically sums up the book, “Atkins argues that low-fat meals are high-carbohydrate missiles, causing the body to produce excess insulin, which then produces fat, slows down metabolism, and tips the scale.” While I don’t follow a low card diet plan, this information was extremely useful on my journey.
I just loved Jackie Warner’s no nonsense approach to weight gain. I could tell I would like it from the minute I read the title. I did, indeed, want to know why I was fat, and she showed me not only why, but how I could fix that problem forever. This book is FULL of practical advice.
I always enjoy watching Dr. Oz on tv because he’s entertaining and down to earth. This book offers the same. It explored (and explained to me) lots of different factors that might be influencing my tendency to be overweight, and it’s full of lots of overall lessons in nutrition and the way our habits influence our weight.
This book covers the mental side of weight gain and explains how stress, genetics, and muscles all interact biologically to determine your body size.
It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole 30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways
The Whole 30 plan is a rather strict set of dietary rules but the exact guidelines aren’t what makes it great. What I learned from this book was a healthy attitude toward food, even the food that you aren’t “supposed to eat.” Now I know how to have a cheat day and get right back on the train without feeling guilty! The advice in this book is GOLDEN.
These five books about nutrition gave me the knowledge I needed to successfully lose 50 lbs after having baby #3. I guarantee they will help you if you are in the same place I was when I started my journey.
___________________________________________________________________________
Read More: How I Lost 50 Lbs After Having Baby #3
___________________________________________________________________________
More Great Reading – Fitness & Nutrition Magazines
In addition to reading at least one new nutritional book per month, I also gave myself permission to purchase a fitness magazine every other week to help me stay motivated during my toughest diet days.
A few magazines I would highly recommend for anyone going through this same thing are:
- Fitness
- Shape
- Muscle & Fitness Hers (my fave!)
- Eating Light (lots of great recipes that are big on flavor but nice to your waistline)
- Clean Eating (also great ideas for tasty recipes that are actually good for you, especially if you exercise a lot)
PSA for All Moms!
You may notice that all the links I placed above are to Amazon book listings. If you are going to purchase any of these, I HIGHLY recommend you first signing up for Amazon Mom. Actually, I recommend signing up even if you don’t plan on making a purchase right away. Not only do they have a 30-day free trial that gets you tons of benefits, you can get 20% off diapers PLUS access to tons of digital coupons, sometimes on those very diapers you were going to buy anyway.
If you would like to start at the beginning of this post-baby weight loss series, start here.
This post is included in the Complete Guide for Stay-at-Home-Moms, a collaborative effort by over 50 mom bloggers
