I have always struggled with my weight. I remember my pediatrician telling my mom to make me drink 2% milk in elementary school to curb my weight gain. I remember feeling fat in the 5th grade. There have been periods of dramatic weight loss in 9th grade, summer after freshmen year in college, and when I moved to Asheville. There have also been periods of dramatic weight gain 5-6th grade, freshmen year in college, junior year in college, post breakups, after moving to Dallas, and most recently during my 1st pregnancy. I was about 20 pounds over my happy weight when I got pregnant. Then I proceeded to gain 42 pounds during the 40 weeks of pregnancy. Yikes. Did I mention I’m 5’3″? Yes, that does mean I was about as wide as I am tall. The pic below was at 37 weeks. It only got worse, promise.
Dear First Time Mamas,
Congratulations on your first pregnancy! If you have struggled with your weight in the past you are now feeling the freedom of being able to eat whatever you want and blame it on the baby. Enjoy this to an extent, but consider yourself warned. When that sweet bundle of joy arrives, the weight will not magically go with it. You might lose 12 pounds instantly with a big baby plus water, etc, but the rest will stay and you will have to fight tooth and nail for every. single. pound. So, eat that ice cream for sure, but maybe not every night. Trust me, I learned the hard way.
Love, Becca
Here I am at 38 weeks with my sweet and skinny friend, Whitney. I in no way realized exactly how big I had become until I saw these pictures. I was hoping it would magically disappear after the birth. Not so much.
I started off strong dropping 12 right after birth (just baby/water/etc), then another 10 from breastfeeding in the first few months. Then it stalled out. The Bear was born on May 31, and by October I still looked like this (below).
I gave up sweets in the month of November, joined a gym and Weight Watchers, and started the Couch to 5K program. I lost about a pound a week taking me to Christmas when I looked like this (below). I gained a few pounds back over the holiday which was so frustrating. Jed and I looked at this picture and decided we didn’t want to be the fat family any more. We want to be fit and fun for our kids and our quality of life. The day after Christmas we downloaded My Fitness Pal free app on our phones and I dropped Weight Watchers. My Fitness Pal is basically the same as the WW app, but FREE! So great.
Since Christmas I have lost 14 pounds (for a total of 38) and Jed has lost 20. This is the one downfall to losing weight with your man. They will always lose it faster. Jerks. But seriously, I am so proud of Jed. He has worked so hard to get healthy, and it has been fun to partner with him. We still have a long way to go, but we are on our way. I have 4 more pounds of baby weight and then 20 more pounds of pre-baby weight to lose before I reach my goal. I hope to hit my goal of 62 pounds lost by the end of July. That is slow and steady, a pound a week. Jed only has 15 pounds to go, so he should be there by June.
Hopefully next pregnancy I can gain weight at a healthy pace and not put myself in such a tough position. Our hope is to stay active as a family so that Bear grows up with parents who are fun and love to play and teach him the value of a healthy lifestyle. Our goals this year are to lose weight, but to do that by changing our eating habits and portion sizes, and increasing our fitness level. We set a goal of 210 minutes of exercise each week, which is 30 minutes a day. We hope that Bear will grow up without having to struggle with his weight because he has been taught a healthy lifestyle.
What are your weight loss, fitness, or healthy lifestyle goals this year? How are you doing with them so far?
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You are doing great!! Gaining too much weight during my first pregnancy really motivated me to get in shape and now I’m the fittest I’ve ever been 🙂 Just keep up the calorie counting and exercise and you will get there {ps yeah men suck, they just think about losing weight and it comes off!}
Me too on MFP! I started using it daily since January (I haven’t lost much weight, but my body is sure changing…I lost nothing with breastfeeding, in fact, I gained horrendously!) The hubby jumped on board with me. He’s lost 9lbs since last week 🙁 I have lost 1. You can add me on MFP if you want: my name is xraygeek.
But you’re right. Being healthy for our babes is important! I just want you to do one thing really fast: take a look in the mirror and tell yourself “38 pounds”. That is great, sweetie!! You are being healthy, and that’s all that matters 🙂 GOOD JOB!!!
It is just a nightmare isn’t it! I found I didn’t gain too much excess weight with my first pregnancy, because I stayed really active, swam and walked loads all the way through. It was the post-pregnancy breastfeeding time (lots of snacking, cups of tea, cookies, cake, toast & marmalade) when I gained, and then I got pregnant the second time just as I was stopping breastfeeding at 11 months. I gained loads with that second pregnancy and was so scared I was going to have an enormous baby, but she was only 6lb 6oz, the weight was all mine! It’s taken me 6 years to get back to a comfortable weight that I’m happy with and can more or less maintain. I don’t do dieting as such. Portion sizes are key for all meals. Healthy snacks during the day (fruit, dried fruit, nuts, seeds). Evening snacking and baked goods are my downfall. I have found a solution for evenings: I have a frozen pop mold which I keep filled up with frozen pure orange and apple juice pops, I have these in the evenings which keeps my snacking urges at bay (yes even in winter!), kinda weird but works for me!