Baby Weight

First of all, I would like to give my love and support to anyone trying to loose weight and/or get into better physical shape. It is a hard thing to do.

Secondly, I would like to share that I am finally back to my pre-baby weight (pre-my 3 year old weight). Although I think our stomach flu of last week helped me get there...

I was very young when I was pregnant the first time and only gained about 25 pounds. I lost it right away...didn't even think about it. Second baby...gained a lot. I decided to be pregnant as much as possible and ate anything I wanted, didn't exercise....I gained almost 40 pounds (I know many people think that is nothing but consider I am only 4 ft 11 inches tall and normally weigh about 118 lbs). With that pregnancy, I had back pain all the time and swelled up like a whale. After losing the initial chunk (e.g. the baby and fluids), I didn't loose much weight at all (I kept a good 5 lbs on in the end). So, we decided to have another kid instead of trying to loose the weight.

Now 3rd time around...I gained about 30 lbs, exercised (up until the day before delivery), and ate better. I thought... I feel great, I look great. I will loose this weight in a snap--I'll be nursing (not that I stopped) and running around after three kids now. And I did loose the initial 20 lbs by my 2 week check up...and didn't loose another pound for 4 months.

What did I do? Besides sweeping away any depression about my weight (couldn't hear or see another celebrity mom who lost all her weight in a week--with the help of nannies, personal trainers, and chefs--did any of those women breastfeed?) and refusing to buy new clothes to accommodate my new size...I started taking classes at the gym (the same gym I had been going to all along and just using the cardio machines--the same gym we picked because of the classes we had never been to). The first class...cardiokickboxing was awful, I thought I would die. The second class..step was terrible, I was just waiting to fall on my face. Then, I did a core class. This is great! Then I persisted on the kickboxing class. I ended up going to the class 2-3 days a week. I have kept this up for 10 months! I love it!

I also tried to watch my diet. Just more fruits and veggies--eating the rest of the baby food doesn't count. I cut out all beverages during the day and drank only water--I allow one small glass of juice and one of milk and an ocassional cup of decaf coffee (I used to down cranberry juice like my life depended on it). I don't drink soda anyways.

I also frequented a Breastfeeding and Weight Loss message board (at ivillage.com). This is a great help. There are other women who don't bounce back in six weeks or even six months either.

Finally, the pounds trickled off. And one year later, I finally lost that extra 13 pounds (that's about a pound a month). So, I lost the weight and can I say my jeans are even a bit baggy! (know that I still have a nice, soft belly there) More than the weight, I am in good shape. This means I can play harder with my kids and be a great example of good health for them.