Friday, July 13, 2007

Pregnancy Weight

"There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it... "

 ”You see, before he came down here, it never snowed. And afterwards, it did. If he weren’t up there now… I don’t think it would be snowing. Sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it.”-Edward Scissorhands



Since I wasn't here on July 2 I thought I would go ahead and answer the question today.  And here it is; July 2: How hard was it for you to lose your pregnancy weight and keep it off?




For me losing the weight has been pretty difficult.  At first I couldn't understand how I just couldn't drop the weight in a snap.  I was 24 when I had Sweet Pea and I thought my metabolism was still fast enough to help shed the pounds-WRONG!  If anything it became as slow as molasses.  In my younger days I didn't have a problem maintaining a healthy weight or even being able to loose a couple of pounds, and now I was still carrying all this fat.  Ok so with Sweet Pea I gained 30 lbs and only lost maybe 10 lbs.  So I went from being 130 lbs to now 160 lbs-and this was very hard for me to deal with.  I have a chubby face and this only made it worse.  But the realization of how I looked came after I saw some pictures of myself at her 1st birthday party-OMG!  I kind of started watching what I eat and I was working and I was able to shed some fat.


Now onto when I was prego with Chunky Monkey: I think I weighed around 150 lbs and gained 20 lbs so now I was a whopping 170 lbs.  As of now I weigh 165 lbs and I look bigger now then I did when he was first born; or at least I think I do.  Maybe my weight has redistributed itself.  What I do know is that I hate looking at myself naked in the mirror.  I just don't find myself as attractive as I did before my kids, but I know how lucky I am to have a husband that not only thought I was sexy while pregnant but he thinks I'm sexy now even when I don't.  I wish I could say that with this May Challenge I've really stepped it up a notch but I haven't.  I work out only 1-2 times per week and don't always watch what I eat.  I know how important it is for my health for me to loose the weight, and I want to teach my children the importance of staying healthy.  Now don't think I want to be a size 5 or something but I would be happy with either a size 8 or 10.  I went from a 14/16 to now a size 12 and sometimes on a really good day I can fit into a 10.  I just need to be committed to change in my eating lifestyle and realize that I'm not 18 anymore and I can't always eat what I want.

4 comments:

MGM said...

Uh...try being 31 with the first and 34 with the second. I started out heavier than I'd been in years before I was even pregnant the first time. Then I developed hypothyroidism after Son was born. Did I mention that I gained 50 lbs with each of them? I did manage to get it off between, but it took 18 months. Two weeks after I had reached 2 lbs from my prepreg weight with Daughter, I discovered I was pregnant again with Son. He is now 18 months old, and I guess that's the magic number with my body. I am now again about 2 lbs above my prepreg weight with Son, which is 4 pounds above my prepreg weight with Daughter.

I try to remind myself that in the nearly 5 years since I became pregnant the first time, I have progressed from age 30 to age 35 AND given birth to two children. To be carrying around 4 extra pounds from where I was 5 yrs ago is not so bad, all things considered. I'm not done losing though, I'm sure of that. It keeps coming off without any effort because my thyroid problem is being treated and because it kills me some days trying to keep up with the wee ones. I don't always have time to eat and rarely have time to finish a meal.

Yesterday I got two compliments. A colleague remarked, "Are you shrinking, or what?" I've lost 25 lbs in a year and 3 months. It's been slow, but steady. Then a teenager I counsel didn't believe me when I made a comment about being an old 35 yr old woman (I'm actually close to 36, but who's counting).

YAY! It's been a miserable year and a half in terms of self-esteem and body image, but I'm feeling good these days! I eat what I want, which pretty naturally includes a variety of healthy foods, because I feel better when I eat that way. I do have a sweet tooth, though, and I love pizza. I eat what I want whenever I am hungry. I don't do structured exercise, just chase my kids and go for walks with them and play at the park with them. If I tried really hard, I probably could be a size 4 or a size 6 again, but I haven't been there since nearly a decade before I got pregnant, so why beat myself up for it now?

Ya know, hypothyroidism is really common in post-partum women. Check into the symptoms if you are curious. Especially you have any other symptoms.

Above all, treat your body well because that's what makes it work well and feel its best, and remind yourself what your body has accomplished by bringing two children into the world. It doesn't get any more beautiful than that!

Catwoman said...

Yeah, it's definitely hard! But I think it's unrealistic for any of us to strive to be the same weight we were at 18.

I'm definitely nowhere near there. But at the same time, it's about being in a place that YOU are comfortable with, so I hope that you get there, so that you don't have to worry about it as much! :) I know I'm working on it too! :)

Tracy said...

I think that's been the hardest part for me too, remembering that I'm not 19 anymore. I even kept my favorite pair of jeans that were baggy on me at 19 and now I can't squish one leg in. I'm 28 now and I swear I still feel like I'm no more than 20.
About the weight distribution, I think you're right. I don't think that anything goes back to it's normal spot that it was in before pregnancy.
Stick in there. The one or two times a week is better than nothing. I think you're beautiful though. Inside and out!

Jesse said...

Thanks ladies for all the nice words. See I knew I could post about how I feel about myself because I knew y'all would either understand or have words of encouragement. Y'all are awesome! My kids are worth the extra pounds and sleepless nights because I can't imagine my life without them, they're great and I love them.