The Baby Weight

I always want to make my blog entries meaningful and fun.  I come up with things I want to tell the world, but then when I actually sit down to type them out, they leave me.  My mother-in-law called me a few weeks ago and told me she thinks I should start a blog about my life as a new mom or something you'd see on Pinterest.  And while I love the idea, and fully plan on doing it...I haven't yet.  The more I think about it, the more I don't think I have anything to really contribute to the Pinterest world.  I don't sew (although I want to; I don't own a sewing machine).  I cook--but I use other people's recipes...I only make slight changes to them.  I'm not crafty, and I'm jealous of people who are.  I have loads of opinions, but at the risk of creating confrontation I tend to keep them to myself.  I'm still searching for my nitch in the blog world.  There are soooo many blogs out there I just can't see my blog being anything really spectacular.  Anyway...I'll figure it out...

Okay, so the topic of this post is about my postpartum baby weight...I gained *gasp* 35 lbs while pregnant.  I was a big girl, and I have the pics to prove it.  I kind of watched what I ate, but not really.  The last half of pregnancy I cut out a lot of sugars and carbs because I was borderline diabetic.  Towards the end I'd say a good 5-7 lbs were easily water weight!  I couldn't fit into ANY shoes and flip flops with the elastic straps barely fit!  But after the baby was born I lost 20 lbs within the first 2 weeks.  I lost another 7 lbs over the course of the next 4 weeks.  I didn't change my eating habits (if anything I was eating more) and obviously I wasn't exercising.  In fact I wasn't doing much of anything except taking care of the cutest little baby.  Fast forward to now (4 months postpartum) and I'm sure my weight has gone up and down since then.  In fact at this moment I'm sure I'm up from the 8 lbs I needed to lose to get back down to my pre-baby weight...ANYWAY...I'm telling you all this to say, that's it...I can't be the chubby mom.  I didn't think it would take this long to lose the weight.  Here is what has been stopping me (well here are the excuses I've been using!)...1) I'm breastfeeding and I happen to read that vigorous exercise can decrease your milk supply .  Now I'm worried about that so I was hesitant to exercise.  However, I talked to two different doctors that assured me moderate exercise was fine...but still.  2) I believe that I need to eat a certain number of calories each day to keep up my milk supply.  (I've been eating PLENTY of calories!  haha)...Someone that had their baby a few weeks before I did said she got down to her pre-baby weight by eating 1200 calories a day!  (I'm pretty sure she's not breastfeeding!)  3) I have a baby!  And she's not the greatest napper, and she doesn't sleep through the night.  Needless to say, mama is tired!  So I just plain don't want to workout.  4) She's little.  Too little to take to the gym and have her go in the Kids Club or whatever that place is...so then where do I workout?  I like to run (on a treadmill mostly)...but that's not very easy with a baby.  Plus the hubs doesn't get home until late.  We eat dinner, give the baby a bath (in our case she takes a shower with daddy) then I put her to bed, and Adam studies until we go to bed.  Oh, and last but certainly not least, 5) I like food.  I do.  It's hard not to eat.  And I like to cook...and I don't like cooking "low fat" versions of "high fat" meals.

So for all of those reasons I've put off really working out...until now...I don't fit into all of my clothes yet.  In fact there is only a handful of clothes that I'll wear.  I can't be this size forever.  I refuse to buy bigger clothes.  So, I'll sacrifice.  That's what I keep telling myself: It's a sacrifice.  I've decided that 1800 calories is a good number, and plenty to keep up my milk supply.  (My sister said she ate 1600 and was just fine.)...So, I don't eat "low fat" foods, because generally they replace the fat with sugar--which is just as bad.  I just eat smaller portions and I don't eat as often.  And I'm trying not to eat too many sweets.  And I've been doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred--everyday, except Sunday.  I do it after I put her down to bed, while Adam is studying I'm in the living room doing my thing...then I shower and go to bed.  My goal is to lose about 10 lbs.  I have a before picture to post (yes, it's hideous, but perhaps it will keep me motivated.  I can't have the world seeing a picture of me being chubby without them seeing a picture of me not being as chubby)...but the picture is on my camera and I've currently misplaced the cord to put it on my computer...so...as soon as I find that I'll post it for all the world to see.  It's a sacrifice.

For now this will be my journey to document.  This will be my contribution to the blog world.  How I lost The Baby Weight.