See there in the title? I made a funny. This is the post about losing baby weight. And the blog is called The Waiting. Get it?
I kill myself sometimes.
A rough depiction of cute me prior to giving birth
So, yeah, having just had a baby, I gained some weight. Some. A lot. Whatever. By the end of my pregnancy with Miss C I had gained 45 pounds. Not too shabby, eh? I really packed it on during the third trimester and I’ve got the stretch marks to prove it. I’ll admit that they are kind of gross and road mappish, but since I’ve never been a bikini-wearer in the first place, I’m not concerned about them. They’ll fade away eventually. I actually kind of like the idea of them serving as a souvenir of my pregnancy. Is that weird?
At my postpartum visit to the OB last Thursday, I was weighed and I’ve lost 15 pounds since right before Miss C came, which I think sounds dead-on. I also got the go ahead to start intense cardio and strength training again, so right after I left the doctor’s office, I made a b-line to the local YMCA and joined up. I went three times last week and burned about 500 calories during each visit.
…..and a rough depiction of me now
I am not someone who enjoys and relishes working out. Just not. I like the way I feel afterwards with the rise of happy endorphins and all, but the act of exercising itself is not pleasurable for me in-and-of-itself. I wish I could be one of those people who goes out running and just loses herself in it; B is, and I’m jealous of him for it. But right now the main incentive for me to go to the gym has nothing to do with sweating it out. I’m going because I don’t want to have to replace all my pre-preggo clothes and because I need to have an activity that I do without Miss C. There’s a nursery/daycare there but the idea of leaving her on all the germ-covered equipment among nasty germy kids makes me cringe, especially when her squeaky-clean dad is more than willing to hang out with her at home while I go. So she’ll stay with him.
I want to lose 40 pounds in addition to what I’ve already lost (and I don’t count those 15 pounds because they were all Miss C, placenta, and water weight.) Forty sounds good because it will bring me to ten pounds below what I weighed before I was pregnant, which I could have stood to lose back then anyway. I figure that as long as I’m losing weight, I may as well bite the bullet and lose those extra ten pounds as well.
I’m giving myself ten months to lose it because it took me ten months to put it on. I’m kind of dreading this whole process because it requires a level of commitment that I don’t really know if I have as of yet, but I’m hoping that working out and my continued commitment to breastfeeding Miss C will make me less of a saggy baggy elephant. And I’m sagging, boy oh boy.
This month also marks the one-year anniversary of my last haircut. Yeah, I know. I have gone without even a trim since May of 2011, and I’m kind of embarrassed about that. I have had super short hair since I cut it off in 2000, and I guess by others’ standards my hair is still short (it’s now a little past my shoulders), but to me it’s long and I HATE it. I feel like Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite because I’m hot all the time and I just want to shave my head.
But don’t worry, Mom. I’m not going to.
She reads my blog and likes my hair long and is not afraid to tell me. Come to think of it, so does B. However, he chooses his battles with me well so he doesn’t put forth energy into convincing me to keep it the length that it is. Such is the fostering of a happy spouse.
But I need a new look, but not because I’m a mom now. OK, so maybe it’s a little bit because I am a mom now. So sue me. I’m thinking something like this:
NOT mom hair. But even if it were, this makes it worth it:
I’d stay an elephant forever, get a heinous haircut, and even don mom jeans for this gal.
The Waiting 
Aw, I am proud of you! I know it won’t always be fun, but I am happy for you to have the time to yourself and to feel like you are taking good care of yourself. I didn’t have a haircut for a year too! Can’t wait to see your new look! Love you!
Thanks! The best thing so far about going to the gym is coming home and seeing her. She is recognizing us now so when we smile really big at her, she always smiles back. Absolutely melts me.
I recommend waiting a few months before picking a new hairstyle. My hair came out in chunks after I had each of my kids, and it can get really thin in weird places. It does grow back, though.
Oooh, good to know! I had never heard that! :) Thanks for the heads-up (and the puns just keep on coming.)
I second becomingcliche on the hair loss. It starts around month 3 and continues through month 6. All the hair that didn’t come out during pregnancy drops en masse, clogging drains and filling the vacuum. Miss C may experience hair loss at the same time.
Best wishes on the weight loss. Breast feeding helps burn tons of calories :)
I am so glad to know about this hair loss! It would be a shame for me to go to a big fancy salon and drop some serious coin there (which I am going to do since I haven’t had a cut in forever) just to lose it the next day.
I share your feelings on exercise. It sucks bigtime donkey testicles. With that, good luck!! And I looooove the haircut, btw. Post pictures when you get it!
I will! Thanks. I’m glad I’m not the only person who doesn’t savor every second of self-inflicted exercise torture.
Awww, she is beautiful! Well done for going three times already, that’s a lot for someone who doesn’t enjoy it! I HATE exercise with a passion but I want to change this after my exams (only one more to go, whoohooo!) and I would like to get into the habit of running….hmm….I think the whole downloading an iPhone app and having a woman motivate me through my earphones is going to help…
Good luck and well done!
Daisy
The app is a great idea! I think I may take a Zumba class (do they have this in the UK?) to up my chances of actually going. I have to be tricked into exercising by doing something fun ;)
Good luck with your exam. You’re so close!
Yes they have Zumba, it looks like fun! I used to do trampolining in the UK but they just look at me funny here in Italy!
Daisy
The hair’s a good idea. Miss C will start grabbing it soon enough–good argument for a crop ;)
I haven’t ever had my fur trimmed but my friend Glen Bear got a haircut from one of the kids once. Does Froggert have fur?
She’s already started grabbing at my necklaces. I can only imagine how amusing it will be once she starts grabbing something that’s actually attached to me!
Froggert does have fur since he is a plush toy (I use the term toy loosely) but it’s so short that I’m not concerned about C cutting it. However, he may or may not have already been used as an impromptu spit rag. I think I’m in the doghouse after that incident.
Love the haircut. Get it! But you will not do the mom jeans, you just won’t. Thank goodness no one will make you choose!
I certainly hope not! Right now I’ll be doing good to just get out of my maternity jeans which I’m still wearing cos they’re so dang comfortable.
The only pants that fit me following the birth of my son were my husband’s. It was humiliating, to say the least.
Pretty much all the t- shirts I’m wearing now are his. I’ll wear my own shirts to the gym, but it is kind of a back fat parade :/
I was a bikini wearer and it took me almost three years to get back to pre-pregnancy shape. I am now as skinny as I was 10 years ago, with a few added “pregnancy souveniers” for good measure. I wrote a blog piece about what worked for me: http://tuttysan.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/the-no-nonesense-diet-watch-what-you-eat/. Pace yourself, cut the hydrogenated oils/corn syrups and don’t get discouraged. It may take longer than you think, especially if hormones and breast feeding are playing a part.
I checked out your post…really awesome! I am so on board with the diet you used. It’s very no nonsense. For me, it’s kind of an all or nothing thing; I can’t really follow a “diet” if it includes sweets and unhealthy oils. I like the satisfaction of knowing I did it right. I also really liked your piece on high fructose corn syrup. So true. It will be the death of us all.
There’s always hope! Love my cane sugar… but then again, I’m Dominican.
I love all sugar. That’s my big problem! However I’ve been enjoying honey lately so I guess that’s a small improvement.
She is such a cutie pie!!
You and I are in almost the exact same boat. I gained about 43 pounds, the majority of which was in the last trimester. Now, I have lost about half of it but am ready to get the rest off. I am going back to teaching yoga at the YMCA and will start working out there. I also want to lose a few extra pounds to get off some extra weight I felt I was carrying pre-baby. We will see how it goes though. You sound like you are very motivated and committed, which is great. Keep the momentum going!
On a side note, you can enroll the little one in swim lessons as early as 6 months at the Y if you are interested. We are really excited about being able ot do that!
Yoga also seems like an awesome way to get this weight off. The Y offers classes in hot yoga which I’ve never tried before but I’m up for anything!
Haha! My Kids are 21 and 24 and I’m still trying to get the “baby weight” off! Sounds like you’re off to a good start and your even being reasonable about your time frame. Look at you go!
(By the way, I hate those celebrity moms that starve themselves during pregnancy, have a plastic surgeon on hand for the tummy tuck in the delivery room and then start exercising 2 weeks later!!! SICK! GROSS! What are they thinking? Apparently they’re not embracing the beauty of being a new mom.)
Celebrity moms can kiss my butt. I just saw a magazine cover heralding Beyonce and her rocking post-baby body. Several thoughts on this. 1, Part of her job is to look sexy so no real woman should hold herself to that standard; 2, Beyonce can afford the best childcare and personal chefs in the world so it’s not all that amazing that she can carve out time in her schedule to work out; 3, you’re not even supposed to start working out until six weeks postpartum, so if you’re back down to your pre-baby weight eight weeks after delivering, you’re for sure not being healthy about it. Last but not least, way to make us all hate ourselves even more. And we wonder why the same women who struggled with body image as girls regress back into self-loathing after they give birth, right when they should be basking in the glory of the miracle of life that their BODIES created.
Well said!! I feel exactly the same way. It’s such a disturbing message, really. Here’s this beautiful little life and they’re obsessing about the way they look. Talk about narcissistic!
Loosing the weight is the worst. I do wish I had at least went on walks while I was pregnant and kept the ice cream down to one pint a day.
I got down to my original weight, but my parts don’t fit into the same places, so I had to buy all new clothes anyway. Boo wide hips. Yay new clothes.
I am kind of wishing I had continued with walks near the end of my pregnancy too. I say that now, though at the time I was so uncomfortable even walking around at museums.
I use to run 3 miles a day every other day. I was a trim 120 but my weight yo-yo’s. Let’s just say exercise is not my friend. I get lazy. For the last couple years I’ve been about 135-140 till I joined the gym. Stick to cardio. I put on so much muscle I gained 15 pounds. Stay away from the weights unless your into that look. I gained 45 pounds with the twins and have lost it all in 8 months. I walk a lot. But I could sure use a good toning but since I’m knocked up again why bother. I avoided stretch marks thank goodness but I won’t tell you what breast feeding did to my boobs. Okay two words boob sacks.
It kind of bums me out that our town is not pedestrian-friendly. At all. I was so used to walking everywhere before I moved here, I didn’t have to do a lot of extra exercise a all. In Korea I probably walked three miles a day, in addition to hiking for exercise.
Ne-te quittez-pas:D It’ll all melt off in time. I weigh less now than I ever did (and gained about 50 for that last one!) – sleeplessness, nursing and then chasing them around helps more than we give it all credit for. Lost gobs of hair the first several months, too, echoing the above sentiments. But ya gotta do something you like, even so. You sound svelte & suave already!
p.s. – I loved the punny joke at the top! And the elephant pics…
Thanks. I love these pics from The Saggy Baggy Elephant. They are so pretty with the watercolor, just had to use them!
My mom keeps telling me the same thing about breastfeeding. I’m crossing my fingers that it works! I’m relying on losing those extra calories from that because I’ve noticed my workouts at the gym are shorter than they were pre-baby. Near the end just want to come home and see C.
My wife got tired of trying to tone up after giving birth to our first kid, so we decided to have another. We’re lazy like that.
Hahaha! I decided to test my husband the other day and I asked him how he felt about having another kid and he just laughed. He passed.
Love this especially the pics !!!
I know! Aren’t they cute?!
Get yourself a nice Pilates dvd/class. I lost my baby weight pretty quickly (like 6 months or so) due to sleep deprivation and an excessively hungry boob sucker, but I still had a fanny pack of fat on my abdomen. So I tried Pilates and I swear within seven workouts I could tell a huge difference (I never had abs and cannot ever recall fitting into a size smaller than an 8, even in high school). So now, at least before I got pregnant again anyway, I still had a little pouch, but it was a young firm-fat looking pouch, not an old saggy stretched out pouch.
And PS- Miss C is top of the cuteness charts.
I definitely have the old saggy stretched out pouch right now. That picture of the elephant is extremely true-to-life. I will try Pilates. I think I am going to try hot yoga too because they offer it at the Y and I’ve heard good things.
I just went to the Y today! We signed up last week. I’m loving the prenatal yoga. I wish I could be one who likes exercise, but I hate it. Stretching and floating are more my speed. Although, I do like beating anyone who’ll race in me the pool with laps. That’s like hiding veggies in food. I have to trick myself to get my heart rate up, too.
Hope your exercises have gone well since this post! And don’t forget, you blow through 600 calories a day breast feeding!