Baby Weight

I have officially lost all the baby weight that I gained with Oliver! Horray! It took me a lot longer than I expected - almost 15 months. I thought that the weight would just melt off with no effort no later than 9 months after he was born. Boy, was I wrong.

Most of the weight did just melt off within 7 months. After I stopped breastfeeding around 7 months, another 5 left. I was left with 10 lbs after that.

Now, I have a few things about the pregnancy to blame that changed some of my habits to keep me stuck at 10 lbs for so long. Number one, I think, was the feeling of being so stuffed whenever I ate during the last trimester (because who wouldn't feel stuffed with so little room left for food in your squished stomach?), so of course when I had more room for food, I filled it with... food. Next, I blame the few scares I had with Oliver not moving so much starting around 6 months gestation. During one of those visits, a nurse told me I probably wasn't eating enough for Oliver to have extra energy to move around and to eat a little bit more every day to see if that worked. Well, when a little bit more didn't seem to work, I ate even a little bit more and more. Oliver didn't increase his movement (most likely, I just had a hard time feeling his movements because the placenta was in the front), but that was when I definitely started putting on the weight. I put on a total of 43 lbs by the end, when they recommend gaining 35-40 lbs. So, I had gained a bad habit and had put on a little more weight than I think I would have otherwise.

Back to 7 months after birth when I still had 10 lbs left to lose. Let's just say I got a few comments from some relatives that left me feeling fat. I decided that I was going to have to change my habits to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I stopped my bad habit of eating until I was absolutely stuffed. I stopped going back for seconds; I stopped snacking; I started watching calories; I started exercising a little. I dropped 5 lbs after about 4 months. There was still the remaining 5 lbs that I couldn't get rid of. After another... comment... I decided that to encourage me to lose the last 5 lbs (and hopefully another 5) that I would enlist my mom to start a weight losing competition just to encourage us. The goal was to drop 10 lbs by February 15th. I started drinking more water and watching my dessert portions. Well, I haven't lost the 10 lbs, but I have at least lost the 5!

I think I will eventually drop the other 5 lbs that I want with exercise, watching my sugar intake, and keeping up the good habits I've made by trying to lose weight. It was a lot harder than I thought, but definitely worth it to fit comfortably in my clothes again.