“Oh it just falls off.”
“Getting my body back after I had my baby was really easy.”
“You’ll be so busy when the baby comes the weight will just come right off.”
Riiiiiight.
I admit when I had Dean I thought it was just going to come right off. I only gained twenty-four pounds during my pregnancy, but I remained active through it and also watched what I ate…most days…unless I was craving nachos or a cheeseburger. After I had him, my postpartum checkup was when he was seven weeks old. I stepped on the scale at the doctor’s office fully intending to be a few pounds close to pre-baby weight. HA!
I had only lost ten pounds in seven weeks. I basically lost that in the hospital and the whole time I was feeling good about myself…pfft. It was in that moment (and asking them to weigh me again) that I decided it was time to get my body back.
I started off tracking everything I ate, walking the dogs every night and doing what I could between diaper changes, bottles, sleepless nights, etc. I ended up dropping eight pounds in December. When January came and the holidays were over I felt like it was time to step it up. I continued to track my calorie intake and started working out (hard) between three and four times a week; as well as making sure I was active for at least thirty minutes the other days (yoga, walking dogs, tabata at home, etc.).
Baby D will be five months old this upcoming weekend and I am now smaller than I was when I got pregnant. I have lost close to twenty pounds in three months and it was hard work doing so. Nothing came easy and I am still going. My goal is a few pounds away to be to my pre-infertility weight. At first my weight was nothing but a number it was just about feeling good about myself. Now that I am a mom who *wants* their body back and is *willing* to work at it the number means a bit more because I know it is possible to get back to where I was pre-baby.
So when I hear comments about how easy it was for me or how I have no room to talk because I am skinny after baby I just want to say it takes work. No one gets to where they want to be after baby by sitting on the couch when baby is napping. It takes dedication and determination. Baby D and I are out the door every morning at 9am. Sure, he has a few days of rest and staying home, but I pack the baby up and get moving because being healthy and getting fit mean more now that I am a mom.
No excuses.
Teresa is a proud military wife who has survived two deployments and doesn’t think being married to a Drill Sergeant is so bad. Her family is stationed in Georgia and she has been married for almost six years. After years of infertility treatment, she and her husband had their first child by using a frozen embryo after an IVF fail and were featured on TLC’s “A Conception Story” for two seasons. When J is not busy playing Army, the couple enjoys traveling, geocaching, cooking, working out, good movies, wine and now some quality time with their family of three!
