I wanted to take a week off last week. Not a week off from trying to lose weight, but a week off from having to write about it. I was starting to bore my own self. But anyway, 2 more lbs. I cannot tell you how pumped I am going to be when I get to the 20lb loss mark. That will be when things get real. I am still pleased with 17 lbs, but knowing that I only have 10 more to go will feel amazing.
Now, on to YOU. What I am going to write is a whole lot of unsolicited advice, and all I am hoping to do is to prevent even one person from getting themselves into this mess that I am.
Before I had gained any pounds in my pregnancy, I came up with a weight that I did not want to go above. Well, I blew past that before I was even in the third trimester. And when it was all said and done, I had gained over 50 lbs. I swear to you, I was not just chowing down on everything in sight, every single day. But it was little things over the course of 9 months that added up. I probably had donuts about 5 times during my pregnancy. Prior to that, it had probably been well over a year since I had a donut. Same thing with ice cream. Maybe like twice a month, Thomas and I went to get ice cream when I was pregnant, which I never in a million years would have done before. Also, eating tortillas with my fajitas, drinking more soda, eating cinnamon toast crunch instead of bran flakes, etc.. It was a bunch of little things that individually, on a daily basis did not seem excessive or even all that indulgent. But added all together, it left me with 30 lbs to lose after the baby.
Looking back, I thought that the weight gained with pregnancy would be easier to lose than the regular fat that's been there since 6th grade. WRONG. Every single pound that I have lost has been a huge pain in the ass. It's not like that time you lost 15 lbs in 10th grade, or like that time you stopped drinking for a month and college and lost 10 lbs. It's like you're just an old fatass who has to pull their shit together and make the weight loss happen.
Some people will immediately drop the weight, and some people will even get skinnier than they were before they got pregnant. While, yes, that COULD happen to you, it most likely will not. In general, if you have always been pretty thin without much effort, you'll probably get back there pretty easily after the baby. But if like me, you feel like you've been moderating your food since middle school, it most likely will be harder than it's ever been. Some people also lose a ton of weight while breastfeeding. But it's not the majority. I just want to mention all this because you do not want to go through your pregnancy counting on the idea that because your cousin ate 5000 calories a day while breastfeeding and still lost weight, that you are going to as well. Also, do not rely on anything your mom told you. My mom, for example, gained 16 lbs when she was pregnant, and did not get one single stretch mark.
By now, you probably are annoyed that I am telling you things that are so completely obvious. (Or you're like sorry, I'm skinny, I don't know what you're talking about). But I was in your shoes once. I was committed to not gaining too much weight, and thought I was trying to sort of eat healthy. I was convinced this wouldn't happen to me. I thought that I would come out the other side being a cute new mom prancing around in my cut offs. I kind of hate that I even just said that, because it's so not about looks. It's about being healthy. And sorry Adele... you can be overweight and beautiful, but you can't be overweight and completely healthy.
My overall advice would be, whatever general things you were doing to be healthy before you were pregnant, you need to keep that up when you're pregnant. If you stopped drinking soda, don't start again. If you never ate fast food, don't give yourself a hallpass because there's a baby in your belly. When that baby gets here, you will be more busy, stressed, and overwhelmed than you have ever been in your life, and you don't want to add possibly feeling bad about your weird mom body on top of everything else. Unfortunately, loving your baby doesn't burn calories, so keep it in check now while you still have the chance!
Love,
Lauren
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