My (Baby) Weight Loss Experience

In the spirit of the new year (and many resolutions of losing weight), I thought I'd share a little bit about my experience with losing baby weight.  Let me start off my saying that you're not going to find some detailed workout routine or meal plan here... I used to roll my eyes and think "yeah right" (or something like that) whenever I would hear someone say that they lost and kept off their baby weight just by being active with their kids.  Well, insert foot in mouth here. 

Somehow, by the miraculous grace of God, I lost all of my baby weight plus another 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.  You're rolling your eyes at me now, aren't you? Yes, I'm sure it will be harder next time around.  How did I do it?  Well, I'm not entirely sure... I attribute it a lot to breastfeeding for six months because I know that burns a significant amount of calories, and another big chunk of this weight loss simply from trying to keep up with Ellie + keep her happy - hours of walking, pushing her in the stroller, dancing around the house, and just plain carrying her around while doing anything and everything.  She also likes being thrown around, being "dropped" (hello, squats), and airplane rides. While she is mobile now (and keeping up with her is a whole different ball game), she has pretty much always wanted to be held, and not while sitting down.  If you think carrying her around is a joke, feel free to come over and give it a try. ;)  This is what my husband has termed "the Ellie diet".  

While there is room for improvement in my diet, I also eat reasonably well for the most part - definitely not a Whole 30 junkie or anything like that, but typically what I deem to be a decent mix of foods.  It helps more now that Ellie and I can share food because it makes me more likely to grab a banana over a cookie.  That being said, I do believe in everything in moderation and eat my fair share of treats as well.  There is a 200% chance you'll find ice cream in our freezer at all times, but that doesn't mean I'm eating a giant ice cream sundae every day.

At just over eight months postpartum now, I can say it took some patience and a few months of not being able to fit into 100% of my pre-pregnancy clothes.  I remember feeling totally defeated when I got on the scale at my six week postpartum appointment - why hadn't I lost more weight yet?  Everyone told me I'd bounce back quickly. It was definitely frustrating at times, but I didn't have a whole lot of free time to do much about it... and in the first few months, I honestly probably would have chosen sleep over any kind of working out if given the choice, anyway.  

The only real advice I can give about this topic is to be patient with it.  It's probably not going to happen overnight, so don't go for one run and hope that you're going to lose five pounds the next day (not talking from experience or anything...).  Also, keep in mind that working out doesn't necessarily have to mean you need to be at the gym or logging hours on the treadmill (although both are great if you can).  Try to think outside of the box about getting your butt off the couch!  There are a lot of things you can do with a baby in tow to stay active.  In case you haven't noticed, daily dance parties are our workout of choice most of the time. :)  Just try jumping and dancing around your house like a jackass with an extra seventeen pounds hanging on your arms - it is a workout! If your schedule looks anything like mine, the only time I have to workout solo during the week is sometime after 8:30 pm, which is usually spent catching up on chores, relaxing with Tyler, or doing something else I want to do, or before 5 am, which is spent sleeping - so, it doesn't really happen at this point.  If you have something active that you love to do with your littles (preferably inside for winter), please share!  I have a feeling we'll be missing our long outdoor adventures together.

Hope some of you find this helpful-ish!

And because no post is complete without a picture, here's a completely irrelevant photo of Miss Ellie's awesome post-nap hairdo yesterday afternoon.