Post Baby Weight Loss

I just had a baby 1/15/09 and immediately lost 22 lbs! I have since gained back 10...our family and friends keep bringing us mass quantities of pasta for "quick and easy meals." Prior to my pregnancy, I lost 45 lbs, just by counting calories, exercising, and documenting my meals in the food log...I'm just lacking the motivation right now to start again! Anyone else in the same situation? I need some support to get through this:)

Oh, yes.

My son was born 10/10/08. By day 7, I had lost 20 pounds then the weight loss stopped. I had a c-section and wasn't able to exercise for 6 weeks. Frankly, the c-section was a great excuse to not get back into the swing of things. I hate exercising and my physical activity always consists of running around with my daughter in the yard, walking in the neighborhood or doing lunges while drying my hair. At over 4 months postpartum, I am still unmotivated. I am losing weight and trying to get in 20-30 minutes of physical activity a day but I'm still so tired that most weekdays I go without the exercise. At this point, I have 8 pounds to lose before getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight and an additional 15 pounds to get to my ultimate goal weight (total weight loss so far is 32 pounds).

I am super envious of women who look like they've never had children mere weeks after giving birth. As a matter of fact, I have a friend who is due in 4 weeks that is like that. She weighs 125 pounds at 8 months pregnant (she's my height...5'1"-5'2"). No doubt, she'll be back to her old self before I can even get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and I'll have a 6 month head start! She was my motivation to lose weight after my first and she'll be my motivation again. It seems silly and trite but I'm fiercly competative and things like this motivate me. Right now, there's nobody to compete with so I'm just...blah.

Congratulations on your previous weight loss. 45 pounds is a big deal! It's a third of my current weight! And 22 pounds in 4 weeks is a great start! I think that after having a baby, the weight loss stalls after that initial drop off while our hormones level out. 

Are you breastfeeding? I am and found I wasn't eating enough. After increasing my caloric intake, the weight started dropping off again.

I really didn't think I was losing weight, even when the scale told me I was so I measured my waist. I lost 3.5 inches in a month. My hips and thighs both got smaller as well. We see ourselves every day so it's hard to notice the difference. Taking photos every few weeks should help you to see the weight loss. When I compare a recent photo of myself to one taken shortly after delivery, I think I look pretty darn good!

You are not alone! :)

I am having the exact same problem right now I had my son on 7/24/08 and after I had him I had no motivation what so ever. Mostly becuase for the last 3 months of my pregnancy I had to be on bedrest ( I gained 20 lbs in that time ) so I had gotten use to staying in bed or on the couch all day. After I had him my boyfriend and I were visiting a lot of his family that lived a 4 hour drive from our house. So it was hard to get any kind of exercise in, also my boyfriend has a second son who was turning 3 two months after I had my son. So ontop of caring for my brand new baby I had a 3 year old to watch as well for weeks at a time. ( he lives 8-9 hours away from us round trip so when we do have him he is here for quite awhile. )

anyways all im getting at is that it can take a lot of time to get your life in order and get the motivation to lose the weight, right after having a baby. The best advice I can give you is try not to focus on the weightloss so much try to get out for walks the fresh air will you do and your baby good. You don't want to look back years from now and wish you had just spent more time with your baby instead of worrying about your weight. Once your baby becomes more mobile you will see that you start to lose weight more, mine has been able to roll around for a few months now and is almost crawling. I have been losing more weight in the last few months than before just from looking after his brother and him. One will go this way and the other will go well the other way :P

eat right, exercise when you can and get as much sleep as you can :)