post baby weight has got my weight up and me down

Hi!  I have a 6 month old boy, Olin, whom I love dearly but I have yet to shed the 25 lbs to get me to my pre-pregnancy weight. Everyone kept saying, "Oh, since you're breast feeding, it'll come right off". NO! "You'll lose it after 4 months and then be slim with big boobs". NOPE! "Once you stop breast feeding you'll totally lose the weight". Again, NOPE!

So frustrated and I've done WW before and don't want to spend the $ again so here I am trying to lose those pesky 25 lbs to return me to my normal self :-)

hi, my names Sophie. Ive just had a baby boy Evan 4 weeks ago. I was 15 stone when i came out of hospital and i still am now! i was with WW before and it does get pricey and if you lapse for a day or two then you feel like the money is wasted. this site seems good tho.

 I am breast feeding but nothing seems to be coming off, i know im being impatient as i only gave birth 4 weeks ago but its really depressing being this weight as it the most i've ever weighed (well except pregnancy) I've just bought a cross trainer hope that itll help a bit. mind you my biggest problem is comfort eating when im tired opr depressed which with this weight is every day.

I love the name Olin by the way, its really unusual.

Hi Sophie! You must be English, right? I hear your accent in your writing with words like "stone" and "out of hospital" instead of "out of THE hospital" like we say here in the US.

All I have to say about the weight issue is that you are VERY early post-partum  & I would give yourself a break since it's only been 4 weeks. Sheesh! At 4 weeks post baby I had only lost the weight of the baby himself and he weighed 10 lbs!!!! What happened with me was I slowly went from 205 lbs to 175 lbs and just stayed there. I was 150 when I got pregnant and I am quite tall. That said, it's not crazy to imagine being back at my original weight, but getting there is the battle. What I realized is that all the comfort eating I did during pregnancy (i.e. eating ice cream every day!) continued AFTER the baby was born and that's why I couldn't lose the weight. Since I started monitoring every calorie I put in my mouth w/ this website, which reminds me a lot of WW online, I am not inclined to eat anything "bad" for me such as a chocolate or ice cream as the calories are so high. I have cut my calories WAY down and have found substitutes for my sweet cravings at night such as a 1/2 cup of cereal with Splenda sweetener and milk. I know it's not ice cream but if I want to lose the weight I have to lose the ice cream.

So please cut yourself some slack and relax for a little while. The early days of having a baby are very challenging so comfort eating should be allowed. You are not getting normal sleep therefore you will want to fuel yourself with food to stay sane. This is not a time to starve yourself. I would give yourself until your little one is at least sleeping 6 hours before going on a diet. I waited even longer than that with Olin because I kept thinking that it would come off my itself, but I was wrong. I could have started dieting 2 months ago, but at least I'm starting at all.

Keep in touch!

-Lucinda

Sophie --I think that breastfeeding burning fat is a myth! I certainly didn't loose any extra weight while breastfeeding (not any extra, anyway). I think people assume because your body burns extra calories making milk that you'll lose, but you should really be eating the extra cals to cover that. Just like while you were pregnant, all the good nutrients you take in go to making the milk first and then you get the leftovers. So, I think while breastfeeding, it is really important to maintain calories, not lower, and eat the good stuff.  

You can start exercising, but I would talk to your doctor about the best ways to exercise and when it is okay to really start throwing yourself into it. I agree with Lucinda, take it easy!! You are under lots of stress and adding to it will NOT help. Work on feeling better first. It IS really depressing, seeing your body go from pregnant, to plump and squishy in a matter of hours. The change is too fast for anyone to adapt to instantly so there will be those depressing moments. But everyone goes through it.

Lucinda, I got stuck about 175 too, though I'm sure I'm much shorter than you. My son is now 16 months and I've attempted to "diet" several times but only in the last couple months have I really been motivated and felt like I could do it. I've now lost the additional weight I put on after giving up on dieting and now I'm making progress.

Anywho, the point I wanted to make was, it took 9 months to add all that weight on, and for most people, it takes at least 9 more to get it back off. Don't beat yourself up. I noticed that I hit a certain weight, and I stayed there. For a LONG time. I think you can only lose so much the "easy" way before you have to start the hard work. It's depressing, but I feel like I can do it now.