Postpartum moms wanting to lose weight...

Is there anyone else here that has had a baby recently.  My son is 4 months old (born in June 06) and I returned to work when he was 2 months old.  With 4 children total, I am very busy and have a hard time taking time for me.  I would like some other postpartum moms to keep in contact with so we can support each other as we try to trim off the excess weight, be healthy, while being so incredibly busy.

I am 36 yrs old, 5'1, weigh 185 lb and want to lose 50 lbs.  I want to eat nutriously, which is my main goal, but also really need to get back into shape. 

I think it is easier to stick to something like weight loss when you hold your self accountable with others...anyone want to join in?

Edit: 10/27/06  Any moms can join even though this thread has already been going and has a great group of moms so far!  Just post and we'll have an even larger group of us here supporting each other.  And even if you don't have a new baby, that's okay too!  We're a supportive group so feel free to join in!

wow sinderella, what a great feeling that must have been! A big congrats to you on getting to order such a small dress! You're tiny! I look forward to that day for myself! Hey to KJ and Amanda, welcome to a great group of women! 

awww beck, thanks for saying i'm tiny... i'm just smaller in the middle, my weight hovers around my hips butt and thighs... therefore the right dress (and it is an empire waist...thank goodness) will be a couple sizes smaller than my pant size.  I still felt great that I was in the middle of dress sizes and not one of the largest girls for once!  Hopefully, i'll be a 6 by the time her wedding rolls around.

Anyone else have a weekend triumph?  Whether it be weight loss, restraint, or just a happy kid moment... I'd love to hear!

I have a great kid moment....last night my husband was holding our daughter and for the first time she laughed! She's always smiled and gotten excited and will bounce around, but this was an all out laugh! She then kept laughing as my husband continued to entertain her! It was so precious! I of course cried and I'm sure all you other moms can relate! What about the rest of you? Funny kid moments? (hope its ok to step away from weightloss for a moment)

Even though yesterday was a little rocky for my hubby and me...after some not so favorable news, our little guy was holding his bottle for the first time.  He would pull it out of his mouth and try to put it back in.  He's tried this before a little but hadn't quite gotten it and yesterday it was absolutely adorable!

Hi moms, I spent my weekend trying to get over all my hormonal/bleeding problems and I think they have finally solved themselves. And as an added bonus, I stepped on the scale this morning and I was 148!! I've been 150 FOREVER so this was a welcome surprise. I'm not sure if it's the birth control or what, but I just haven't really had as much appetite lately. As for great kid moments, yesterday my parents took us out for supper and my oldest son was writing on a napkin. He's never done this before so it was very exciting for me, but he was sounding out words and trying to write words without me helping. It was so funny. He spelled pizza "peesa" and flower "flawr" and things like that. He is turning 5 in January and will start kindergarten next fall, for anyone wondering. I saved that napkin, of course! My baby is 6 months old today so I took a bunch of pictures of him yesterday. I'll try to add one to my pictures if anyone wants to see him. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Cole didn't really do anything out of the norm lately, but I have a question for y'all.  He laughes a lot.  I mean a lot.  He laughes at everything.  He starts laughing so hard that he gets hiccups.  Is this normal?  I know that his doctor said babies get hiccups, but it seems like he has them all the time.  I usually give him a bottle of water, and the they go away after a few sips.  Formula doesn't work, though.  Anyone else notice this? 

I love all the baby stories!!  Beck is right, we can sstep away from weight loss stories and focus on our little ones!  Dieting is a part of our lives, not our complete lives!  Has anyone else noticed that a baby's laughter is probably the single most genuine action?  It's not like an adult's.  It's not just being polite, or trying to fit in; it's real. In a world of fakes, it's nice to know something is genuine! 

Way to go Benjmum! it feels good to break away from a constant weight.  i'm stuck right now... but the that time of the month is with in a day, so i'm not crushed by it.  Probably water weight!  I just have to watch my munching!

Cecily, the laughing until Cole hiccups is too funny!  It won't hurt him, it just may annoy him.  be happy you have such a happy guy!

Hey Moms!

 Hope everyone is having a great day! I was too afraid to weigh myself this a.m., I usually do on Tuesdays! Last week i was 181, but I totally have PMS, and went over my calories this weekend! I need to get back on track. How does everyone carve out time to excercise? I am in motion a lot, but I feel that if I could do a real workout everyday, the weight would come off so much easier!

 If the baby would sleep thru every night, I could get up at 5am, but he is still getting up sometimes- uhg! Any tips ladies?

 Best wishes!

  KJ

ps- Benjmum- CONGRATULATIONS on getting down to 148!

Hi KJ... I work out during nap time... in the small space when their naps are overlapping.  I only have 1/2 an hour, but I know it's working.  Sometimes, and I know it;s silly, but I just jog around the house.  Literally, jog... my 3 year old gets a kick out of it and chases me, but a good 20 minutes burns a good amount.  Other times I just do my vidoe in front of my 6 month old... he just laughs at me because I must look silly. 

Sinderella, that's the great thing about kids, you can work out in front of them and they either don't care or just think you're funny. My oldest son sometimes tries the moves himself! But he is really big into trying to grow fast and "get more power" like daddy. It's hilarious.

Thanks for the congratulations! I just hope it continues.

Hi KJ,

I posted something similar in my journal.  I'm having a really hard time finding time to exercise.  I do what sinderella9111 does.  I wait until my son is napping.  Except lately he seems to be napping less and less and they're such short naps.  I really don't have time to get anything done!  I put him in his exersaucer tonight so I could do a dvd.  He likes to watch me jump around, but sometimes he gets bored.  Exercise is really hit or miss for me right now. 

I'll try not to sound like I'm complaining about my busy life, but I have trouble finding time to exercise too.  My older kids keep me busy...my daughters are in dance and my son is in football and top of that, they are involved in school activities.  I love it that they are involved, that's the way I raised them and it keeps them out of trouble, but it keeps me very, very busy running around. 

Then when I do get home, I'm making supper, making sure homework is getting done and whatever else, including taking care of my baby.  By the time that's done, it's after 8:00 usually and time to get the baby ready for bed.  There's a few tv shows I watch w/my teenagers...it's a way I can relate to them (reality shows) and we actually talk then.  But I don't sit still and watch tv, our living room and kitchen are connected (we live in a mobile home so it's close quarters for us)...so I do dishes, pick up etc and get up and down watching tv.  And we only have one tv w/vcr and dvd in our house and that's in our livingroom...we all share it.  And just as a note, my husband helps a lot too...we are just busy.

So my thought is, I could exercise at about 10...but can I really get to sleep then, I need my sleep to get up for work.  It's unrealistic for me to get up in the AM and exercise because I am not a morning person, I'm just not no matter how hard I try.  So that's my dilemma!

So, I have come up with a few ideas for myself (sorry this is a long post).  I am joining in my daughters dance class on Wednesday nights (1 hour of hip-hop).  My daughters want to take the YMCA course to use the workout room equipment, so I am thinking of trying to make a family event of going to the Y once or twice a week (though baby will have to go to the nursery).  My husband and I want to take walks on the weekends w/the stroller and enjoy time to talk and exercise and we have a good hilly road to walk on.  And when I can, I'm going to squeeze in a 15 minute workout dvd I have...that's it...that's my little workout plan.  That's all I can do.

All of us our busy, we all have new babies, so do the best you can to fit in your workouts...but we can't feel down about it if we're not doing tons of exercising...we just have to do what we can.

wow! what a ton of great posts! I wasn't around much yesterday because my daughter and I ran a bunch of errands! Thankfully she really likes to go out and about, I think its because I've been doing that with her from the very beginning.
I was thinking back the other day about how and why (other than the very obvious reasons) I began on this journey. It was about 8 weeks or so, maybe a little more than that, after our daughter was born that my C-Section incision was still giving me some trouble. My doctor had looked at it and said it was doing fine, but it was inside that it was still hurting. She said those types of paines can last up to a year becase she cut through the fascia (sp?) anyway, about 6 weeks before Paige was born my mom had a full hys-ta-rec-ta-me (sorry, I know I spelled that wrong!) and she was not having the same discomfort I was. My husband gently suggested it was becase she was walking. He then said that if I wanted to get up early in the mornings he would always take care of Paige so that I can walk. Paige wakes up at 6 like clockwork and he feeds her and she goes back to sleep until 8-10 a.m. and so I use that time to work out. It was when I began doing that, all for the sake of not hurting anymore that I thought it was a waste of my time to walk and not at least eat healthy and thus here I am. Boy, that was quite the long response as to when I workout! lol, sorry for the novel!
Congrats Benjmom on the weightloss! That must have felt amazing to step on the scale and see that! And KJ, don't be afraid to step on the scale. I was afraid I think for the last ten years, seriously, and now that I finally weigh myself after other week or so, it has really helped. Don't be afraid, you are in charge, not the scale! :)

Well, I got onto the enemy this morning *laughing*...but I won *smiles*  I have lost some weight so I feel that what I've been doing the past 1 1/2 weeks has been working.  I love keeping track of my food anyway, I always did that when I was younger...it makes me more aware of what's going into my mouth and less likely to shove 3 cookies into it because then I have to admit it.

Hope everyone else is having a great week!

Morning all!  Went out last night for sushi.  It was our anniversary, and dinner was great!  I didn't eat too much, and I know sushi isn't that bad for you...but it's killer on your sodium levels.  So I drank a gizillion cups of water.  Then I got a sweet craving.  That's where last night fell away.  We went to culvers, and I got a short concrete mix thingy with snickers. I knew it was bad, but I only wanted a few bites, then I'd put it down.  Yea, I never put it down.  I freaked out the whole way home... getting mad at myself for cheating so bad.  I swore that I'd increase my calorie deficit for the next three days to make up for it.  Well, I don't have to do that.  I still had a deficit yesterday... not a large one, but a couple hundred calories.  Plus, I cleaned the crap out of my house yesterday to increase the amount of calories I could have at dinner.  And I enjoyed myself last night.  It was a nice anniversary, and the only weight I"m showing for it is water weight. Time to guzzle more water!! 

Sorry, I felt like a little confession... :)

Hi there!

Do you mind if I join?  I had a baby in June 06.  So he is 4 months old!!!  I lost all my pregnancy weight (I gained 50 pounds) but now I still need to lose weight to get to a healthy weight.  And to hopefully lose the extra skin/weight I have around the middle or help it shrink a little further.

Some things I am struggling with is not scheduling what I am going to eat...eating because I am tired...and eating for emotional reasons.  Also NO excersize.  I work fulltime 12 hours a day and my son is still not sleeping through the night. 

When I was home on maternity leave it was easy I could eat good prepare what I wanted to eat right then and excersize...now I sit on a computer 12 hours a day and then have 2 hours at night with my son before he goes to sleep.

I can make this work I just need to figure out how.  I am currently 187 and would like to be at least 170...my ideal weight is around 160. 

Hi Anya1229!  I've lost all my pregnancy weight, too, and now I'm trying to get healthy.  I know exactly what you are going through.  I hate having to work full time.  I never see my son.  I also don't have time to exercise anymore.  I'm trying so hard to continue to eat well, though. 

Not sleeping through the night yet?  That's tough!  Cole started when he was 8 weeks old.  I'm so glad he's still sleeping through the night, but I'm dreading when he starts teething.  He might start waking, although my mom said I didn't.  That could be any time now-he's 6 months.

Again, welcome!  If you create a profile and tell us a little more about you, we can add you to our friends lists, and you can add us back! ;)  Nice to meet you!

Hi anya1229, nice to have you here, go ahead and join in, that's why we're here!  I also had my son in June, work full-time and don't have time to exercise.  He also doesn't sleep through the night, I breastfeed so he usually gets up at about 2 or so and then again about 5:30.

For me, I try to plan ahead when I grocery shop, I didn't always do this before, but it's much easier.  I've found some frozen dinners that work for me for days I need something to grab (Lean Cuisine...though a little high sometimes on sodium).  I buy yogurts and stuff for snacks during the day.  I try to plan good meals for dinner and make enough so there's a little leftover so I can take some for lunch.  Today I'm eating a chicken breast and had nothing else for leftovers.  I buy these frozen broccoli/cauliflower bags that you stick in the microwave for 5 minutes to have steamed vegies...so I stuck a bag in this morning and am having steamed broccoli, cauliflower and chicken for lunch and a yogurt for snack later.  I also keep oatmeal at work in case I'm running late in the AM, so I can have breakfast at work if I need to.

To make it easier on me, I plan my grocery list on the online ads and I use the recipe website recipezaar.com to come up with meal ideas.  Just make sure you have some backup meals so when you don't have time to think, you can just grab and go.

This site has helped me w/some of my emotional eating because I'm tracking EVERYTHING I eat and that helps.  And for the tired eating...I understand that too...but drink water instead when tired or do some standing stretches...that helps me sometimes.

Glad to have you join in!

Hi Moms!

  Thanks to all who wrote encouraging things to help me work out! I think I just have to suck it up and get my fat one aout of bed at 5am. I am going to face my "scale fear" on Tuesday and see where I am. i have been sticking to my cals, and trying to move my bod, so hopefully it has paid off! I was looking at my goals and reminded myslef that I am giving myself until my baby is 1yr to reach my goal, so i am doing great! Hopefully the baby will start sleeping thru more consistently, then I know getting up at 5am will be easier to take! Hope eveyone had a fun weekend- I took the boys to our local petting zoo/pumpkin farm, we had a blast!

KJ