Nine months in, nine months out...
Well, technically, it's 10.
Yes, I am talking about body after baby. It's goes with the theme of the blog, which also coincidentally coincides with the theme of my life - nutrition, exercise, pregnancy, babies, etc. Yes, etc. because there is etc. part of my life too.
Many women/nutrition/fitness bloggers who get pregnant and have babies, post about their before and after bodies. I am not like most women/nutrition/fitness bloggers in that I never had a body to brag about before I became pregnant. There was definitely more muscle, but not like the typical categorical blogger. But I am going to talk about it anyway. Mostly because I can do whatever I want since I own this site, but also because maybe it will motivate me to get my ass in gear.
My pregnancy was not typical and therefore my weight loss and body after pregnancy was also not typical. I ended up gaining a whopping 61 pounds with my pregnancy due to all of the swelling/fluid that I had which resulted in preeclampsia. So, I lost 50 of those pounds in the two weeks following delivery. Fifty-one to be exact. Stepping on the scale 24 hours after delivery, I was down 20 pounds. Forty-eight hours later, down another 6 pounds. So, really, not very typical. I also breast-fed. Twins. Which meant extra calories being burned. By the time my boys were 4-5 months, I was 1-2 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. By the time they were 6 months, I was 2 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. My pre-pregnancy weight was 5 pounds heavier than my normal weight. It doesn't matter. None of it matters. I feel like crap, I eat like crap, and my muscle to fat ratio is more like a fat to muscle ratio. The whole distribution was thrown off by two weeks of bed rest and then a week in the hospital. I didn't even recognize my own legs by the last day in the hospital. For one, I could actually finally see them, and for two, I had lost so much muscle, it was astonishing. The first thing my OB said to me when she saw me 2 weeks after delivery was to eat healthy, plenty of protein because I could end up "skinny fat." Have you heard of this term? It's pretty intuitive so you can figure it out if you haven't.
But then I was tired. Every. Single. Day. Just tired. So tired that I cannot concentrate. Words do not come out right because my brain just does not function. My short-term memory? Completely gone. I am pretty stupid 90% of the time. Let's go with 97% of the time. See? I forgot. And when you're tired, you do not really care about what kind of food you put in your mouth. Usually it's something loaded with calories because you're looking to find the energy. Usually, you're just so tired that you pick up a doughnut and say, "I do not even effing care...I am so tired." And then, you don't exercise. Not necessarily because you're so tired (because you're a dietitian and you know that exercise can help fatigue), but because you don't have time. And because you're tired. Let's face it. I say "you're" and I mean "me" but I hope someone can relate and also because I switched into second person in that paragraph because I am so tired. So, the body after baby? Same weight, but completely different.
The point of this is to relate to those who have gone through this, and normalize it, but to also motivate myself and those who have gone through this to get back at it. I used to run 6-7 days a week because it was just "something I did." Like brushing my teeth. (Although, I hate to admit, brushing my teeth is not something I just do anymore. Like I have to remember to brush my teeth.) So now, I need to get back out there and just do it. The 4 days/wk I do run, I take the boys. I can do that 6 days/wk.
I try to remind myself that it took me 9 months- really 8 since they were born a month early- to get my body to the bloated, disgusting yet beautiful thing that it was, so it is likely to take 9 months to get back. Well, now, we're going on 10. And it will likely be 12 because that's how I roll. But in the end, if you've been there, done that, you really know that the most important reason for staying/getting in shape is so you can be around long enough to see your kids grow up and experience new things and have their own kids. And hopefully those kids have kids.
So, I leave you now with a lovely picture of how my leg(s) looked at 32 weeks pregnant. Mind you, I gained another 8 or so pounds in the following two weeks (4 pounds in two days between doctor visits). I compare it to Mike Meyers "Fat Bastard" Scottish character on Austin Powers. Or my friend likened it to the character on Shallow Hal.
Yes, I am talking about body after baby. It's goes with the theme of the blog, which also coincidentally coincides with the theme of my life - nutrition, exercise, pregnancy, babies, etc. Yes, etc. because there is etc. part of my life too.
Many women/nutrition/fitness bloggers who get pregnant and have babies, post about their before and after bodies. I am not like most women/nutrition/fitness bloggers in that I never had a body to brag about before I became pregnant. There was definitely more muscle, but not like the typical categorical blogger. But I am going to talk about it anyway. Mostly because I can do whatever I want since I own this site, but also because maybe it will motivate me to get my ass in gear.
My pregnancy was not typical and therefore my weight loss and body after pregnancy was also not typical. I ended up gaining a whopping 61 pounds with my pregnancy due to all of the swelling/fluid that I had which resulted in preeclampsia. So, I lost 50 of those pounds in the two weeks following delivery. Fifty-one to be exact. Stepping on the scale 24 hours after delivery, I was down 20 pounds. Forty-eight hours later, down another 6 pounds. So, really, not very typical. I also breast-fed. Twins. Which meant extra calories being burned. By the time my boys were 4-5 months, I was 1-2 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. By the time they were 6 months, I was 2 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. My pre-pregnancy weight was 5 pounds heavier than my normal weight. It doesn't matter. None of it matters. I feel like crap, I eat like crap, and my muscle to fat ratio is more like a fat to muscle ratio. The whole distribution was thrown off by two weeks of bed rest and then a week in the hospital. I didn't even recognize my own legs by the last day in the hospital. For one, I could actually finally see them, and for two, I had lost so much muscle, it was astonishing. The first thing my OB said to me when she saw me 2 weeks after delivery was to eat healthy, plenty of protein because I could end up "skinny fat." Have you heard of this term? It's pretty intuitive so you can figure it out if you haven't.
But then I was tired. Every. Single. Day. Just tired. So tired that I cannot concentrate. Words do not come out right because my brain just does not function. My short-term memory? Completely gone. I am pretty stupid 90% of the time. Let's go with 97% of the time. See? I forgot. And when you're tired, you do not really care about what kind of food you put in your mouth. Usually it's something loaded with calories because you're looking to find the energy. Usually, you're just so tired that you pick up a doughnut and say, "I do not even effing care...I am so tired." And then, you don't exercise. Not necessarily because you're so tired (because you're a dietitian and you know that exercise can help fatigue), but because you don't have time. And because you're tired. Let's face it. I say "you're" and I mean "me" but I hope someone can relate and also because I switched into second person in that paragraph because I am so tired. So, the body after baby? Same weight, but completely different.
The point of this is to relate to those who have gone through this, and normalize it, but to also motivate myself and those who have gone through this to get back at it. I used to run 6-7 days a week because it was just "something I did." Like brushing my teeth. (Although, I hate to admit, brushing my teeth is not something I just do anymore. Like I have to remember to brush my teeth.) So now, I need to get back out there and just do it. The 4 days/wk I do run, I take the boys. I can do that 6 days/wk.
I try to remind myself that it took me 9 months- really 8 since they were born a month early- to get my body to the bloated, disgusting yet beautiful thing that it was, so it is likely to take 9 months to get back. Well, now, we're going on 10. And it will likely be 12 because that's how I roll. But in the end, if you've been there, done that, you really know that the most important reason for staying/getting in shape is so you can be around long enough to see your kids grow up and experience new things and have their own kids. And hopefully those kids have kids.
So, I leave you now with a lovely picture of how my leg(s) looked at 32 weeks pregnant. Mind you, I gained another 8 or so pounds in the following two weeks (4 pounds in two days between doctor visits). I compare it to Mike Meyers "Fat Bastard" Scottish character on Austin Powers. Or my friend likened it to the character on Shallow Hal.
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| Hot. The line there is from a compression stocking that did diddly squat. |
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