At my six-week check-up, post baby, my doctor reminded me that it is natural for a woman’s body to take as long to get back to its original size as it took to grow the baby. He said to not expect to feel like my body is back to its old self until at least eight months.
In my typical fashion, I figured this rule would not apply to me and I would be back to my “normal” size three months later. In any case, I intended to write a blog about the experience since so many people thanked me for being frank with the weight gain post when I was still pregnant. Three months passed and I did not feel like my old self. I decided to wait to write the post until six months. I believe I was around 145 pounds at that time and my body certainly wasn’t back to normal so I decided to wait until my doctor’s recommended eight months to write. Ya, so that was right after Christmas when I don’t think I was the only one who did not want to talk about weight and body image.
Now here we are, approximately 40 weeks after having Belén. I can delay this post no longer….unfortunately…
From a pure pounds perspective, I am quite happy with where I am at. On a good day, with all of the perfect stepping-on-the-scale conditions, I am around 138 pounds with little-to-no weight loss effort not counting my 50K training. After my bout with the stomach flu this week, I am actually more like 135.
What I am not happy with is the fact that as I type this, my hands are on the laptop keyboard and my arms by my side, snuggle up to what I would have referred to in our time in Mexico as a llantita (yan-tita aka, spare tire). But the llantita of today is different of the ghosts of llantitas past. It is more of a muffin top on the front half of my body than a spare tire encircling my mid-section. What is really bad is when I wear my skinny jeans of which I am thrilled to fit into, then sit in a chair….oh ya…half muffin top city. It is embarrassing and it causes me to choose my outfits carefully.
Of course the other reason why I have been dreading this post is because by acknowledging my body is not where I want it to be means I need to consciously do something about it. The breastfeeding and running and sit-ups have not been enough so I now need to address my diet, dang it. I have more-or-less eaten whatever I wanted and thus the half muffin top remains. And I should clarify, my “eating whatever I want” is eating pretty darn healthy 80% of the time but the other 20% of the time is filled with chocolate, dessert and cheese, my vices! I have two and a half months until two weeks in a bikini so I need to suck it up and cut out the dessert. Let’s be honest though…I will never give up dessert. What a dilemma!
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{ 3 comments }
Ah, yes, I think I could write a book about my feelings on this one subject. I’m 6 years post baby #1 and almost 4 years post baby #2. Baby #3 doesn’t count on the weight loss scale. Does it ever get easier? No. In fact, as we age, it only gets harder. That said, I don’t give up trying, in fact, I usually go on a roller coaster ride that includes being strict on top and letting the food of life lead me on the bottom. I often find myself debating over that slice of chocolate cake and the fact that I need to get into a bikini in a few months. I want to look good and be healthy, but I also want to have fun. I don’t want life to slip away while I’m counting calories. At the moment, I’m back to it, doing Atkins…I really like this diet for weight loss and now I just need to add in a little regular exercise. Not the chasing the kids kind of exercise. Wink. I’ve also digested the fact that I’m a Mom, not a supermodel or a fitness queen. That doesn’t mean I’m lazy, just means that I’ve set my expectations appropriately. Our bodies have forever changed with the right of passage of being a mother, but we can all still be beautiful inside and out.
Although I have yet to experience the after baby weight trials and tribulations, I can totally relate to the “muffin top” sydrome. If it’s we’ve had a baby or are just getting older it seems to be a repeated topic with all my friends. It appears that as maturing women we lose that metabolism we used to have as young girl/woman and no longer can we eat everything we want or at least over indulge in all that we want. I have found that it definitely takes a change in how we eat and exercise to lose that “muffin top”. Although I don’t know if it will ever all go away. I think it just deflates.
Maybe if we all had a personal trainer, a personal healthy cooking chef, and a personal motivator to kick me in the butt everyday it would be easy. How about living in a country where small portions is the norm? I think about that a lot. Alecia, I think you look great and admire the motivation you have. Wish I had that kind of motivation.
While I can’t say I’ve done nearly as much as you have in the exercise department to remedy the situation, I feel you on the muffin top. I try to remind myself, though, how much extra skin I had to grow around the middle for that giant kid — those stretch marks are there for a reason! I wish all that skin could just snap back like a rubber band, but where would it go, really? My middle may look like a giant prune, but at least I have this cool baby to show for it. ;o)
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