“If I can do it…anyone can!” Sounds cheesy, right? But I can relate when it comes to gaining seventy-five pounds, having my daughter and all losing the baby weight plus ten.
The first 25 (ish) weeks of pregnancy involved me being a uninetntional belimic. I puked 2-3 times a day almost everyday for the first 25 weeks. I was obsessed with nutrition and wanted to make the best of these 40 weeks. I only had 40 weeks and every day ment something. My baby was counting on me for every single ounce of nutrition and I didn’t want to let her down. But first, I had to keep food down. While I was unable to keep food down I ended up losing 10 pounds. My OB was worried and I had to have a few IV infusions along with prescription medication. Then from week 25 to week 40, I somehow managed to gain 75 freaking pounds. The day I delivered my daughter, I looked at the scale and wanted to cry. How was I going to lose all this weight? It was all so discouraging. I was 191 pounds on July 30th, 2009 and my daughter was only 8 pounds, 1 ounce. You do the math.
I came home from the hospital and just cried. I was depressed from my birth, feeling robbed of my “calm/natural birth plan” and then look at myself in the mirror and just wanted to hide under a rock. I used to model for god sakes. I did swimsuit and lingerie modeling in my early twenties. I did a Coach campaign, I did Gap, was signed by San Francisco’s top modeling agency, worked with world renowned photographers…and then this. I looked like a freaking marshmallow. At 5’8, I was always a size 1 or 2, then as I got older I was a size 3/4. I ate well, ran with my nanny kids and hating soda and fast food probably helped me too. I was fit, healthy and felt great!
191.2 lbs
I wore a size 14… for the first time in my life.
I was buying clothing in a size large… for the first time in my life.
I wanted to lose weight… for the first time in my life.
How did I let myself get out of control? Did I really need to eat a whole cheesecake over the course of three days? No. I ate frozen yogurt every night too, a huge bowl of it, in fact. It was at least $8.00 every night and what I didn’t finish, I ate for breakfast. My best friend came down from Northern California and went she saw my huge bowl of fro yo on the scale at the frozen yogurt shop, she looked at me and said, “You are actually going to eat ALL of that?” Yep…I did. So I went a little crazy. I was just so happy to be able to keep food down! I wasn’t eating for two…I was eating for 14, ocotomom style! And the heartburn was only curable by something cold and sweet. But everything has a price and I had 191 pounds on me to prove it.
Breastfeeding and pumping for me was boring. Once my daughter latched on, I would sit in the rocking chair, eat (healthy snacks) and read magazines. One magazine was from our community club house and I saw an ad for Stroller Strides. Basically, Stroller Strides is an outdoor mommy boot camp geared towards moms who didn’t want to risk germs/sickness associated with leaving your newborn at a gym and those who wanted to get their body back after having a baby. I looked it up online and saw that they met at the park a mile from my house and they had classes six days a week. Awesome! I made the choice that day that I was not going to “look” like I just had a baby. And I’ll be damned if someone would ask me when I was due…when I wasn’t.
It was my choice.
I wanted to be hot. I wanted to be the wife my husband gushed about. I wanted his frequent comments of “You are so beautiful…” and the “Damn, My wifey is HOTTTTT!” ….all things my husband used to say before I was 191 Pounds. I didn’t want him to be ashamed of me or my size. I didn’t want to be Dan’s fat wife. Or the wife that “let herself go”. Honestly, I just wanted to feel good in my own skin. Look good in a pair of jeans and have my confidence back. I wasn’t trying to get in a bikini… two years later and I refuse to wear one. Eff that.
My daughter was five weeks old when I got the ok from my OB to start working out. I started Stroller Strides the next day. I ran to the park where they had Stroller Strides(1 mile), then did 2 miles of exercising with Stroller Strides and then ran home (1 mile) so in total, I was running around four miles a day along with breastfeeding. When I was seven weeks PP, I started doing weight watchers online and really watching what I was eating.
The weight literally fell off.
I started to feel great again. I loved that I could fit into my size 26/27 bebe jeans. When my daughter was six week old, I no longer could wear my pregnancy clothes. They fell off. At four months old, I weighed myself and I was finally back to my pre baby weight! I seriously danced in my bathroom that day. My little baby just looked at me and laughed. I did it! ”Screw you pregnancy weight! You are outta here!!!” I still continued to do stroller strides, eat very well (No soda, white starches, low carb in take, high protein and I did not eat anything that said “High fructose Corn Syrup” or “partially Hydroniated Oils” on the back label. If I couldn’t pronounce it…I wasn’t going to eat it.)
As I continued my new routine of exercising, pumping breast milk, nursing my baby like a mad woman along with eating well; I lost another ten pounds. My treat? Buying myself a pair of Miss Me Jeans, size 25! It felt amazing. I now have four pairs.
Two years later and I still manage to keep the baby weight off. Just because I had a baby, doesn’t mean I need to look like it, I tell myself. For me, It is not about being skinny… It is about being healthy. (Even skinny people can be skinny without being healthy) I strive to be healthy. I want to run after my kids at the park without huffing and puffing my way through it. But do I make cookies and eat my fair share of brownies? Yep. But I know the consequence… it is running four miles the day after.
Everyone is different. What worked for me, may not work for you. No two bodies are the same and your experience may be different.
For anyone interested in Stroller Strides, I would recommend finding a chapter in your area. www.StrollerStrides.com
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Chronicles-of-Motherhood/184260078308068
Here is to health!
