Almighty Dad | A stay at home dad blog

Losing the Baby Weight

10 Written by Keith on September 22, 2009 – 7:45 pm

 

Do I dare wade into this territory?  I’m a man after all; I’ve never had to lose baby weight.  Well, I’m going to do it whether anybody likes it or not.  My wife had baby weight and I saw what she did to get rid of it.  I think that makes me qualified enough, especially considering I’ve lost 45 lbs myself in the past. There are a few factors though that make losing baby weight different than a fat guy losing weight.  Two to be specific.  The first is that after having a baby a woman needs to still eat enough to feed both the baby and herself, thus her hormones and body responses won’t be the same as someone who just got fat for no reason.  The second factor that makes being a new mother different is that new mothers have infants attached to them all the time, and that makes time an issue.  I’m not surprised that moms tend to get bulbous after they have kids. It’s not entirely incomprehensible. But, while I have sympathy for the unique circumstances, in the end there should be no reason that the weight should not come off.

 

The Weight Gain

 

It’s very simple, pregnant women go nuts eating and they gain a bunch of weight so their baby has plenty of nutrients.  My wife went from 115 lbs before pregnancy to 160 lbs during pregnancy.  I don’t remember how much she weighed after she gave birth, but she had quite a bit to lose.  She knew it too. It didn’t take long for her to get back on the horse and do something about it.  It would have been easy for her to look in the mirror, throw up her hands in resignation and do nothing.  People tend to get into spiraling self defeating cycles when a problem become seemingly insurmountable.  The first trick is to take it one day at a time, to see the weight loss as a daily goal rather than a frustratingly long 6 month journey.  Like all problems, it can be managed when it is broken up into it’s component parts.

 

The Process

 

The trick for Mely was to see the final goal as a series of tiny accomplishments. It not enough to want to lose weight, you have to have a plan and have some goals in mind.  Here are a few sample goals to demonstrate the point:

 

1. I will exercise for 1 hour every day even if that exercise is only walking for an hour around the neighborhood. The object is to set your mind to do something every day.  Make it a rule that cannot be broken.  Some days you’ll feel motivated and working out will be easy.  On other days you will be demotivated and depressed.  On those days make the exercise a brisk hour long walk.  Setting an overly ambitious goal can lead to failure.  Make it specific enough that it’s firm, but vague enough to leave wiggle room for those down days.

 

2. I will drink Milk, tea, or water and lots of it.  This is perhaps the best way to lose weight without actually doing anything.  One coke a day is an extra 10 lbs of fat per year. That’s a battle nobody wants to fight.  If working out for an hour burns 350 calories why would you sabotage it by drinking half of it back with a single coke?  Milk has been proven to have all kinds of excellent weight loss properties.  Tea (herbal for those nursing) is healthy and no calorie, and water is free and obviously no calorie.  Everyone, regardless of weight loss should make this their goal.

 

3. I will record daily my successes and failures. An excellent way to visualize where your succeeding or failing is to keep a journal. Make a journal and record three pieces of information.  Calories burned (get a heart rate monitor to be more accurate), good habits and bad habits.  It’s just as important to see the things you’re doing right as it is to see where you’ve fallen down.  If you managed to drink only milk, tea or water all day then write it down.  If you’ve eaten a bag of chips you need to write that down as well.  When you see those two items next to each other you will know what needs to be done.  Keeping a journal is a motivator and a reminder.  Don’t get wrapped up in weight, that’s not what you should be recording.  Record the little bits and the weight will take care of itself.

 

Mom Jeans Look Terrible

Everybody knows what mom jeans are. I don’t even know how to describe them other than to say they are clearly designed for people who have given up.  Just because you’ve had a baby doesn’t mean all is lost and you are fated to being unattractive for the rest of your life.  I find it unfortunate that there is this notion that moms are permanently misshapen after birth. It’s not true.  Things naturally change after birth, but that doesn’t mean it’s over.

 

Losing weight after pregnancy can’t be an easy thing to do.  But, there are motivators that make it possible.  Taking small steps toward an ultimate goal is the way to have success. Being able to tell yourself every day that you’ve made a certain amount of progress is important.  Eating right and drinking plenty of healthy fluids doesn’t require much work at all.  It simply requires a determination to make every day count and to not take backwards steps.  I know plenty of women who had babies and didn’t lose the weight.  They seem to me depressed and unmotivated.  They are not the sorts of people I like to associate with.  On the other hand, I know women who have determined to not let their baby weight get them down.  They are active and happy people.  Different?  Yes.  Unattractive?  No.  Don’t lose the weight just because some guy like me thinks it’s the thing to do, lose the weight because you know it’s what you really want.  And, when you think about it, you’ll know it is.