Work it out

So before getting pregnant I was in pretty good shape. About a year prior to pregnancy, I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. That was the best. I lost like 17 lbs in a month by doing it every day. I was hooked after that. I tracked what I ate on MyFitnessPal at the same time which I know contributed. You have no idea how quickly calories add up, even with "healthy" foods, until you start tracking it. I'd eat between 900-1300 calories a day, which is pretty low, and I'm sure was a big part of rapidly using weight. After a few months, I had definable abs. Jillian worked your abs hardcore. I also would go running around my mom's neighborhood, and over to the outdoor track at the high school. I'd stick some earbuds into my iphone and go.

I kept this up in one way or another for about a year. I made it into size 6-8 gap jeans (which always ran small on me) and was feeling pretty good. I had strength and stamina.  I had just bought a bunch of jeans at the gap outlet... and then became pregnant.

I immediately bloated up. By 6 weeks (that would be 4 weeks of having an actual baby in there) nothing fit. For awhile though my belly wasn't that big and i didn't even gain that much weight. Maybe 5-7 pounds? Then around 20 weeks everything got bigger. I started gaining weight more rapidly and my belly POPPED out. People would say "you're all belly" and maybe i was, but it felt like extra fat was there too (which, women DO store extra fat during pregnancy, which i didn't even know at the time really).
 One time I went to the obgyn, and I had gained 5 lbs in a month, instead of the 4 lbs (1 lb a week) that they want and was told to watch my weight gain. I cried. Over 1 lb. Looking back that doctor (NOT my own dr) was kinda an a$$...really, it's 1 pound. And I had a late afternoon appt, you weigh more as the day goes on. As a nurse I would never think anything of that. So that MD sucked. But I was still mad about it.

Around the 3rd trimester, or at some point anyway, it was like no matter what I did I'd gain weight. I remember really restricting what I ate (what? who does that while pregnant? This was still the downfall of that stupid comment by that stupid dr) and I know I was not eating enough. Oh then I failed my 1 hr glucose screen (which they shouldnt even bother doing. Many women fail who do not have GD so it just creates undue worry). I cried at my desk at work when they called me with that news. Which gestational diabetes is NOT type 2 diabetes (which is tied to being overweight) but it still made me feel fat. I went on to pass my 3 hour glucose test, so I did NOT have GB but it still upset me.

So then the last month when I was miserable and huge and hurting and nervous and exhausted, I just said screw it and ate what I wanted. Not that I could even eat a lot, since your stomach is pushed up so small.

I gained 26 lbs officially by the doctor records (but more like 30 unofficially because by the time I went to the dr's at 6 weeks for my 1st weigh-in, I had already gained a few pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.)

Initially the weight fell off, when I was breastfeeding LITERALLY about 16 hours a day. Callum nursed so dang much, probably d/t my low supply. But then it came back, and kind of quickly. I've actually read that this is a "thing" that many women actually GAIN while breastfeeding, not loose like the propaganda tells you. So teh first 2 weeks I was almost back to my pre-preg weight (but with a messed up, deflated stomach). But by 1 month I had already started gainning.

So the past 2 weeks or so, I have started tracking what I eat on MyFitnessPal, eating less, and TRYING to work out more. I've lost maybe like 6 lbs so far, but man it's hard. So much harder than before. And yes, I'll blame it on the baby because he is #1 and his needs come first...not my want of working out. Hopefully I can push myself slowly though. I packed away my skinny clothes this weekend because I was tired of them cluttering things up and making me depressed. But I want to wear them again!!