Learning…
So I’m learning to write AFTER I made lunches for the kids and to just schedule my work around the split-family schedule. It helps that the baby’s eating/sleeping pattern is starting to be a tad more predictable. What I haven’t figured out yet is how to make time for feeding myself better and working out to lose the baby blubber.
How is it that I’ve actually GAINED weight in the past two weeks? I had already lost almost 20 of the 35 pounds I had gained during the pregnancy and somehow, seemingly unrelated to me binge-eating chocolate and gummy bears while working on the magazine articles that were due last week, 5 of those pounds crept back on. Which, in true female, frustrated fashion, made me so depressed for two days that I slept less and ate more. Did I not complain last week about how I needed a diet?
Well, I got myself off the depre-wagon and lost 2 pounds between yesterday and today. It’s probably just water weight and doesn’t amount to much, but it’s a start. Now the challenge is to keep going.
Ha! My phone just chimed at me that it’s time to work out. I’ve tried working out with baby and, since she’s too young for a jogging stroller, it’s more of a low-impact workout that I can include her in. But it’s hard. Don’t ever let those few moms who are back in their size 4 pants by the end of their forth trimester fool you – they do exist, but they are few and far in between. For most of us, it’s 9 months up and 9 months down in the weight department. But we do need to watch what we eat and be generally active. Breastfeeding helps lose the weight but it’s also designed to grow a person, so you’re still needing more calories than a woman who weaned her baby early. Any woman I’ve ever known who breastfed their infant did not look stellar again until after she stopped nursing.
So the plan is to keep nursing little Miss C AND work out a little here and there. I’ve come up with a workout that I can do with the baby. On days when she is too fussy to allow me to use her as weights, I substitute dumbbells. But many of the weightlifting exercises we know and love can be done with the baby just the same, giving her a fun ride through the air. Note: I did not start exercising at all until after my 6-week checkup and after my baby could hold her head up by herself. And even now, I still support her head and take it easy on the exercising, because I’m an old mom and don’t want to crack my joints 😉
Ashley@Shakenstirredandblended
Hi, I'm Ashley and I am a freelance writer and editor for one local and one national publication. In my spare time, I teach foreign languages and manage two households. Oh, and raise four children. It's a crazy life that I chose and I love every second of it :o)
