Bye Bye Baby Weight

Alright – time to get personal here. It's no big secret that a woman's body after baby is nothing too glorious. Everything is sort of... how do I put this lightly... misplaced. I have a stomach pouch that I have never experienced before, my upper thighs are a bit more jiggly than they once were, and I feel like my arms could put your Bingo-playing granny to shame. 

Needless to say, I'm not feeling too comfortable in this stretched out skin of mine. Before I found out I was pregnant, I was already wanting to drop a few pounds, and about a pant size, to get to my true goal weight. Then I got the call that we were having a baby (!!), and my dieting and weight loss goals flew out the window. I spent 40 weeks eating pretty much whatever I wanted, splurging on those boston cream donuts I craved for about 2 weeks straight, and basically not paying any attention whatsoever to my ever-expanding waistline – because, well... I was growing a human, so who cares?

Well, now that all is said and done, I care. I care that I had to buy new clothes in sizes 2x larger than I normally used to wear. I care that I don't feel good about myself most times when I look in the mirror.

And now it's time to change that.

I'm not going to lie to myself (or to you) and say that I'm going to start working out every day, or probably even every other day, at that. I simply don't have the time to. Between taking care of Marleigh in the mornings, getting ready for work, working during the days, and spending time with my family at night, trudging downstairs to run on the elliptical doesn't sound too appealing most days. Not to mention, when I would be able to squeeze exercise into my schedule, I would much rather be catching up on whatever sleep I can get so that I can function at my job.

There was one morning a couple weeks ago where I woke up at 4:30, fed Marleigh, put her back down for a couple of hours and worked out. I'm not going to lie. It felt pretty good and I was really proud of myself – until 3:00pm rolled around, and it took every ounce of energy I had not to smash my head on my desk at work. I'm sure if I really tried, my body would get used to the new routine, but sleep depravation on top of the already little amount of sleep I'm getting already doesn't really seem like the best idea at the moment.

So... what's a new mommy to do when this weight obviously isn't going to fall off on its own? Well, for starters, I've re-downloaded my favorite meal tracking app on my iPhone – called Lose It. I used the app before our wedding a couple summers ago, and I managed to drop almost 2 pant sizes within about 3 months. I'm also going to try to make more of a conscious effort to exercise when I get the chance to, without neglecting my duties as a wife and mother. Easier said than done, I know. But I'm going to try.

What is my goal, you may ask? I've never been much of a numbers person, so the digits on the scale aren't too important to me. What I want is to be able to get back into a size 8 jean comfortably, with a little bit of wiggle room. I want to tone up my arms and get my legs back to a size where I won't feel uncomfortable in a pair of shorts or a cute skirt. And I want to do this by the time summer rolls around. 

I'm confident in myself that I can make this happen. With the help of my trusty app, and the importance of being healthy and physically fit for my family, I will reach my goals and be back to the old me soon!

In the meantime, I'll be the one with a pile of clothes on my closet floor because nothing fits and nothing looks right. It's okay. This too shall pass, and at least I've got a beautiful baby girl who makes it all worth it!