When I had my first baby, within three months, I weighed ten pounds less than when I got pregnant. So, I was almost 5'8" and weighed 130 lbs. I did nothing special, nothing. People did not like how fast I lost weight and was svelte again.
Okay, I lied. I ate these things like chocolate caramel to lose weight. I would eat a month's supply in a few days because they were delicious. I quit that because it was expensive and would have caused me to gain instead of losing weight.
I sort of watched what I ate, but I was never starving. When we went out, I ate heartily. At church dinners, I did not hold back. I may have had one dessert in place of two. But, my plate was full. Okay, sometimes I had two desserts...lol.
One of my ex's college classmate said to my husband "your wife got her girlish figure back." In our group of friends, several had babies older than mine, and I was the only one not wearing extra weight. I was mindful of what I ate, but not obsessive.
While I was pleased with my weight, I never mentioned it to these other women, nor did I boast to others. Well, maybe to my mother. My form of "bragging" consisted of "I could get back into my white shorts today." Every day, I tried on all my clothing! Every stitch! This was not about how much weight I lost, I could not afford to buy anything to wear.
Now, I read condemnation of Kate Middleton in this Article. In other articles, I read complaints about women whose shape comes back easily. Well, that was me. Now, if I could just lose weight so easily...lol. Not happening.
After my third child was born on a Saturday afternoon, I decided on my own to walk to the nursery to see her. On the way back, I wondered why someone did not answer their phone. I realized it was mine and ran to my room and threw myself across the bed to answer the phone.
A nurse came in immediately. I complained of missing a call. She said that was my doctor calling to see how I was. "I told him you were running. He said to stop running." lol She could see me running from the nurse's station.
Early the next morning, I was up, showered, hair washed, dried and curled, and sitting on my bed. My doctor walked in and said I looked well, and why was I running.
On the Friday before, I had gotten out of the car and waddled through the lines of cars to talk to someone. On Monday, I delivered and picked up my daughter from dance lessons. I called one mother over to show her my baby. She was more concerned that she had seen me on Friday and now I was out driving. I told her I was in active labor on Friday. She was shocked!
I do know women who almost died in labor and were not out running in the hall four hours later. Things happen that I did not experience. I also know the Duchess of Cambridge had people with her and around her to help look so great. I understand. But, why the anger?
Why the bad attitude of those women who do not recover so well. I cried in the hospital after my second child was born because I had gained 50 pounds and she only weighed 6 lbs.! But, I effortlessly lost the weight. Eating one sandwich instead of two and only eating one candy bar instead of a whole bag of candy just seemed logical instead of extreme dieting. Sometimes, I was a pig. I exercised on the floor, but not often. I rode my bike but not often or far.
I must admit I faced outright hostility from people. That always puzzled me. During one of these pregnancies, my friend had a six month old baby when mine was born. Later, she would not go places with me because I had a three-month-old baby and was skinny while she had nine-month-old and had not lost one pound since it's birth.
Did you face hostility or complaints about losing weight after pregnancy? Or, maybe you faced hostility or complaints about having extra weight. What was your experience with post pregnancy weight? Did you have to try hard to lose the weight?
I have never been able to lose weight easily, babies notwithstanding. Thing is, it has never bothered me. Others get bent out of shape if acquaintances weigh two pounds less than they do. Jealousy. It bothers me not a bit what someone looks like. It is the kind of person they are inside that matters to me.
ReplyDeletevicki,
DeleteI cared but not enough to do anything drastic to lose weight. And, if someone weighed less, I was not upset. I knew what it would take to lose more weight, but I was not willing to give up food...lol. I certainly was not going to give up a friend because she weighed less. You are oh so right, it is the inside that counts. Thanks.
With every pregnancy I gained 15kg or maybe 30 pounds.
ReplyDeleteI lost weight easily but I never quite made it back to my pre-pregnant weight. It doesn't matter, I was too thin anyway.
These days I weigh almost the same as at 40 weeks and can't budge any.
I am on the edge of my healthy weight limit, edging into overweight but people think I'm slim. They also tell me I don't need to watch what I eat.
I never faced any issues about my post baby body because I had my kids five to ten years before my friends. I basically lost those friends because our lives were too different
kylie,
ReplyDeleteYou do not look heavy at all. Since I lived in three different places at each birth, only my family and a few friends saw me after all three of the births.
These days, I weigh so much more than I did when I gave birth. I would love to weigh what I did back then!
I need to go back to the same scales at the same doctor to see how my weight is going.
I had 3 babies, and I immediately lost the weight after giving birth each time. I din't try, it just happened. Of course taking care of 3 children takes up a lot of calories. Many years later I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I often wonder if it was at work in my body at the time of my pregnancies causing me to keep the weight down.
ReplyDeleteCarole,
DeletePeople asked me all the time what I did to lose weight. I told them I did not have time to fix anything or eat. I do understand. I wonder sometimes about things I have now, wondering if the origin was years ago.
About eating, it is hard to grab a snack when toddlers want some, too--Not my chocolate chip cookies. I just waited until mealtime to eat.
I was like you. Just dropped the pregnancy weight right off, after giving birth. After my first child, I was actually under my normal weight and I tried for a long time to gain it back! I was drinking milkshakes, etc. Dropping the weight wasn't anything I did on purpose. Just the way my body was made. I think until I got into my 40's I had pretty high metabolism. Wish I had that now, haha. I don't get the anger either. Jealousy, I guess. I don't look at someone who still weighs more after having a baby and judge them. It is what it is.
ReplyDeleteOne,
DeleteI did do things that are commonsense, like not have the second sandwich. But, I didn't starve myself or cook differently. Oh, I know I had high metabolism. Yes, the forties and menopause shot the high metabolism. I don't judge either. I do see women who are very overweight and are feeding junk to a toddler, and that makes me sad. But, that might be the only junk the child has had all week. I never picked my friends from the skinny women! I wish I could boost my metabolism now!
Poor women! Always condemned and criticized no matter what you do. Pregnancy is damned difficult - I don't have to tell you that! It is often hard/complicated and difficult to recover from.
ReplyDeleteUr-spo,
DeleteDamned if we do, damned if we don't. I have held this rant in for several years. Thanks!