Patience & Losing the Baby Weight
As soon as I gave birth, I wanted my pre-pregnancy body back. Patience and I don’t really get along, at least when it comes to ideals I set for myself. I’m plenty patient with other people and things, like letting retirement funds slowly build over years and years. Giving myself time to reasonably lose baby weight? Not so much. I’ve been trying to remind myself every time I get on the scale or try on a pre-pregnancy piece of clothing: it took nine months to get this way, so give yourself nine months to get the weight off. That little mantra does help… but only a little.
Four weeks after my c-section, I started running again. This helped me mentally feel like I was getting back on track. I hadn’t been able to run for most of my pregnancy, but now I could feel my body getting healthier and stronger. I felt like I was getting that “hum” back, like how tuning up a car makes it seem to hum along better. Even if running didn’t make a big dent in the scales immediately, it was a mental stimulant and helped me feel better about myself, which helped other aspects of my life.
Taking care of myself physically has been a key part of my physical recovery and mental adjustment to being a parent. Running is something I do for me. It’s a time of the day at which I put my needs first. I run on the treadmill, so I can run while my daughter takes her first nap of the day. If she wakes up, I can pause my run to take care of her or, very rarely, stop the run altogether if need be. I can get in some “me” time while monitoring her needs. This gives me a physical and mental boost that lasts for the rest of the day, making me feel better and happier about attending to the needs of the rest of my family: my daughter, husband, and dogs. It isn’t critical that I run every day, but by establishing a good routine of running most days, I put myself on track to gradually get back (hopefully) to my pre-pregnancy weight while also doing something good for myself mentally and physically, which benefits the whole family.
As much as the pregnancy weight bothers me, I haven’t been dieting or doing everything possible to lose the weight. I am breastfeeding, so if I diet, I risk the milk that my daughter ingests not having the nutritional value she needs. I eat a healthy diet. I eat when I’m hungry and until I’m full. I even have occasional alcohol. By eating smart and resuming regular exercise, though, the weight is slowly coming off. I wish it would come off faster, but I have to balance that want with my daughter’s needing good milk.
I keep reminding myself that 1) the weight will come off if I continue to have healthy habits eating and exercising, and 2) it took nine months to go on, so I need to give myself nine months for it to come off. I need to be patient with myself. It helps immensely to look at my daughter and remind myself of why I put on the weight in the first place and why I am intentionally being slow in taking it off. She is worth the extra months of wearing the same maternity clothes over and over again. I will be thrilled when I can wear my pre-pregnancy wardrobe, but wearing those clothes will not be at the expense of my daughter’s health.
