I HATE Carrot Sticks

Anyone else out there have issues with loosing baby weight? I did great with my 1^st, but I honestly think that having to go back to work full-time just a few weeks postpartum got in the way of my focus on ME. I love my job and my work and I love my time with my toddler and 6 year old and I have a good balance between the two things I am so passionate about – my family and my work - so including the whole exercise routine into my hectic life is just on the back burner and seems a little bit unimportant to me. I know I need to replace my snacks with carrot sticks, eat less and exercise more but I will think of 100 reasons to start all that stuff “next week” which always translates into “never”.

There was the wonderful stage at about 3 months postpartum that I had actually lost almost all of the 60lbs I gained during my pregnancy and started to feel like I looked a bit like my old self again. I was breastfeeding so the weight was falling off of me and I was eating healthier than I ever have and felt amazing. I did this for the next few months and even started a treadmill routine while Dexter had an evening nap but as the weather started to change so did everything.

Spring had come and since I was so completely 100% invested in my new baby and focused on my health to benefit him I had not booked enough spring and summer maternity apparel to make it through the season. The spring and summer bookings were happening just as Dexter was born and I was so wrapped up in him that some things didn’t get 100% accomplished in the boutique through the winter. To correct the failure to purchase ahead of time I had to fly out and do some shopping in the major cities for awesome clothing to fill the store. He was slowly weaning himself from nursing at this time so the trip was a good way to wrap up my positive breastfeeding experience and I had made it just under 10 months which wasn’t that far from the 12 months I had set as a goal. The trip was a success with a few minor flight hiccups but a ton of product boxed and shipped out to the shop and I was now excited to throw myself back into work and get back into the grind.

This is where my baby weight that I had lost began the journey back to find me. I guess we can call it Lost & Found Baby Weight. A whopping 20lbs has managed to find it’s way back to my mid-section since my trip in the Spring making me look at least 6 months preggers and sparking whispers at family functions or as friends and frequent customers pop into the shop to see me. So, just buy some bigger pants and get over it? I wish this was the solution but in the boutique everyone has baby on the brain and I am getting rubbed and excited questions of when my due date is. Do I care? Nope. I am quite aware of what I look like but, the rubbing or excited due date inquiry then becomes a crazy uncomfortable situation for the other person. My not-a-baby-belly belly is scaring people out of the shop and I should probably get it under control before my sister-in-law goes crazy about it – she is newly preggers and can’t wait for someone to ask her when she is due and the fact that I get it weekly has to really rot her socks.

So, I need to eat like a rabbit and hoist my large rear on the treadmill but I can’t help but think pregnancy did me in this time or that I should have breastfed the boy until he started school….