1st Time Moms- Losing the Weights

LKHoffa

Okay this is a no judgment section! I know we all prefer weight gain and a healthy baby! But be honest here! I recently achieved the weight I have been desiring to be for years. There's a part of me that is nervous I won't be able to lose the baby weight. I know it's a long way away, but I think seeing the scale creep up may be hard for me. Anyone agree or feel similarly??

peggels24

If you monitor what you eat and eat healthy, there is no reason that you can't keep the gain to the recommended minimum (as recommended by your doctor) and then you will be able to lose it quickly as soon as the baby is born.  

KristaU831

it sucks seeing it creep up but i gained 54 lbs with my first and lost it all within 6 weeks. i guess that's just what my body needed to gain. don't stress it. 

austinlyns

Yes, I worry about it every time! I hate the feeling of being overweight, so I try to lose it fast afterwards. The best advice I have is not to change your eating habits much in the beginning. Most of the weight gain is toward the end, so you can't pig out during the first trimester or you will end up with too much weight gain. Stay active the whole time (walking a lot towards the end is great!) and only eat when you really feel hungry, not just constant snacking because you are pregnant so feel like you deserve unlimited snacks. You actually need very few extra calories in the early weeks. Good luck!

JNerd

I remember reading a post about a woman who didn't care and ate whatever she wanted with baby #1 and she gained about 60lbs. With baby #2 she ate really healthy and was way more aware of what she was eating, and she still gained 60lbs. The body gains what it needs to gain during pregnancy.

Obv. there are things you can do to help yourself out - try to pick the healthy option, limit the crap food, drink lots of water, and make sure you aren't totally sedentary. 

After, BFing is great to helping weight loss, and June is great for taking baby out for walks. 

If you focus on living a healthy life, that is the bes thing you can do.

And I am right with you on the not being thrilled about watching the scale go up after working so hard to get to a weight I am happy with, but, as I'm sure many people will say - a baby is more than worth it. 

AshB11

I've been lucky and I don't gain much during pregnancy. It also comes off quickly and easily for me. Everyone really is different and your body will respond differently then someone else's. Just make some healthy choices along with some indulgences and I'm sure you'll be fine. I feel like a lot of moms loose the weight but struggle more with how differently your body may be proportioned post baby. 140 pre baby can look a lot different then 140 post baby.

austinlyns

@ashb11, yes!! I remember after my first baby being shocked that after a few weeks I weighed exactly what I did before the baby, but my clothes didn't fit well. The weight was re-distributed in a weird way.

AllyTales

I don't think anyone likes seeing the scale creep up, but it's gonna happen. So I remind myself it's for good reasons  I've already gained 6 pounds, but I'm not eating crazy. I've only upped my calories by 300 or so.  But I'm not running as much, that's probably why.  I figure someday it will come off

tbmadeamistake

I gained 65 with my first (I'm tiny to begin with, I wasn't going to stop my body from finally doing what it's supposed to with food!).  I lost 25 or so just giving birth, and then rest fell off within 5 months or so.  I BF for about that long, which definitely helped.  You will find what a PP mentioned, that it's redistributed a bit, but it's not that hard to come off.  That said, skin stretching back down can take longer than losing the weight.  I had extra flab at my belly for a while.  17 months later and my stomach finally looks normal, and here I am doing it again!

flojo973

I worry about this a lot.  I'm trying to eat healthy and not stress about it.  I'd rather gain more and have a healthy baby.

Pepper6

I think I can handle losing the weight, it's the pooch that worries me the most.  One of my cousins was fairly thin, but just had a saggy pooch of excess skin and flabby muscle that she never lost.  I'm going to start safe core workouts as soon as possible pp to help avoid that hopefully.  I'm also dreading stretchmarks, but I know nothing I can do will change that if I'm going to get them, so I'm just keeping my fx.

Kinipela7

I don't think anyone really likes to see the scale creep up, but it is what it is.  You will gain weight, and if you put your mind to it, you will lose it.  Anyone can lose the weight after if they REALLY want to.

Snickerdoodle24

Sometimes the weight comes off pretty easily, which is awesome, but I just wanted to add that sometimes it doesn't. I was in pretty good shape and fairly thin pre-pregnancy with #1, and I gained 45 lb despite making mostly healthy choices (although I did have a Taco Bell chicken burrito weakness.) I lost about 20lb in the first couple weeks, lost another 10 by 3 or 4 months, but I hung on to those last 15lb for many months after that, despite eating decently and breastfeeding. it honestly wasn't until a few months after I stopped breastfeeding that I got back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. DD was 18 months before I felt that my body was back to "normal." And close to 2 before I felt really happy about my body again.... and then I got KU. Figures

Don't stress yourself out about it, just do your best to eat well and exercise through your pregnancy and afterwards, and the weight will likely come off, even if it takes a long time. I know I had to eat quite a bit while breastfeeding to keep my milk supply up, so I focused on the importance of that whenever I was feeling crappy about my "leftovers."