Anyone else having a hard time with the weight gain?

pandaluvr · September 2009

I've always struggled with my body and self-esteem, I was a chubby teenager but lost a lot of it my senior year and first few years of college. When I got married and moved out on my own though I started some really bad eating habits and gained everythign back and then some.

With my first baby I was 40 pounds overweight to start with and by the time i got done weighed over 200 pounds. That was pretty bad.

In the three years since I've worked my butt off and took my size 16 to a size 8.

In the last year I lost 40 pounds and was working out with weights, etc.

Then I got pregnant again.

For the first few months I was so sick the idea of working out was so far from my mind.

Now I'm feeling better and my little bump is starting to show but I'm having a hard time accepting and loving my new body.

At the first few doctor appointments they were encouraging me to gain weight. At 20 weeks I've gained 8 pounds but I'm over that little mental weight limit I imposed on my self when I wasn't pregnant.

I know 8 pounds isn't a lot but it's the loss of my toning, the rolls coming back, that sort of thing that bugs me.

My arms are getting flabby again and my hips just seem gargantuan!

I know I'm pregnant and this is our last baby so it's really my last opportunity to take it easy and lay off the weight gain guilt trips.

I started working out again--though a lot less strenuous than before but now I'm off on a week long vacation and while I'm packing my toning bands, will I really use them?

All the doctors family and friends, etc. tell me to just be easy on myself and to eat healthy etc. But I feel really bad about myself and instead of seeing a lovely, curvy mommy body I see the fat girl coming back and I'm scared of what I'll look like at the end.

I also do want to stress that right now my baby is healthy and growing and for that I'm grateful. I'm not dieting or anything, I just mentally don't feel like a great empowered person I just feel fat.

Is anyone else having a really hard time with this?

Georgia Peach 87 · September 2009

I know exactly how you feel. Although this will be my first child, I too had a hard time throughout HS with weight. I lost it all when I started doing dance right after HS, so my first few years of college I was a skinny minie. Due to some health issues in the end of my second year of college, I had to stop working out for a while and gained a few. Once I got married, my exercising habits and eating habits went flying out the window. I have been slowly losing weight by getting out and taking walks around my neighborhood. A few weeks ago I found out that I am pregnant and I too am worried about weight gain.

I remembered one of my dance instructors from a while back was pregnant and she stayed in excellent shape and lost the weight with amazing grace and speed that I got in contact with her and chatted with her about this. She told me that to help with flabby arms, put weight on my wrists and exaggerate the arm movements when on walks (ankle weights are a plus too), while watching TV do some ballet arm stretches and do lunges. Throughout the day drink as much water as you can. This may cause you to have "to go" even more, but it flushes your system and is not only good for you, but the baby as well. I suggest carrying a water bottle with you, even around your house. You will be surprised at how often you l drink from it once its around.

Also, talk to your doctor and ask to see a nutritionist. I have one scheduled in a week or so because I can already foresee issues with my eating habits. Good luck and I hope this helps. If you need any support along the way... just leave me a message!

PMeg819 · September 2009

I'm really afraid of being the fat mom. Hell, I'm only 8 weeks now and I'm worried that in the end no one will know I'm pregnant because I'll just be so fat.

I'm trying to tell myself that I can't help the weight gain, but if I eat right (which is hard because m/s is a motherfecker) and try to exercise it'll be better.

I can't offer any suggestions, but just some general commiseration. I've started feeling a bit better and I have a Wii Fit so I'm going to play that. If it's fun, it doesn't feel like exercise.

You've lost the weight once. It was hard, but you did it and you can do it again.

pandaluvr · September 2009

Thanks for the support ladies! I've generally received mostly eyerolls from family and friends. When I started to get the sad look at my last weigh-in the nurse smacked my arm (playfully of course) and said "now don't you start that, you're a Momma now and you're beautiful. That's the general idea I suppose but for me it's sheer panic when I step on the scale.

I am actually staying at my MIL in Utah on a brief little vacation with my husband and daughter and she has pictures of me up all over the place when I was heavy right after delivery with my daughrer. There are some where my daughter is about 18 months old and I was still really big. The pictures from this vacation show a much smaller me but I still have until February. So that nagging feeling is definitely there.

Right before I left I purchased a bollywood dance DVD, I haven't done more than the little intro but it seemed fun. I'm hoping to make that my cardio. I was doing some pretty intense interval training with lots of "burpies" where you jump up and then drop to the floor in a push-up and bring your knees and then jump up and do it again and again. I can't even fathom those!

I can already tell at 20 weeks that I will probably carry in the same weird way I carried my daughter--no foreseeable bump until right before the end and the weight just gains everywhere else.

I can tell my eating habits have definitley changed from last year. I can't eat pizza or burgers without feeling kind of sick and I was in Whole Foods up here and passed a quinoa salad in the ready made stuff and was like 'that looks really good!" A year or even two ago I would have laughed and said it was rabbit food. My first craving today was for a salad from Rumbi. So those little things have given me hope.

I will take commiseration and understanding over eye rolling any day of the week.

I've felt my first heavy kicking this week so that's made me sort of forget about myself for a bit.

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