The Weight Loss Plan that Worked for Me.

Losing baby weight.

Everyone woman who has had a baby can relate to this. No matter who you are, you gain weight when you are pregnant. If you don’t, that is concerning.

Some women lose the weight immediately upon the birth of their child. (we all hate you. In the nicest way possible.)

Some women breastfeed for a few months and the pounds are sucked straight out of them.

Some women actually have the opposite problem, and they either gain weight or keep the weight through breastfeeding, but then once the baby is weaned the weight falls off.

Some people have to work really, really hard to lose their baby weight. They have to exercise and eat properly and work very hard to lose any of the weight.

And some people do all of the above and still don’t lose any weight.

Here is what I did to lose my baby weight:

• I gave birth (-15 pounds)
• I breastfed (maybe -5 pounds if I’m being generous)
• I weaned (nada)
• I worked out, ran, exercised, and cleaned up my eating (nada)
• I gave up on focusing on losing weight (nada)

That’s right. This is my journey. I gained 45 pounds during my pregnancy. I lost around 20 pounds and then for an entire year my body has held onto those 20 pounds. I’m pretty sure I’ve tried almost everything.

And I’m finally here. At the end of the journey.

The weight loss plan that worked for me?

There isn’t one. I didn’t lose my weight.

And I’m finally ok with that. I’m ok with where I’m at. I’m ok with my new look and I refuse to wallow in self pity and guilt over the fact that I’ve done whatever I can and the weight still holds on.

Now…I have two small disclaimers. First, I’m not a proponent of everyone being happy with how they look no matter what. Instead, I think that we should all be working hard to take care of our bodies. I think that we should all be making sure that we are living our most healthy lives possible.

Second, I know that many people will read this post and scoff or fume at me for writing anything about weight loss when I weigh less then them at 9 months pregnant. Stop. It doesn’t matter if you are skinny or fat, it’s still a mental battle to find acceptance in your body. Perhaps I have less of a “right” to be hard on myself for my appearance, but I’m just trying to honestly put my feelings out there and I hope that you are not offended that I have been struggling with my inability to lose baby weight.

I’ve finally reached a point where I accept the weight that I’m at, the new body that I have. What finally got me to that point?

1. Being healthy. It’s important to eat the right things, have portion control and self control. I’m not on a diet, but I am making sure that I am eating balanced meals with good portions, that I am cutting out processed foods and sugars as much as possible and that I’m eating healthy snacks, especially at bedtime.

2. Getting fit. I find that I am happier with myself and my image when I’m actually working out. Part of it is endorphins, but another part is that I simply feel like I’m putting work into my body and therefore I treat it better. I run and have been doing T25. I think consistency is the key.

3. Overhaul the wardrobe. Every time I went to get dressed I would end up in tears because truly “nothing fit”. I would feel so insecure and just toss the clothes to the back of my closet. Well, no more. I simply went through my clothes and got rid of each piece that did not fit. There is no point in holding onto it if it just makes me sad/insecure. Part of this also included going to the store and getting some new pieces that did fit. A couple pairs of jeans and a new dress or two can go a long ways, especially when I hit up the thrift store!

4. Mental Overhaul. Honestly, this is the hardest for me. People would tell me to “just embrace your body…it grew a human!”, but that would just not be helpful to me mentally. I understand that it grew it a human, but I was expecting it to bounce back and it never did! Once I was able to tell myself that i looked great, the confidence started to come back. I’m not talking about arrogance, I’m talking about self-respect. It’s important. And stop comparing. Stop comparing yourself. This was my biggest battle and probably still is.

5. Accountability I joined a facebook group with several other women and we worked on a healthy lifestyle challenge for 21 days. I loved this challenge, as it fit all different activity/weight levels and it was accountability. Not only that, but it was equal parts humbling and inspiring to see what the other ladies were doing. I high recommend finding an accountability group. You can exchange fun workouts or recipes or even make it a competition with a prize at the end.

P.S. Take sideways pictures in good lighting. That will always help.