baby weight

So you know how people say that it takes 9 months to grow a baby and then 9 months to lose all the weight and get your figure back? I've seen some pictures on friend's blogs of their amazing figures just months after they've had their babies (you know who you are!!) but this really wasn't the case for me! I know that breastfeeding is meant to help with the weight coming off but Caleb only breastfed for 2 months (I had a fun old experience with that that you can read about here) so I don't think it did a huge amount in the weight loss thing. I didn't really bother exercising a whole lot in the first few months, firstly because I was recovering from the pain of it all (forceps delivery, lots of stitches, fun stuff like that!) and dealing with a house move too. Straight after I'd had Caleb and I was laying down, my stomach felt really flat and I thought to myself, "great, I've shrunk right back down!" Then I stood up and watched in dismay as my saggy stomach fell to my knees. Okay, it wasn't that bad, it just fell to my thighs! I knew I would need to do something at some point to shift the weight but it really wasn't an essential thing for me just then.

Before I had Caleb I was a UK size 8-10 and I didn't overly mind my figure. I didn't love it either, I would love to have the perfect bikini body despite not being a bikini wearer, but I have never been a crazy one for exercising. My sister Laura loves exercising and she does it every day. She is so disciplined with it and she looks incredible but sadly, this has never really rubbed off on me! When Laura and I used to run together, when I couldn't go any further, she would hold my hand and keep running so I had no choice but to carry on! We also used to play tennis together. I was never great at it but I always had a good time anyway, then when Seth and I got married and we lived in Lancaster, I went running 3-4 times a week for almost two years. I didn't love it at all, I was just trying to keep fit and healthy!

I had Caleb in the July and I think it probably wasn't until maybe after Christmas that I started to exercise. I walked quite a bit anyway but I started to do a workout DVD in the morning (Jillian Michaels). I would get Caleb ready for the day and then he would sit in his activity centre in the living room with me and watch me work out. Sometimes he would laugh, I would like to say that this was in encouragement rather than mockery but I can't say for certain! The weight started to come off pretty quickly, which I was pleased about but still not quite enough, there were those few pounds that wouldn't shift! When we decorated our home, as soon as Caleb was in bed at night at around 7.30, I was stripping wallpaper and fun stuff like that until around midnight. I didn't really think of it as exercising at all but a couple more pounds came off. Then I switched to a different exercise DVD. This one was a bit longer. To be fair, had I done all of the Jillian Michaels one that would have been okay too but I only ever did 2 or 3 circuits at a time. The new DVDs varied from 35 minutes at the easiest to just over an hour for the hardest one. I did manage to do the hardest one but then reverted back to the intermediate one after a couple of weeks off.

I weighed myself a couple of mornings ago and I am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight! I've been able to wear all my clothes again for a while now but they are a little but looser now. It's funny though because I think I managed to dupe myself into thinking that I had an amazing figure pre-baby and when I look in the mirror, I still haven't got the hot mama figure that I am hoping to see! My stomach is still wobbly no matter what I do and I still have the faded marks of stretch marks but I guess that comes with the territory! I still can't say I love exercise and I'm having a couple of weeks off at the moment (I've been ill and I'm also recovering from steroid injections in my wrists again!) but I'm quite pleased with myself for sticking at it and almost getting to where I want to be. And no, I'm not posting a before and after picture!