Can you use the baby weight excuse 5 years down the line?

[FeelLikeTweedleDee]

I've met a few women who say "I'm overweight because I've had babies" and their children are 5+ years old. My mum (bless her) used to say this to me, and I'm her youngest child pushing 30!

So how long do you reckon you can use the baby weight excuse for? And who actually believes it? Men? The childless?

Bitch away.

[LargeGlassOfRedPlease]

Great Q!

1 year max as an excuse, IMO.

I do think some women do just give up and turn all round and mumsy and use 'I just don't have time to excerise' line once the baby has popped out!

[msshapelybottom]

Technically if someone put on weight with pregnancy and never lost it afterwards, even if it was 5 years down the line, they still have the baby weight!

I do think having small kids is a common reason that women don't take care of themselves, but that's more than weight alone. I find it sad that some women feel the need to justify their body to anyone mind you.

Personally I don't care why anyone else is overweight, I'm barely getting to grips with my own eating/weight issues :)

[ShowOfHands]

MIL still says it and her youngest is 23. But I think you can argue that carrying babies can permanently change you. I have been fitter, lighter and stronger than I was pre-dc but my body shape will never, ever be the same. Pregnancy, stretchmarks, a long labour and emergency surgery have irrevocably altered my body.

[OmniaParatus]

My sister still uses it jokingly and her daughter is 14!

I was fat before my kids anyway, I am 40 weeks with my 3rd and would agree I have about a year of baby weight excuses maximum.

I am fat because I eat too much and don't exercise enough though, and it doesn't matter what excuse I have, that is the real reason!

[peppapighastakenovermylife]

I think around a year...or perhaps when you stop breastfeeding (if this is later than a year). I know quite a few women who cling onto weight until they stop feeding.

[BristolJim]

Heh, I use this one!

[TheVisitor]

18 years. :P

[Marlinspike]

Never mind the baby weight, I'm knocking on 50 and reckon I still have puppy fat!

[Oblomov]

Max 1 year.
I lost all my baby weight within a few weeks, both times. I think bf'ing helps. Or probably more just luck. Since then, I have put on some. You can't blame baby then, can you !!

[Rabat]

Depends what they mean by 'baby weight'. I lost my baby weight (excess weight gained from pregnancy) by the time my DS was 5 months old (2 stone). However, I am now even heavier than what I was when I came home from the hospital with him - by about a stone, and I am now considerably heavier than my heaviest pre-pregnancy weight - for me that is due to a massive change in lifestyle and not adapting properly (I am trying now, honest!).

[worraliberty]

I'm not sure but I've known a few people who have used pregnancy as an excuse for over eating and indulging in their 'cravings' for fatty/sweet foods.

My best friend constantly struggled with her weight but gave up and ate everything she used to avoid when she got pregnant.

She gained almost 4 stone and now (19 years on) is around 20 stone.

[verytellytubby]

I'm slim but got a baby belly still. I still blame my twins (they are 5 ).

[Olivetti]

Brilliant question!
I've got a follow-up one, if people don't mind. I had a baby 4 months ago, and am more or less back to what I was before I had her, in weight terms (maybe 2lb over). Don't flame me, I know I am lucky etc. However, I swear my hips are MUCH wider....does this ever go back to normal?? And my tummy is all soft...how hard is it to get it firmish again?!

[SummerRain]

I have fat fingers thanks to ds1.... they swelled when I was pregnant with him, and my feet got bigger, and even though I've lost the weight everywhere else my fingers are still fat.

He's 4.5 and he's the middle child but I blame his pregnancy for all my favourite rings lingering in a drawer unworn!

[Weemee]

Depends if you are breastfeeding....I am just weaning dd (14 months) off the breast and she is only bf at night now. I have noticed a marked change in my middle since we dropped the morning feed. It has also been hard to start exercising until the last 3-4 months because it was painful to run etc. (tho I did a lot of walking). But 5 years erm.. possibly not a valid excuse...the babies might have started the increase in weight, but at 5 they aren't the ones stopping it!

[Weemee]

I mean they aren't the ones stopping it coming off!

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

My youngest is 17 and I'm still not shot of it.

[thumbwitch]

My mum used it forever. She was 9st something when she got married, and put on a stone of "unshiftable" weight with each of her 3pg. But she never, ever got below 13st after that and blamed it all on having had DC. Despite the fact that we only accounted for 3st of her excess weight, and she was routinely another 2st overweight on top of that - it was all because of us.

I got fat after I stopped bf'ing so I cannot use babyweight as an excuse - I was back to pre-pg weight within 2w. But a year after stopping bf'ing I was a stone heavier.

[theresapotatoundermysink]

I agree your body will change so you can blame your shape on pregnancy forever. But actual weight, probably only a year or so.

[theresapotatoundermysink]

Oh no thumbwitch, don't tell me that. I have a feeling when I stop breastfeeding I'm gonna gain A LOT of weight.

[thumbwitch]

Weelll - it depends on whether you manage your eating better than me, theresapotato - my downfall was not giving up my bar of chocolate a day habit immediately. Oh, and going back on the wine at long last of course. And no exercise - moving country didn't help, plus moving to a house with no staircase from one that had 2.

So if you avoid all those pitfalls, you'll be fine

[LargeGlassOfRedPlease]

Olive - I don't think your body 'feels' back to normal IYKWIM, until about 1yr after birth - even if the weight is off.

[noodle69]

I dont know how anyone with kids can keep loads of weight on. They never give you the chance to sit still I think it must burn 10000 calories a day!