To think that a woman who still has pregnancy weight 8 weeks after having a baby is normal?

My mum actually lost two stone during each pregnancy through horrible morning sickness. I simply didn't gain weight really, it just redistributed itself, and when I bought a set of scales last weekend I discovered that I had lost about 7 kg, or around 1 stone, in weight. I wasn't sick as much as my mum but felt sick and put off eating proper meals from a few weeks in until the very end.

As I was 2 stone overweight to start with according to charts in the surgery, I still am. I didn't buy many maternity clothes during pregnancy and the things I relied on during pregnancy are a little loose fitting, but there's nothing I can't continue to make use of in my wardrobe. I'm a size 14, and would probably be a curvy size 12 at my ideal weight. I'm not tall, but the last time I weighed 9 stone (nearly 10 years ago) it was after a year of being incredibly unhappy - I soon piled on weight as life picked up - and I'd sooner be fat and happy.

As my mum also put her pre-pg weight back on each time, I'm really just aiming to avoid ending up weighing more than I did at 12 weeks when I was first weighed. I'm not going to diet at the moment, will just try to eat more healthily than I used to, as I want to get into habits which will have a positive influence on my baby's diet as he develops into a todler and then a child, and not to eat as badly as I did. If I put even more weight on than I've lost, I'll consider very gradual restrained changes to diet and exercise, ones that I have a prospect of maintaining longer term.

I really hate it when I see beautiful curvy celebrities suddenly conforming to pressure to become skinny - I'd like to see more size 14+ actresses and singers who stay that way.

Luci

Another thought Octo (without turning this into a running thread!) just be a bit wary with diving in too intensively for the first couple of months. If you've had any sort of damage to your perineum it won't need the extra stress that a lot of running will bring to bear!

Returning to the point (well, close to it) it's a rare woman who escapes childbirth - especially for second and subsequent children - without some major adjustments to their self image. A combination of breastfeeding and running knocked a lot of my weight off enormously quickly after DS2 but I have stretch marks for the first time, my boobs are gently heading south and after eight months my face looks like the before shots from '10 years younger' - not good. I'm trying to remain philosophical but it's mighty hard to retain my previous lofty indifference to my physical attributes now they are actually disappearing

octo i was given a tip about not bfing too soon after a running session - something to do with toxins / hormones released in running????

i put on 5 stone in pg with severe pre-eclampsia and ds was born at 32 weeks so i didn't have that last 4 weeks fat to go on me - i just swelled massively fro mweek 20 - looked like a huige white whale, with a really fat face too.

lost most of it (4 stone) in 6 months while bfing and then took 3 months to lose the last stone, through really sensible eating and lots of exercise. also the not drinking whiile bfing really helps you get the weight off!

the last stone was so difficult to lose but having got myself into some good habits i'm now losing some weight that i needed to get rid of before getting pg.

agree with someone else though - it redistributes itself really badly - i have a horrid flabby tummy now, even though i weigh less than before pg

Please excuse, my smilies are not coming out right! lol. I'll try fro next time.

What is DD and Ds?? I keep seeing this but don't know what it means?(hmm)
Anway, with my first son i put on a stone during pregnancy and i lost this within 6/7 months after he was born and somehow i had some flab but i was trim looking!Plus i breastfed him! With my second,(who's only 4 onths :0 and bottlefed), i put on 2 stones and was fatter towards the birth,, despite losing a stone, i am a dress size bigger than pre pregnancy and i am so depressed,(not Postnatal),as my belly is saggy and appears to have no elastisaty or tone .

I am a single mum, long story, their dad is a BLEEP lazy, no good, cheating BLEEP BLEEP!! Lol... Anyways, i am fine with my boys but the eldest is VERY hyperactive and having very little support apart from my wonderful mother :0, i can't really go many places with the kids as he just won't behave or stop screaming etc...
Hence my lack of opportunities to get out and about to help me shift this baby weight.

Has anyone got any tips to help? My diet is crap and consists mainly of coffee's, tea's and LOTs of biscuits. lol. Thanx..

Oh God yes, don't have scales in the house, if you do, Freecycle them - they are an unhealthy obsession. Can't resist the curiosity occasionally at someone else's house if there are some out in a bathroom though.

I have a very simple method for not worrying about the baby weight. Once I gave birth, I refused to be weighed.

A year and four months on, I still have no idea how much I weigh. However, I fit into my clothes and feel fine so I don't give a toss.

For the record neither will I. But I found a size I was happy with, that was easy to maintain around xmas time, that was 2/3 sizes bigger than pre-pregnancy.

I will never be back to the size I was before having baby
It does seem to bother LB though, but I don't care, I don't have time to exercise and I eat crap, because it's easier and until he's home (he travels during the week, so I am basically a single mum) I just don't care!! LOL

I was 2stone overweight before because I did no exercise, ate, smoked and drank loads. I've kept off the weight I lost during my first pregnancy simply because my lifestyle changed so much as soon as I had kids. I still don't consciously do exercise but I no longer have a car and live at the top of a hill which helps a lot. I also don't have much crappy food in the house as I don't want the kids to think that it's an everyday thing, just for treats when out and about. Again not having a car helps avoid former temptations too eg stopping for a takeaway.

I was into my normal jeans the day I came home from hospital.

I was NOT normal - with severe hyperemesis, having spent a lot of the pregnancy in hospital, I will be spending the equivalent 9 months reversing the muscle wasting and liver failure, and dd catching up from the growth restriction.

These celebs AREN'T normal - you guys are, who had healthy pregnancies and healthy babies and a normal healthy struggle to get the weight off.

i think the problem is that most people in the UK whether they have children or not just don't `eat reasonably, exercise reasonably'. They eat badly and don't exercise much and get fatter.

And I after six........

I still have pregnancy weight after 2 1/2 years!!!!!

Ok, let's put things into perspective. We are shown through tv etc that normal is about being around 6ft tall and naturally v. thin. Of course in real life these people are different (freaks if you like). Therefore it stands to reason that anyone not like them is 'normal'.
But even within 'normal' there are going to be differences. For most women getting back down in size is about time and some effort.
For others, obviously it is not, they seem to just do it.(Hmmph)
Then of course there are those who cannot get back down to pre-pregnancy size/weight.
Perhaps we should all concentrate on eating reasonably, exercising reasonably and stop worrying, whether we are the 6ft tall (or indeed smaller versions) who pop back or not.
((rides off on high horse into the sunset))

Yes maybe it is an age thing- was 20 when i had dd and 24 when i had ds.

I think (I may be wrong here) it is easier to lose the weight after your first baby. I lost the weight fairly easily after having DS but it's since having DD that I've struggled.

I think that the girls in their early 20s rebound quickly

This thread seems to be full of women who lost all the weight quite fast. I think most women in England who have a baby actually never lose the weight to be honest, given the average woman is size 16.

I was at the doctors last week and there was a girlin the waiting room in with her baby (looked about 8 weeks old) and she was lucky if she was a size 8! Not even the slightest bit of a paunch.

Its the others who are abnormal surely

buckets - hadn't thought of that - not even sure have a sports bra that fits! May do test run round the garden and skip it altogether if too painful/wobbly!

I went back to my normal weight after 3 months with my first child, about 6 weeks after my second but lost it all after about 3 weeks with my third! I did breastfeed them all but also I had so much running around to do - I had 3 kids under 3 1/2 yrs old and just didn't sit down I think. I am petite anyway and my weight had been stable for 15 years - I think my body couldn't wait to get back to normal!

However, I think it's really sad that the emphasis is on how you look after you've had a baby - as if that's the most important thing on the list! What about all the time you spend nurturing and caring for this new life you've brought into the world? Doesn't that count for anything now?

Yo! Way to go, I still gasp in amazement at anyone who goes running, let alone whilst breastfeeding. Get yourself a good bra young lady! (lack of sports bra is my excuse for not even trying running.)

The thing that annoys me is that having a baby is about the most amazing thing that you can do, but once you have had it you are supposed to look as though you have only just started your periods.