Struggling with post baby body!

[TGNL]

Hi ladies,
So I’m really struggling to get used to my new body:(! It’s really depressing me I’ve gone from a size 12 to a size 16/18 I’ve tried so hard to loose weight but nothing is working for me:(! My DD is 4 months old now and everyone keeps telling me it will drop off me soon but I just feel like no matter what I do I’m getting bigger and bigger

Get yourself over to the weight loss threads, loads of helpful people over there

I think it will drop off soon. Do you breastfeed?

I have never known weight to "just drop off" anyone, baby or not. You say nothing is working, what have you actually tried? Maybe you could try a proper diet programme like MFP, Slimming World or WW.

I’ve found it very hard to lose weight while bf. Tbh I’ve just given up on my looks - my body is ruined and weight loss won’t fix it.

You need to actively try to lose weight. It is hard. And trying to do it with a 4m old is almost pointless if baby is a poor sleeper. Your body will gain weight even just through crappy sleep. I'm 20m in and my little boy only just started sleeping through. After 2 weeks of unbroken sleep the weight is actually coming off without me doing anything else but getting more sleep. Not helpful and not what you want to hear but stressing about it only makes it worse due to cortisol. You need to take a step back and see that in the bigger picture with a 4m old it's not a huge deal. Try and get out more, get a fitbit and join a stepbet. Get out every single day for at least an hour or two walking with the buggy. Rain. Hail. Or snow. By summer you'll be back to your normal self ❤️

I think you have to get out of the mindset that this is your 'new body' and into the mindset that this body is a temporary hangover from having a baby.

I have had two babies (the youngest is nearly 2) and I'm fitter now (and thinner, if that matters) than I ever have been. But the reality is that it took me about 10 months the first time and a year the second to lose the 'baby weight'. Plus I have had to work much harder than I ever have before to keep fit. The motivation is there though, I want to be healthy and active for my children so that's what I aim for. In a vain sense, I also didn't want to be fat just because I'd had kids, I wasn't fat before. These are the things I used to keep my focus.

It can be done but in my experience it takes at least the 9 months it took to put the weight on, to get it off again. Don't pressure yourself, just make sensible choices with food and do some exercise and with time you will feel like yourself again.

Don't beat yourself up you've just had a baby, I used to feel this way when I had my first child, I have two now and when I see every stretch mark from pregnancy to me I think well each one of those was made with love and the change to my body was because it was creating something beautiful.

I'm 4yrs down the line since having my youngest, like you I was a size 12 and shot up to an 18, I have managed to lose abit of weight following sw but I seem to be stuck now at a size 16. Iv recently started to go to the gym a few times a week and slowly the numbers on the scales are going down. Maybe look on App Store and download some of the 30 day challenges, but please remember you have literally just pushed out a tiny human, there's so much pressure on women to 'bounce back' to their pre pregnancy body. Just don't try and rush the loss as Iv seem to notice a lot of people just gain the weight all over again xx

You are only 4 months post partum don't put yourself under too much pressure. Some people do just bounce back to their pre pregnancy bodies, others it takes a lot longer to get the weight to come off

Ergh. It’s hard to shift. I went from a size 10 to 18 with my 1st baby, I shifted it quickly because I was really determined but I basically felt hungry for about 3 months plus breastfed to get it off. This time around it’s taken longer because I give less fucks. I know I’ll have to do it at some point but I’m kinda enjoying it until the summer.

4 months! Give yourself a break.....it took your body 9 months to grow that baby it will probably take 9 months to feel normal again. I'm almost at 9 months, only breastfed for a month so that did nothing for my waistline. I started slimming world in January and I can see it slowly coming off. It's a lot easier to do now I'm back at work and in a routine. B4 now I thoroughly enjoyed cuddling my baby whilst eating lots of biscuits! Enjoy this time and worry about it when the baby is a bit more mobile and things have settled into a good routine xx

I’ve been on slimming world I’ve I’ve been walking around 6-8 miles a day with the buggie! I think yous are right I may be putting abit too much stress on myself and do need more sleep! Just don’t want to be too unfit and be getting out of breath when playing with my LO ( I know it seems far off but time does fly by since I’ve had her) I’m not BF either I didn’t make enough for her to have:(! So just ended up bottle feeding!

Got to give yourself time! I know it’s frustrating and I felt the same 4-6 months after having a baby. But all together took me 2 years to get my body back completely - to feel completely normal again in terms of weight and fitness, even stuff like the shape of my spine. But if you stick with it you will get there. But cut yourself a break especially when you’re still in the thick of the feeding & sleeping crazy.

It took me a little over a year to loose the baby weight without dieting. I did walking and mild expertise and DS is a very active kid, which helped

But I didn't loose much while breastfeeding and I struggled to loose when I was sleep deprived. Give yourself time and be kind to yourself. The body needs some time to bounce back.

4 months is nothing. It took me a good year to lose the weight but it did come off, in time. I personally didn't lose weight really until I finished breastfeeding, but it did come off then, and I personally didn't need to diet as such - I just went back to my usual diet and activity levels and eventually my body went back to where it was.

My sister struggled a lot more and has had a lot of success with Slimming World - she doesn't attend meetings or anything but she uses their recipes. With that and daily exercise, she's lost a lot of weight.

But the key point is that 4 months is still very early days, your body is still very much recovering from a massive deal. You grew, gave birth to, and are looking after a whole person! Give yourself time. It will come.

Oh and to add - the key for me I think was sleep. DS was a terrible sleeper until he turned one, which is the point at which I began to really lose the weight. Sleep deprivation is an utter bitch.

How much sleep are you getting? Do you have a partner who can help with the night wakings? It's really difficult to actively lose weight when you're sleep deprived.

I have a 4 month old too and also a 16-18, so in a similar boat. I'm hoping to get back into my size 12 summer clothes! As motivation we have agreed that DH will take over all night wakings on any day where I manage to keep my calorie intake under 1200! Been doing this for a month now and I've lost 12lb!

I lost two stone in the fortnight after birth, mainly in sweat I think, I've since put nearly a stone back on in biscuits ☹️. Not helped by the colleague who posted on FB today (DDsname) is six months old today and I'm back in my size eight jeans! Friyay! - I refrained from thumping her largely because of the geographical distance

Me too, I didn't lose weight at all whilst breastfeeding, not even 1lb,and I was working out and eating sensibly. It started coming off when I stopped. I wish I had know that breastfeeding can make you retain weight as midwives and everyone else talks about the 500 calories you burn and how it helps with weight loss. Made ne feel like shit as I didn't know what I was doing wrong.

Been harder with baby #2 weight, a year now and not there but at least this time I know it will happen.

@coffeeforone yes I have a partner but he works long days Monday-Friday so I don’t ask him to do night feed in the week but at weekends he does them i put my LO down at 6pm and she sleeps till around 11 wakes for a bottle and then goes back down till six but we go bed around 11 after her feed! For the last week tho she’s not really been sleeping think I’m hitting the 4 month sleep regression :O! I might start trying to get my intake down to 1200! I’ve never really counted Cals before always just done slimming world and that’s seemed to work but well done that’s an amazing weight loss!

My really lovely health visitor said “it takes 9 months to grow the baby, it takes 9 months to shift the weight”. Yes, sometimes it is faster but it is also a huge change of your body, I never regained by hip shape.

Keep the exercise up, walking with the buggy is great. Try to avoid the cake trap when meeting friends, I tried to eat some fruit before and just had a coffee. Or I banned biscuits at home and had a cake at the cafe.

I actually found the biggest improvement when I started weaning. I never did mush, so DD moved on family meals from the start. So I had to adapt and cook healthy. No more junk for lunch or fast food for dinner as DD had the habit of interrupting dinner times,

Is this your first? I gained about 5.5st with my first and it took me almost a year to loose 3 of that, the rest never really went. Like you I walked a tonne, but it was only when I started going to the gym I lost a little more (only another .5st though). Then I got pregnant with DS and piled it all back on, despite religiously going to the gym 3 times a week throughout the pregnancy.

This time around instead of walking I went back to the gym as soon as I was allowed (I had a section), and I used an app called Noom to help with my food intake. I’ve been doing weights and resistance training and I’ve managed to shift all but 7lbs of my gain and DS is 5mths now. It’s a very common misconception that cardio will shift weight, women actually lose more weight doing resistance training as it burns more calories.
I’m still struggling with how my body looks, even though I’ve lost the weight my stomach is still huge and I’ve been left with a very large overhang, but I’m going to stick at it and hope it works.

For me it did just drop off however I gain very little in pregnancy and have tiny bumps. Even with my twins I was measuring small for a singleton at that stage.

I did find that the last bit only went after I stopped breastfeeding though

At 4 months post partum I still had 1.5 stone of baby weight on. I put on 4 overall. 2 came off in the first 2 weeks. I had that extra 1.5 stone with no shift at all until 7 months post partum when I gave up dairy because of breastfeeding. Then it started to shift

Really sorry no advice because I’m exactly the same. I was a 10/12 now 16/18 and can’t seem to shed the weight no matter how far I walk! It’s depressing looking at clothes I fit in when I was pregnant and can’t seem to now. I’m extremely grateful to have a happy healthy baby though, I just can’t understand how my friends have got straight back into being so slim