To think I will never get back to my pre pregnancy weight.

[Thatsnotmywalk]

My first baby is coming up to 8 months old.

At the start of my pregnancy I was 12stone 7lb and had a BMI of 29.1 so was top end of overweight.

I gained 1stone during pregnancy taking me to 13stone 7lb BMI 31.4.

My baby was born just before lockdown and being a new mum mixed in with a global pandemic really affected my mental health.

I found myself comfort eating, a lot, and over the last 8 months I’ve gained 3 stone and a half stone.
My weight is now 17stone and my BMI is 39.6 😞

I’ve had some therapy to help my anxiety, which it did, but with Covid cases on the increase, my anxiety isn’t great and I’m struggling so much with self confidence and comfort eating.

In just over a year (From getting pregnant) I’ve gone from a comfortable size 12-14 to now and 18-20.

I have a wardrobe full of gorgeous clothes that don’t fit.
I feel sluggish, exhausted and just awful.

I don’t have any motivation to lose the weight as I’m barely leaving the house.

I have a lovely group of friends I met on an antenatal course at the beginning of the year, they’re all out doing things with their babies, Baby groups, days out etc.
A few of them have invited me out for walks and coffees but I’ve gained so much weight since they last saw me i’m embarrassed to go.

I was going to sign up to take my baby to a class but I’m petrified of Covid and the effects it will have on me being so obese.

I sit constantly and look at pictures of myself from last year wishing so much I looked like that again.

I hate having photos taken with my baby because I look so huge.

You would think this would spur me on to lose weight, but it doesn’t. It just makes me want to eat more food. 😔

I order really healthy food on our shopping, I make healthy meals as my daughter is now eating solid food and I want to set a good example to her.
But the issue is I then send my husband to the shop to buy “shit” and he will buy a lot.
Crisps, chocolate etc.

We do this a couple of times a week.
We’ve also cooked a healthy tea for our daughter and then ordered ourselves a takeaway, last week we had pizza and chips twice. 😞

I don’t even enjoy it, I really don’t know why I do it. Every time I do I then cry to my husband about how much I hate the way I look.

I just don’t know what to do or how to get out of this cycle I’m in.

I really don’t enjoy exercise (running or the gym) but I do take my daughter for a walk most days and on weekends my husband will come with us.

I’m so frustrated as my husband eats pretty much the same as me but he never seems to gain any weight.

I really want to go out and have some sort of life but my fear of Covid and being obese is really putting a downer on things.

Will I ever get back to 12.7 stone? 😔

I've had similar issues with comfort eating and exercise too. I'm 16 months pp.

I find it helps to just say okay do 100 star jumps.

And then I do them and I have a little bit of lifted energy and the cravings calm down and I can visualise having a healthy meal.

If you can, sit and write a list of exercises to do for the whole week- e.g. 100 star jumps monday, 20 press ups tuesday, running on the spot for 4 minutes wednesday etc. Nothing too heavy, but enough so you just get used to it and get your body strength back to help you lost weight. You might notice a difference after a week.

@Teacaketotty thanks for the info, I am going to give it a try! I don't usually wake up with much appetite but find eating breakfast kick starts it so would be worth waiting until later in the day!

@Thatsnotmywalk please don't beat yourself up about this, it's hard enough to lose weight at the best of times let alone with a new baby and everything going on this year. I'm sure your friends won't judge you at all, maybe if you meet up with just one of them first then it will make it easier? The fresh air will do you the world of good.

Thanks all so much. Really appreciate the support!!

I found breastfeeding did crazy things to my appetite and also how I held onto weight. 8 months after having my son I was far heavier than I was during pregnancy even.

Like you I was eating sensible meals and then adding on loads of crap snacks between. I felt permanently starved.

Luckily DS gradually ramped up his solid consumption, reduced feeding, and things did get back to normal. I started dieting by limiting myself to 2 sweet treats a day, then after a couple of weeks cut down to one a day and then after some more weeks to no sweet treats. I didn't change anything else.

By the time I returned to work I had somehow got back to my normal weight and my work colleagues were none the wiser.

I'd gained then lost 2 stones, so different numbers and situation to you. But just wanted you to know I think you can legitimately blame a lot of it on hormones, and reassure you that certainly I found as hormones subside so do the effects. Women's bodies have a huge capacity for change. Try to trust it and give it some love.

Fancy a buddy? I'm in the same position. Two years ago I was a little over 8 stone and ran a half marathon. I went up to 9 and a half then fell pregnant. She's 7 months and I'm just under 14 stone. Could do with losing that 4 stone is not more.

@Thatsnotmywalk I'm in the same boat, I'm just under 14.5 stone now and desperate to lose another 3.5 stone. I've been following a calorie counting programme and using the app Noom for the past 5 weeks and have lost 10lbs so far which I'm pleased with. I'm breastfeeding too so not doing anything drastic, I need to eat regularly and don't want to risk my supply by going too low - also I know I won't stick to it if I have to be too rigid. As per @TimeIhadaNameChange keen if you want to chat, always easier to do these things with people in the same position

@TimeIhadaNameChange

Fancy a buddy? I'm in the same position. Two years ago I was a little over 8 stone and ran a half marathon. I went up to 9 and a half then fell pregnant. She's 7 months and I'm just under 14 stone. Could do with losing that 4 stone is not more.

@TimeIhadaNameChange

Yes!!!!

I put on a lot of weight with DC2 and can relate to a lot of what you're saying. Being a new mum during a pandemic must be awful.

I second trying fasting. I use the fastic app to do 14:10 every day. Essentially I only eat for 10 hours a day and fast for 14. It means I dont eat after our evening meal (around 6pm) and has fundamentally changed my evening eating habits. I used to comfort eat/drink in the evenings and instead mow I have a herbal tea. I eat normally in the day but only for 10 hours. You can do longer stints of fasting but 14:10 has been enough for me for now. It will be fine with breastfeeding. It sounds like you eat healthily in the day anyway so you're already doing the hard bit.

Your friends wong care you've put weight on x

When you wake up in the morning, put on gym gear and don’t take it off until you’ve done some exercise (I got that tip from an interview with Millie Macintosh ). I like the 10 minute workout dvds - I do 2, so 20 minutes, but it’s easy to pause in the middle eg if baby needs feeding. Or do it when she’s napping. Also, if you feel that urge to keep eating, I recommend popcorn, it’s relatively good for you and even if you had a whole family bag it’s not that bad. But in general try to avoid eating in front of the tv in the evenings, it’s hard when it’s a habit, but after doing that for a few days you’ll get used to it. Good luck!

There are so many lovely replies on this thread ( workhomesleeprepeat especially!). Thank you for writing this OP - I’m in a similar situation and the advice you’ve been given has lifted my mood. Being a new mum (my little boy is 9 months) is so much more difficult than I expected that it somewhat blows my mind! Adding beating yourself up about your weight just makes it tougher doesn’t it?

Why not try taking one walk a day with your baby? Does she sleep well in the pushchair? My daughter is 14 weeks old and I try and take her for a walk everyday when she is ready for her nap. She sleeps solidly in her pram and there's no dramas in getting her to sleep and I get exercise and we both get fresh air :) take your phone and headphones and forget the rest of the world exists for an hour 😁

@GoldPaperStars

Adding beating yourself up about your weight just makes it tougher doesn’t it?

It really does. Sending you a virtual hug!!

@Mommabear20

Why not try taking one walk a day with your baby? Does she sleep well in the pushchair? My daughter is 14 weeks old and I try and take her for a walk everyday when she is ready for her nap. She sleeps solidly in her pram and there's no dramas in getting her to sleep and I get exercise and we both get fresh air :) take your phone and headphones and forget the rest of the world exists for an hour 😁

@Mommabear20

She doesn’t always settle well in the pram but we have a sling so I’m going to start using that more.

I am understand OP, my youngest i 6 and I'm back to 3 and a half stone overweight. I had lost that a year before having my eldest... i put on half a stone during lockdown but up until lockdown i ate what I wanted and didn't care. Something clicked and I decided enough is enough. Started couch to 5k when the kids went back to school and I'm now on week 6 of it!!! I've lost half a stone too but more importantly I don't feel awful and exhausted constantly. I still have a long road ahead-3stone but right now I'm determined. We can all tell you nicely to try this or try that, but YOU need to be ready mentally to do something about it. Please know you're not alone. I love food (chocolate especially) and I'm very lazy but I'm determined right now. You will get there.

I gained a lot while pregnant 3-4 stone. What I did, which really helped, was making sure I did 10,000 steps a day. 1 long walk or a couple of walks. Set myself a challenge to do 10k steps a day for a year. (I made it jan-June, before getting pregnant again and the sickness put a stop to that).

I also gave up all puddings, cakes biscuits etc for 100 days (started for lent and continued). Only had "healthy" Take away a eg shish kabab.

Still ate big portions of whatever we cooked at home. Didn't go hungry or starve myself.

Had yoghurt and fruit for a treat most nights.

All this really helped reset myself. I plan to do the same Again after this pregnancy.

Before I started trying to lose weight in September I was a night-time eater...loads of chocolate, in bed. 6 weeks in i have my evening meal at about 5:30 and that's it until the next morning. Its been a huge change but I feel so much better for it. Also, I'm a naturally lazy person but I actually love doing the couch to 5k...which is crazy but I do! It helps my mental health so much. You can do this OP.