Have you given up on your weight since having children?

[Plonkton]

I've got a stubborn 2 stone to lose, before children I was a size 10, 5 times a week gym goer. Now I'm a fat mess that has just given up. I feel like this is me now for life. I'm single so don't have anyone to impress! Have you accepted your post children body for what it is?

No. I’ve been able to get weight off by walking DS uphill to nursery and back four days a week - a 40 minute round trip .

I don’t do any other exercise as I’m lazy, so I try and keep to a size 10 just to be healthier. I don’t give a damn about looks though- I wear my clothes until they fall apart and have ditched make up and heels years ago. I recommend it!

We also eat generally healthy home cooked meals, and I don’t drink much booze.

@Plonkton I literally could have written your post. I totally get it.

95% of the battle with weight comes from diet

This.
Portion control and calories.
Finally, after logging all my food on My Fitness Pal, I’ve educated myself on calories. Not able to exercise due to health issues. I’m now, after a 3 stone weight loss by diet alone, a size 8-10 & thinner that I’ve ever been.

No but it was hard to find time when the kids were young.
I am in my late 50s, exercise daily, gym 5 times a week size 10.

I didnt weigh anymore but my shape changed. I have a protuding stomach because my stomach muscles split. The only way to fix it is surgery and Im not prepared to risk my life for what is essentially a cosmetic proceedure.

No, im fighting but its not as easy as pre-DS. I wont give up!

Yes and no.

Single parent, 3DC, eldest 2 only see their Dad EOW and youngest is with me 24/7.

After I had her, I weighed around 10st 7lbs, and am 5”2. It took me 2 years get my body back to how I wanted it - that third pregnancy really change my overall body shape. When was around 15 months she finally started sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time through the night, and within a month I’d lost half a stone, which spurred me to start running with the buggy (a Quinny Buzz) and I got a barbell from Aldi. By the time she was 2 I was in the best shape of my life, really fit, the lowest weight ever and very toned. Kept it off really easily.

However…. She’s now 5, we’ve had a Pandemic and I’m now the biggest I’ve ever been at 12st 10lbs. Gone from a very active job/Uni course to sedentary, and now have long Covid in the form of extreme muscle aches and pains. Can’t afford a gym membership, can’t run any more (and I live in a city now, I didn’t before), and I’m not sure how much weight training I can actually do, but my OT has suggested some light dumbbells to start with.

It’s less the time and more the energy for me.

If you want a quick workout with decent results, Google Ketogains 5x5. That’s the one I did and I was genuinely surprised at the results.

Yes I've given up. My child is 18mths and I'm now pregnant with my second. I put on a lot of weight after the birth due to being very ill and not able to move about for months.
My job is sedentary and I frequently spend 13hrs+ a day sat doing it. I do not have the time to add in exercise and it's the last thing I want to do after work and general household stuff.
I did want to lose weight after the first kid but it got away from me and it feels like there's no point. I've had some very rude remarks so far from nurses about my weight despite not putting any extra weight on so far (16wks).

No.
You keep saying about exercise but weight loss is mainly diet.
I gained 1.5 stone after having kids and have just lost it having dieted since Easter, back to pre-baby weight. Youngest is nearly 3.
You just need to be motivated to diet

I keep thinking if I incorporate 30 minutes of exercise a day in the morning or after work then it's a start.. I used to work out for an hour and half every time I went to the gym.. But have to now realise that's not viable and was my past life pre children

It’s so bloody hard isn’t it!!! I’m two under two as well and the second baby floored me figure wise, nothing like the first at all with no bounce back what so ever😂 I know what I need to do just like others it’s very hard to it!!!

OP 20 mins of that workout will do, it’s designed for maximum impact!

Honestly l haven’t. I need to lose about 5-10 more lbs. it doesn’t sound like a lot but I’m small boned and 5 lbs is a lot on me. I’ll lose then I’ll gain, lose, gain. I know what to do and what not to do I just have to do it/don’t do it. I do it for me alone, I don’t want to buy all new clothes, I want my current ones to fit better.

@Plonkton

I keep thinking if I incorporate 30 minutes of exercise a day in the morning or after work then it's a start.. I used to work out for an hour and half every time I went to the gym.. But have to now realise that's not viable and was my past life pre children

As several people (myself included) have said now, it's mostly diet, not exercise that you need to worry about. I get that you don't have time to exercise, but that's not a reason to give up.

I felt just like you a few months back, and was at the point of starting to just accept my new body. But then something just clicked and now I'm enjoying eating in a slight calorie deficit and losing weight again.

You just need to be self disciplined and organised enough to do it- it doesn't matter a jot if you don't have time to exercise!

For me it's been a lifelong choice between how I want to look and what I want to eat. Sometimes I want one more than the other. At the moment how I want to look is more important, but it may change.

Hang in there OP. It WILL get easier as she gets older. You'll be able to do things together e.g. you jog round the park while she cycles, or you swim while she has swim lessons or a class, or she's happy to occupy herself at home while you jump around with Joe Wicks.
You'll be happier to leave her with a sitter while you go to a class or out for a run.
As others have said, make some small diet changes so it doesn't get even harder when you do get your time again.

Yep. My weight has fluctuated madly since I had children. For about 2 decades I hovered beyween a size 8 and a size 10. Staying between 8 1/2 to 9 stone without trying. Since having children I've swung between a 12 and a 16 with alarming frequency. Which is bizarre as I am on the go more now 😵. I am sub-clinical hypothyroid though (tsh 4.7), so I wonder if that is an issue?

One of the big changes you can make is lifestyle diet. I say lifestyle because whatever you choose to do, has to be a way you can sustain even on the crappiest of crap days. I've chosen to remove all processed carbs and I've stayed with it because it's what I can manage and it's knocked my overeating on the head . My main suggestion would be buy a slow cooker and cook from scratch. By that I mean throw everything in the night before, or in the morning and leave it. The other go to is stock , veg, water and curry paste in a microwave cup and cook for usually 3 mins.We tend to bulk cook and portion up when we can. As for exercise I don't drive so that's my exercise, you have a 3 yr old I think that's exercise enough. You're doing a damn fine job of keeping all the balls in air take it easy on yourself.

I would say I'm on the upper end of my 'normal' at the moment. When I start to feel sluggish I reign it in and diet - it is a bit of a half stone yo-yo but all my pre pregnancy clothes fit and it's important to me to feel the same as I did before.

Surely though there is a no size fits all answer for this? I know people who put on four stone when pregnant and bounced straight back, others that didn't. I put on 1.5stone so surely that meant it should be easier to get back to 'normal'? Everybody is different and if I had another one I have no idea if it would be the same!

No, I still think about what I eat and take exercise even after three children.

I put on a stone and half during pregnancy and walked out in my pre pregnancy jeans but had a 4.4lb baby so wouldn’t recommend that. I am now about 2 stone lighter than I got pregnant and I think pregnancy must have done something to me as I just can’t eat much- think I may have gall stones as my stomach isn’t right. I am skinny but miserable.

As other people have said, it's diet that's the main issue, not exercise. I'm afraid you need to eat less - tailor the food intake to your energy expenditure

I've given up being bad enjoying what I like to eat and I've given up feeling pressurised into losing weight because it's deemed "baby weight". I'm a different size now to what I thought I should be. I also don't care if other people have opinions on what I look like and I have stopped having opinions on other people's size and weight. It feels really good.

I exercise because I enjoy it and do it when I can. This may be a walk during my lunch break or it might be yoga when the kids are in bed (yoga with adrienne on YouTube - she's calming and not annoying) or it might be going for walks or bike rides wit the kids. I restarted couch to 5k and took them out with me.

Food wise, I am more conscious about whether I am hungry or thirsty. I am more conscious about whether I need a snack or if I'm emotional. It helps.

If you want to lose weight then there are ways to do it. But don't feel pressurised to lose weight and diet if you actually have peace with yourself.

And just because other people exercise at 5am or 9pm doesn't mean you must.

I’m seriously struggling with my weight after baby no2. It was easier to walk etc with just one baby, but now my older DD is 4, she just won’t/can’t walk as far and as fast as I need to to lose weight! My DH actually told me to stop eating yesterday, and I REALLY needed to hear it 🙈

No, no and thrice no. I worked so hard to lose all that weight before I had my daughter and I worked hard to lose the baby weight. I'm happily married but if I were single I'd still keep up the fight, for ME.

But I can't overstate the importance of having a supportive partner who does his fair share at home, with the child and so on. I would find it MUCH harder if I didn't have that.