So bummed out by weight gain

[Heepers]

I can't believe I am worried about this with everything else on my plate but I just wanted some reassurance because I'm sad. Had my second baby 15 days ago and just weighed myself and have put on 14kg (that's after the 8lb baby and placenta have been delivered so God knows what I put on before birth!) I know it doesn't matter but I just feel sad and gross and out of control. Baby has been ill so we've spent lots of time in hospital so I'm sure this is a reaction to all the stress and exhaustion of the last 2 weeks but I feel like I've let myself down somehow

I can definitely identify with feeling sad, gross and out of control. The whole pregnancy and postpartum body image thing is so crazy and so hard and an ill baby in hospital only adds to that! The feeling of being sad and gross and all over the place will go and so will the weight. Just look after yourself as best you can and don't rush yourself, your body will totally go back to normal- I ended up much slimmer after my first from all the walking/running after toddler! It takes time to recover.

I felt sad and gross and out of control at two weeks postpartum too, and that was without either weighing myself or baby being poorly. So it sounds like you’re right, this is really exhaustion and worrying and baby blues, not about your weight.

Fwiw I lost weight at exactly the same rate both times despite gaining way more than recommended, and despite having very different post pregnancy food habits/sleep/exercise/bf/ff etc. So I think your body just knows what to do if you give it time.

You will be fine. You are fine now too. Accept your feelings and don’t beat yourself up for fretting. Just know that the feelings are likely to pass, and they aren’t facts, they’re just feelings.

I’ve gained way more than recommended in all of my pregnancies (I’ve never gained weight when I haven’t been pregnant). It took a while but I lost all the weight each time. I’ve just had my 4th baby and so I’m fat again and facing having to lose the weight all over again, it feels so awful so I completely understand where you are coming from. My 4th baby is 10 weeks old and I’ve lost 7kg of the 15 I put on (not including baby and placenta as I didn’t feel that counted!!) so I’m in a very similar position to you. The first bit always comes off quickly so I expect it’ll be 4 months or so to lose the remaining weight.

My advice would be to give yourself a date sometime in the future to start proactively trying to lose weight and until that date comes around you can just chill out and enjoy your baby while you recover mentally and physically from pregnancy and childbirth without worrying about the weight loss. Society puts way too much pressure on women to be superhuman, none of us are!