I gained approximately 34 pounds during my pregnancy. I think the recommended weight gain for pregnancy is 25-35 pounds (I could look it up, but I’m on a time limit of “hurry the hell up before the baby wakes up”) so I finished just within acceptable bounds. By the third trimester I was basically inhaling all manner of foods with reckless abandon, so I’m glad I was anywhere close to within bounds. Now that I’m eight weeks postpartum, weight loss has started nagging at my brain. I lost around 22 pounds within the first week, which I will fondly remember as the easiest 22 pounds I ever lost. Sure, the majority of it was baby, placenta, blood, and water… ok probably all of it was that stuff. Since then I’ve lost around three more pounds, leaving me with nine pounds to lose to get back to pre-pregnancy weight.
I had my six week postpartum checkup a couple weeks ago, and everything seemed to check out. Besides the awkward conversation in which my mustachio-ed OB told me I may experience vaginal dryness due to breastfeeding, and we can resume intercourse with the aid of a lubricant as long as we go slow and ease into it (thanks for THAT info), it was a good appointment. That means I’m now free to exercise as desired. I’d been itching to start running again during the early weeks, even though I knew I couldn’t and was in too much pain to do it anyway. It wasn’t until this week that I even attempted exercise because I’ve been having some nagging vag issues (random throbbing pains for which the OB can’t find a reason, and a sagging urethra… SAGGING URETHRA! Can you even imagine?? I finally get the courage to take a mirror and examine the carnage that is my underbits, and I find THAT staring at me. Jeebus.)
So, despite these issues, I began working out again this week. I can only take so much, and eight weeks of sitting on the couch was starting to make me batty. So on Monday I whipped out my “The Firm” DVDs and did the ab workout and the arm workout; the abs in the hope that those muscles travel back to their original position, and the arms because oh my lord this baby is getting heavy and I can hardly lug her around in her carseat without killing myself. Then yesterday I started the Couch to 5k program again. I used that a couple years ago when I first started running and it worked well. Luckily, I think the marathon training I did last year wore off gradually because I didn’t struggle through the first workout the way I did the first time around. Working my way up to 5k seems kind of sad after running a marathon, but I know I can work my way back up to longer distances again. I don’t know that I’ll ever attempt a marathon again, though. Maybe if I’m feeling really ambitious, but I don’t see how I could find the time with a baby to keep alive. These shorter workouts were squeezed in during a morning nap and 45 minutes in which Ralf held her while she screamed.
I suppose I’m happy that I only have nine pounds left. The only annoying thing is that I’m in between pants sizes so I have to wear loose jeans until I fit into my original jeans. Who knows if that will ever happen, though, since my hips may be permanently expanded. It’s a good excuse for a fall clothing shopping spree, at any rate.
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