Mommy, I thought your big belly was going to go away when the baby was born.

Yeah, that’s what I heard from Kate the other day. Then she went on to theorize that “all the milk” must be stored in my stomach, thus causing the extra flab.

If only.

Sam’s eight weeks old and I’m still holding on to about 13 pounds of “baby” weight. I think what I’m actually harboring would more aptly be called “McDonald’s cheeseburger weight,” but the former sounds better.

Two weeks ago, I started Weight Watchers. The first week was great – I lost five pounds. Today was my weigh in, and this week I only lost one. Better than nothing, but barely. I don’t know if I can really say that I’m doing WW, because I haven’t actually joined. I joined up last August, and about two weeks later I found out I was pregnant. After innocently asking the Weight Watchers message board people if I could use WW as a way to limit pregnancy weight gain, I was told all kinds of nice things like “Ask your OB if that’s ok – that should be a red flag to her signaling your eating disorder,” so I gave that plan up. Anyway, I’ve just been using the materials I got from that short stint to count points this time around.

So… I need some advice! Have any of you done WW while nursing? I am loving the extra points, but I am wondering if I would be more successful if I only added five extra instead of 10. Because I want to lose weight faster. (I know, I know, it’s better to lose it slowly… but I don’t want to!) Also, anyone have an opinion on continuing to do it myself, or on going to meetings vs. the online program? Any exercise programs that you swear by? I am all ears! Or all stomach, as the case may be. Because apparently I was not all baby!

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17 Replies to “Mommy, I thought your big belly was going to go away when the baby was born.”

  1. Oh, I am right there with you! My son is 9 weeks and I started WW 3 weeks ago. I’ve done it before with good success. I am using all of my nursing points, and so far I’ve been losing a couple of pounds each week, which I think is because my little guy is a HUGE eater. I did it while I was nursing my daughter and the weight didn’t come off as quickly, because she didn’t have much of an appetite.

    Also, I’ve never officially joined either online or gone to meetings. I learned the program from my mom and grandma, and then did it on my own. My husband does it with me, though, with is a huge encouragement and I think if he didn’t then I would want some other kind of support.

    6 pounds in 2 weeks is AWESOME – you ARE doing it. Keep plugging away and it will come off. When I did WW the year before I got married, I thought their goal weight for me was completely ridiculous, because I hadn’t weighed that much since jr. high. But after about 6 months (I think?) I actually reached it and I couldn’t believe it. I don’t expect to get down quite that low after having 2 kiddos, but it’s a really good program.

    Leave a comment on my blog if you want to email for moral support or ideas! I’m always looking for Dub Dub buddies!

  2. Well, I didn’t nurse so I can’t give any advice on how many extra points to add there. And, I used WW briefly but found more success with sparkpeople.com (similar to WW but free and tons of great fitness/nutrition advice). As far as exercise advice, I swear by high intensity intervals and a weight/resistance regiment. They maintain a high heartbeat during your entire workout. I included my fitness routine ine one of my posts (fat-burnin’ friday) a few weeks ago. My little guy is a year old and I know the only reason I’ve lost the weight like I have is because of sparkpeople’s advice and doing high intensity intervals. Well, I’m now working on the weight from my 9-year old…sad, but true!

    And, since Sam is only 8 weeks old, I’d say losing 5 pounds is great! Actually, I just read something in a magazine that said nursing moms should only lose 2 pounds a month or something – plus, I think your body holds on to the chubbyliciousness for a while in case they need to provide nourishment for the little one. I don’t know how true that is or whether it’s agreeable, I’m sure your doc knows better.

    Remember, it takes 9 months to gain and 9 months to lose…well, let’s just say that’s a bunch of crap because it took me longer to lose and I’m pretty sure I gained most of the weight in month 5 🙂

  3. seriously cousin, only 13 pounds to go at 8 weeks in is amazing!! It took me 110 days to lose all mine with Sophie and I was excercising my BUTT off (literally) and it took me approx. 487 years for me to lose my Joshua weight – you had Kate 8 wks after I had Joshua and you still lost all your weight before me!
    And as a side note, I think I only gave myself half the nursing points when i was doing WW with Sophie but she was older at that point than Sam is now.

  4. I’ve never been pregnant and have never done WW but I’ve managed to lose about 45 lbs over the course of 2 years. Talk about slow!! But I’m happy to say that I’ve maintained it for about 1 year now. My exercise routine is anything that makes me move. I like running best (fastest way to burn dang calories) but if I don’t feel like it, I’ll walk, bike, etc. Plus I try and lift weights twice a week and do some ab exercises and stretching/yoga every morning. You can’t tell I do ab exercises, but I do, I swear!!

  5. Some of us have no “baby” excuse. I lost 50lbs with Jenny Craig last year and maintained it for about 8months. Within the last 2 months, I gained 15lbs so I started back at JC last week. I too have only lost 1lb, but it really really is better to lose it slowly and surely. I think I was stressing out and I wasn’t exercising and that is why I gained. Krisha and I just started walking every day. We walk to the Victoria Theater several times a week for her ballet practice, and we have started walking to the 2nd street market twice a week. I think it is helping. I know I feel better. As far as the weight loss, we will see when I weigh in on Tues. Good luck!

  6. Abby asked me about my ‘big’ tummy the other day – and it’s been over 2 years since Becca was born. Sigh.

    I did WW after Hannah was born, while nursing. I took all of the nursing points and lost a total of 23 pounds over about 3 months. Of course I gained it back while pregnant with Becca and it’s stuck ever since. 🙁

    I know it’s frustrating, but slow and steady is really the best way to make sure that you stay healthy, your baby stays healthy, your milk supply stays up, and even a pound a week is awesome – as long as the scale’s going in the right direction, you’ll get there. 🙂

  7. I started WW when my youngest son was 3 months old and because he was so young (and hungry!) I gave myself all the nursing points. I haven’t attended any meetings but do count my points faithfully. For me, that means writing it down (I grab some spare room in my planner) so I hold myself accountable….like for the piece of chocolate I just had! Also, we take a lot of walks but I don’t give myself credit in points for the exercise. So maybe that makes a difference?

    I had a LOT of weight to lose- gained 50 pounds with pregnancy #1 and was still hanging on to the last 20 lb when pregnancy #2 hit. My youngest is now almost 10 months old – all of his prego weight is gone, and I’m a mere 9 pounds from my starting weight…..BEFORE all of these babies!

    Here’s the thing- the last 15 pounds seem to be the hardest. I’ve heard that across the board. Personally, I’m camped in the middle of plateau city. I feel like now I can shave off a couple of my daily points, at least, since my guy is doing well on solids. Hopefully that will help!

    Since you don’t have very much to lose, it may just slowly fall off- but it WILL! You’re doing amazing if you’re just 13 pounds away and Sam’s only 8 weeks. Go you!

  8. Sounds silly, but my favorite exercise is Jazzercise! I go to a class in Springboro where they have childcare. The girl that watches is someone I went to high school with and wonderful with the kids. If you’re interested, just shoot me an e-mail and I’d be happy to get you info! It’s fun and it doesn’t even feel like you’re exercising!

  9. I can’t help you with what to do while nursing but I am a big supporter of WW. Hubby and I started it in March and I’ve lost 15lbs. Hubby has lost 30lbs. I’m like you. I wanted to lose it overnight. Once I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I settled into a good diet routine. I went to meetings for six weeks. By that time, I had a good handle on things and felt like that $12 per week would be better spent on WW diet food items :-o) I’m within six pounds of my goal weight now and I got lazy. I don’t think I need to go back to meetings. I just need to get back into a good routine. My advice would be to get into a good routine….one that works for you and that you can actually accomplish each day without feeling like you’re “starving yourself” or overworking yourself. There a great AB program out called Six Minute Abs. I love it! A friend loaned it to me and it’s a really good, basic, six minute ab workout. The idea is to do it for six minutes a day so that you’ll stick with it. The time flies by and I can really feel it afterwards. It is wonderful!

    A friend has an online account and she never uses it. I think it’s a waste of money myself but that’s just my opinion. If you just can’t do it alone and feel you need the accountability, go to meetings for six weeks and then evaluate whether or not you need to go after that. Hope this helps!

  10. Oh, another thing. Buy the dining out companion and the complete foods book. The DO companion makes it pretty easy to eat out. Just look up the place you’re going and find what you’d eat in the book. If the place you’re going isn’t in the book, find a similar restaurant and go by that. The complete foods book (or whatever it’s called) lists points for all foods. It helps a lot too. These were how I was able to do things myself after six weeks of meetings.

  11. Wow! I think you have come a TREMENDOUS way already. It literally took me the whole time I was pregnant (7 months – my daughter was 2 mos, 2 days preemie) PLUS 3 more to get to where I was. You rock. I would use all the WW points they give you so that less calories doesn’t deplete your milk supply. It really could and then you’d beat yourself up about THAT, and if you are ANYTHING like me (an emotional eater!) you might then eat even more.

    So follow WW and slow and steady will get you there. I never found the meetings necessary and I always lived too far away anyway. I think the materials and the plan are great on their own, and you sound totally motivated.

    GOOD LUCK!!

  12. HEY Emily,

    You are doing great! I have a suggestion. I have been using http://www.sparkpeople.com since august. It is totally free and you can tell it what you want to lose and it will tell you how much to eat and excercise with in a time frame you decide upon. The bonus for you would be that you could adjust the calorie count to what you are to eat for nursing and then adjust the program for your needs. it has a really easy tracking system and a four step program to get you going. It also has a huge data base for foods and a way to enter your own food info if you can’t find something similiar already in the data base.

    it has worked for me….take a look and see what you think. 🙂

    Also, remember each day is a new day… for me with eating I have to not kick myself for the splurge i had “yesterday” today on a regular basis.

  13. Hey,
    I am a nursing mama who follows weight watchers – I lost my baby weight and more with the plan – but the baby is 9 & 1/2 month – so it takes a long time. I found that I need those ten extra nursing points, since nursing makes me so hungry.

    Check out dottis weight loss zone. http://www.dwlz.com You will love all of her meal ideas and check out the points for eating out – she has more places listed than the WW book. You can even print free tracking sheets. It makes it easier to follow along at home.

    You are doing awesome – 6 pounds is great for two weeks!

  14. OK number 1 that is ridiculous what they said to you! Obviously they are still viewing WW as a ‘diet’! There is no reason you can’t use WW principles while you are pregnant and just up your points and dairy. I am so sorry they were mean to you. Let me guess it was on the WW message boards? I hate them, they are a bunch of mean, hungry people over there, lol.

    On to your question, I find it best when I vary my points. So, maybe start out with your 10 and see how it goes. If not well switch to, say, 8 and see if that works better. I try and do up and down point days instead of spreading my flex out evenly. Does that make sense?

    As for going to the meetings you just need to decide if that will motivate you. I think the ‘peer pressure’ wore off on me so I think I am going to try on my own for a while. 8)

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