Big People, Tiny Waist

In addition to the new budget regime (still in the works... mama's gotta plan) I'm also in the waning days of new-bod adjustments. Being tall and from a long line of ladies apparently born to birth, my body didn't change too drastically after growing and hosting this 9 lb baby. At least I don't think it did... there still is a layer of mystery provided by a layer pudge. But I managed to walk away from the birth center with one wee little stretch mark on my stomach (which appeared after her due date), a manageable 20 extra pounds, and a pelvic floor that just needs a good Kegel-in' to get back to normal. So ahhhh, relaaaaaax, get to know your amazing new babe, heal up, and focus on eating good foods to optimize milk production for breastfeeding. And I did! Three months of unadulterated lounging, baby cuddling, and wolfing down "meals" while the baby slept achieved all those goals but left me with an additional 10 extra pounds over my immediate post-pregnancy weight. Lest I keep riding this post-partum wave of self-care into Stella's teens and surrender myself now to a life of berry-covered pound cakes and Mom jeans (yolo!), methinks it's high time to drop a few and get back to a healthy baseline.

Now disclaimer: I know that talking about losing weight is walking a thin line in this day in age (pun intended). I have a tremendous community of lady friends who pump me up for being amazing and strong and a husband who never ceases to tell me how good looking I am to him. There is really no external pressure pushing me to lose weight, for which I am grateful, but the fact is I need to, seeing as since pregnancy I tipped the big red arrow on the scale from "overweight" to "obese." I was already 20 pounds heavier than my (albeit overweight) norm at the beginning of my pregnancy, so the additional baby weight has made for not only discomfort but can turn into a real health concern if I don't do anything about it. This blog wasn't called "Lithe, Willowy People, Tiny House" for a reason! And while of course I want to have a MILF-a-licious bod, mostly I want to be fit and healthy. My overweight body had accomplished a lot of remarkable things, which often took the form of hard manual labor or really long walks or hours upon hours of dancing (again, cue up Lady GaGa's "Born This Way"), while my obese, post-partum bod is creaky, painful, and exhausting. So after three months of  sitting on the couch, and three months of "oofing" when I get off of said couch, IT IS TIME.

Just a little motivation...

Since I'm breastfeeding, my normal M.O. of cutting carbs and limiting calories is a pretty drastic no no. In fact, rather than focusing so much on what I eat like I usually would when losing weight, I'm a lot more focused on fitness. Luckily my impeccable taste means that as long as I'm eating real foods and not a horrendous amount of them I'm in the clear! Yay! On a similar note, who wants to go to Butcher and Baker this week?

Real food is real good! I prepped all the ingredients for these brown rice bowls with tahini yogurt dressing one night after Stella was asleep so I could assemble them in minutes when I need to eat when she's, you know, not asleep.

In the fitness realm, I joined a mom work out group called FIT4MOM that has been a lot more valuable and dear to me than I could have imagined. When I initially made this weight-loss plan, my goal was to work out twice per week and I felt like with a three month old baby in-tow, that was still a stretch. Then one day I was on a walk at the waterfront and saw some mompeeps I knew lounging around the grass after a workout. It was a happy mess of BOB Strollers, yoga pants, and breastfeeding.  I decided to give it a try once Stella came of age, even though it didn't seem like "my thing" (which, to this point, was basically hiking, jogging, "working outside" or, if a class, some half-assed zumba and kickboxing). Once she hit the two month mark, we started going and turns out I love it! I get a pretty decent workout, my babe is out in the fresh air, I am relearning all those childhood songs and Stella gets to gawp at other babies and kids the whole time. 

Working it with my Mompeeps! Photo from Magda Pratt. I'm the one wearing bright pink pants, obviously.

And those awesome supportive lady friends I told you about? That's the other moms, for sure! Everyone rules and since everyone else goes every day, it's easy for me to as well. I look forward to talking to grown ups and having something to get us out of the house and the fact that it has not only met but helped me super exceed my goals is the cherry on top.

Oh, and we have a bookclub. SCORE!

I  love exercising in the park and I love exercising with a group so I'm taking advantage of the last month of maternity leave and doing Fit4Mom's Body Back boot camp class, which has been kicking my ass and shaping my arms two nights each week. This one is sans stroller, so James and Stella drop me off and then have some sweet father daughter time strolling in the park together while I sweat myself blind doing burpees. I've lost about a pound and a half each week so far without negatively affecting my milk supply (I think it maybe even got better somehow...) and I've built up a lot of the strength I had lost during pregnancy. We cap off each night with a few minutes of meditation while the sun is just starting to set so it makes for a pretty pleasant experience even if I do have to peel my sweaty back off the yoga mat after.

Again with the bright pink pants! I'd try to convince you I don't wear them all the time, but then I also wouldn't have you guess what I'm wearing today either... Mom Life!

So wish me luck! I will be a much happier hiker/ farmer/ wrangler of toddler if I can manage to lose weight and get myself healthy. I don't have a number I'm aiming for and I don't have a date I want to lose weight by. I'm just going to keep eating delicious real food and workout and let my body do its thing!