Parenting Off the Pounds: How I Lost My Baby Weight by Doing Absolutely Nothing

baby weight loss
baby weight loss

I'm back in the size I was wearing before I got pregnant with my daughter. I'm not sure if the number on the scale is exactly the same but I'm able to wear my old clothes, for the most part. Not all of them, of course, because pregnancy shifts things around. I'm not the same shape I was before my daughter, and different still yet from before my 5 year old son. It's ok. I would be different even if I hadn't had kids because 39 is different from 29 or 19. That's just how it is.

I gained a lot of weight with each of my pregnancies. Then it came off after each one. In my case it was 9 months on, 9 months off. Sometimes in fast spurts, sometimes more slowly, my weight changed as my body did what it needed to do. Now I'm 11 months past my second birth and the weight is gone but for a small residual ring around my waist and, of course, my fantastic nursing boobs.

You want to know what I did to lose the weight? Not a darn thing.

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Seriously. I didn't do anything. I ate a healthy diet. I moved about as much as I ever moved. I bought new clothes to flatter my shape at various intervals - longer shirts, nursing bras, roomier jeans. And I didn't stress about it much.

You see, I'm no Hollywood starlet who gains almost nothing during a pregnancy and then is at the gym working it off 10 days after she gives birth. When I had my babies, I wanted to think about my babies, not the size or shape of my butt. I didn't care about a number on the scale or on the tag of my jeans. I was worried about growth charts and ounces pumped. I was tracking milestones like first smiles and first steps. I was living my life - being a mom.

Now that the weight is gone, I'm pleased but not celebratory. It doesn't feel like an accomplishment. It feels like part of a cycle, like this is what mom bodies do. I'm glad my body does the things it's supposed to and I'll keep trying to keep it healthy so that I can keep chasing the children it grew. I'll spending this summer glorying in the physical; I'll garden and swim and takes walks to the park. I'll bend to hold my baby's hand as she learns to walk and I'll balance my son's bike as he learns to ride. I'll give a lot of hugs.

I lost the baby weight, yeah, but I did it without losing sight of the baby or her brother or the things that matter the most to me.

- By Rebekah Kuschmider

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