WHEN THE BABY BUMP DOESN'T INCLUDE A BABY

This kind of picture usually generates a lot of "how cute" and "love the baby bump" comments.  Right?

It's not, though.  Why?  Because the baby is nine months old today and that bump is fat.  Which, by the way, just goes to show that it's the knowledge of what's in the bump, not the bump itself, that causes people to find a baby bump cute. 

Anyway, back to the baby-less bump. 

I have always lost the bulk of baby weight pretty quickly and the remaining weight has dropped once I finished nursing.  This time around, however, has been completely different. 

I never got weighed during my pregnancy with Tyler, which was a total fluke, except for one time I stepped on my Dad's scale.  At that point I'd gained 30 pounds.  For reference, I gained 35 with the big boys and 30 with Naomi.  So, 30 seems fine ... until you find out I was only five months pregnant at the time.  I have no idea how much I gained, but it was definitely more than I did the previous three times. 

I also sat on my couch, super depressed and really queasy, for the first trimester and ate small amounts of protein every two hours to help with the nausea.  Three months of shoving food in my face and being sedentary was a bad start.

The fact that I was in my mid-thirties (not old in the scheme of life, but definitely getting up there in pregnancy years), it was my fourth pregnancy, and I wrapped the whole experience up with a c-section, means the odds of that weight easily dropping off quickly plummeted.

I don't think I'm fat, but I know that I weigh more than I should.  I don't step on scales unless I'm at the doctor's (or, apparently, my dad's) and am fine with whatever weight means my clothes fit right, but they still don't fit right and I constantly find myself sucking in my stomach.  Three or four weeks ago I had a little meltdown because I was discouraged about my clothes not fitting and I shared with some girlfriends what was going on.  I told them I didn't want to join any program, but just wanted some practical suggestions for getting back to my normal size.  In addition to other tips, several of them suggested My Fitness Pal, so I set up an account.

I wanted to see what my eating habits looked like on paper (or the screen, as the case may be) before I made any significant changes, so I'm still the same size I was a month ago.  However, I've confirmed that I eat a lot (quantity and frequency) and don't move much.  No big surprise there.  I've also learned that some of the healthier things we eat around here, like oatmeal with dried fruit & nuts on it, have crazily high calorie counts.  I've been shocked at the calorie count and fat content of some foods and surprised at some of the serving sizes.  It's been a learning experience, for sure!

Now, let me just say it drives me crazy when people are obsessed with the nutritional content of their food, when their idolization of healthy food makes it difficult or impossible for others to invite them for a meal, and/or when the only thing they talk about is their weight, size, and shape.  I don't want to be that kind of person.  Blech.

But it appears that I do need to start paying a little attention to those things so that I can get to a healthy size again.  Ten extra pounds may not seem like much, but when you're short there's nowhere for it to go but out.  And when you're in your late thirties, that ten can quickly become twenty, fifty, and more.  Especially if you love eating as much as I do.

Other than adding a little exercise into my week (shocking, I know), making a few little changes in how I eat, and tracking food and exercise on MFP, I haven't really buckled down and tackled this baby-less bump.  The time has come, though.  I've had a few weeks to see where the changes need to be made and now I need to make them.  I realize that counting calories, carbs, fats, and proteins (actually, having the computer count them) isn't the only factor in healthy eating and I have no intentions of tracking food forever.  For now, though, it's a helpful tool in my quest to have my clothes fit right again.  Tracking exercise has also been really helpful to me as I've seen exactly how different activities balance out what I'm eating.

I've never had a flat stomach and am not setting out to get abs of steel.  I love dessert and am not going to give it up.  I'm simply going to eat differently and move more.  That movement will, in return, earn me the privilege of eating a little more.  For me, it's just about having a little self-discipline and self-control.

Incidentally, Tim has recently decided to tackle his "I used to be super active and athletic, but I started having a family and needed to spend time raising my kids, so I slowly quit various activities and became more sedentary, but I kept eating like an active guy" body.  He's going a different route, though, and doing the Take Shape for Life program. 

So, the next month or so should be interesting around here as we figure out what changes to make, both temporary and long-term, in what we eat and how we move.  I think it's going to be fun, though, especially now that three of the little Ws are now old enough to join us in some of the "moving more" aspects. 

Why am I telling you this?  Partly because there's some accountability that comes with telling the world that you're going to take responsibility for something, mostly because I just like to chat and this is what's going on in my life.