Like many moms, I've found that entering motherhood hasn't helped my figure. After having my son, MJ, I assumed the 40 pounds I gained would just drop off. I heard all the stories about how after giving birth, you have little time to eat and breastfeeding will take the weight right off. Wrong! I found time to eat. I made sure of it. And while breastfeeding helped burn some calories, I was still eating for two. Even working out about five days a week, my weight didn't drop back to what it was before I had my little bundle of joy. Did I mention I had my son about two years ago? So, technically, it's not baby weight I'm carrying around any more. Now I'm just overweight. So as we jumped into 2008, I vowed to get my weight back down and stop blaming my kid. I always assumed that many women blamed weight gain after a baby on laziness. But now I realize that's not the case. As a first-time mom working a full-time job, it's difficult to juggle it all while also trying to work out and eat healthy. I'd rather join my son at McDonald's and take down some nuggets and fries and not strategize, contemplate and analyze everything that I consume. At www.parenthood.com, I found an interesting statistic. The Institute of Medicine reported that having a baby will add an average of 2.2 pounds of weight each year after giving birth. But I'm not going to let these statistics take over. I'm not going to be a statistic. I'm ready to work at it and determined to stay away from the nuggets. To keep me focused, I have in my arsenal of weight loss tactics Manny Davila, an American Council on Exercise trainer from a local Anytime Fitness. I'm forcing myself to keep a food journal. I started looking up calories on some of my fast food choices at www.calorieking.com. That's a really good dose of reality. While I'm starting to see small changes, the results are small enough to be discouraging. But I'm telling myself not to give up. Davila has me on a program where I'm strength training twice a week and doing interval cardio training. Ouch! Because my post-baby workout times have dwindled, I have to be much more aware of what I eat. I have to count calories, eat more fruits and veggies and drink a lot of water. Not fun! Davila reminds me that losing weight mainly comes from eating healthy, and that working out is just a small portion of the equation. I took him more seriously when he measured my body fat after we'd been working together for a while. It only dropped a half of a percent, not 1 percent or even 2 percent - just a half. So for all you moms out there who have a little too much junk in your trunk, I feel your pain. Trying to lose weight after a kid is no joke. Good luck if you have set a goal to lose weight. You are not alone! __
