At my six-week postpartum follow-up appointment, I had lost 40 lbs from the day I delivered Emmett and Miles. I was 20 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. I was also still 20 lbs higher than my “happy weight,” but still thinner than I had been in years of back-t0-back pregnancies and stressful day-to-day life. During my pregnancy, I was grateful for the extra “padding” that helped me and my babies survive 8 months of nonstop puking. Afterward, I was over it, but the weight didn’t really get the message to move on.
Unfortunately my weight crept back up another 10 lbs, 13 on some days, and stayed there for the last year. I briefly went back to the gym starting when the boys were about 3 months old, but it was too hard to find childcare to leave them at home and too difficult for me to leave them with strangers at bedtime (I worked days, so nights were my only option for the gym), and honestly I was freaking exhausted so it was difficult to stay motivated.
When we moved to Florida in December, we knew life here would be different. We were down to one income, a smaller home, less stress, less CRAP to deal with every day just to keep things running. It took about 2 months to settle in, during which time the boys turned 1 and overnight became little people instead of just babies. My goal had been to reach my happy weight by the twins’ first birthday. I did not meet this goal. I did, however, survive my first year of twin parenthood, so I tried to focus on that and not look too closely in the mirror.
We joined the YMCA after about a month here, and were great about going as a family most days of the week. Over the course of 4 months, I got about 10 lbs off. Then everyone got sick. Repeatedly. And stayed sick for 3 months. We stopped working out. The weight started to creep back up. The stress started to creep back up. And I started to feel like I was never going to be happy in my body again.
I also started to feel like I would never cut my hair again. See, that was the deal Daddy-in-Training and I made when we started talking about getting both of our weights into a healthy range: He HAS to cut his hair until he reaches his goal weight, and I CAN’T cut my hair until I reach mine.
I am happy to report that I expect to make my hair appointment by the end of next week. In the last month, I have lost almost 10 lbs. In 7 more, I will be in the dead center of my goal weight range. In 5 more, I can schedule my cut and color. It’s kind of amazing. Click to continue reading >>>
