Baby Budda Belly

When you're newly pregnant, you just can't wait to start to see your belly expand. In both of my pregnancies, I started wearing baggy maternity shirts and pants as soon as I could eek out any sort of actual rationale for it. And when you're in full bloom, with a belly out to there, you're proud and happy to let it stick out there and when strangers notice it, you think, "Yup, that's right. There's a baby in there."

And then you have the baby and all of a sudden, that cute little budda belly isn't so cute anymore. It's just a belly. With more folds and heft to it than you find desirable. And you want it gone.

I'll admit now that I kept an eye on the scale during both pregnancies, even more so this last time. And I worked out until I was put on bed rest in my 7th month. So when I finally got on the scale after Nathan was born, I only had a couple of pounds to lose to get back to my baseline weight.

I know what you might be thinking - a few pounds? Who freakin' cares??? Well, I do. The thing about being so vigilant about working out and staying at a certain weight for years is that, well, you're vigilant. And I want those pounds gone. But I'm nursing, and you have to be really careful about losing weight when you're nursing. Plus, sometimes your body won't let the weight go.

So, long story short, I tried for a couple of weeks to just watch what I ate and to get back into working out to see if the weight would drop. It didn't. So last week, I joined my husband (who wants to lose about 15 pounds) on a balanced-eating diet, where you eat these carefully balanced meals of protein, dairy, veggies/fruit, and carbs every 3-4 hours. And I lost a pound.

You'd think this would be giving me incentive to keep going and to keep my ass in gear. But I haven't worked out this weekend, and I'm sitting here, struggling with not wanting to get my butt off the couch and go do it. We even recently bought a jogging stroller so that one of us could take Sabrina with us and go out for a run when the gym just wasn't an option. It is sitting in the corner, mocking me with how little it has been used. The child care at the gym has already closed for the day. The gym isn't an option. But it isn't raining outside. The jogging stroller is an option.

Damn it all.

I should go. I should run. Running is the best way to torch calories and you can do it in 30 minutes or less and be totally virtuous in that time. But. I. Just. Don't. Wanna.

Damn it all. Maybe I'll just go eat some Oreos and worry about it tomorrow.

PS - In case you're wondering, yes, I took Sabrina to the Children's Museum on Friday. The good mom in me came out and won. Sometimes that does happen.