The Baby Weight

The baby weight… it came. Oh yes, it came, with full vengeance. Being 5'11" I can carry a bit more weight without anyone noticing… but when you go from 145 pounds to 200 pounds within 9 months you notice alright! Say what you please, "Oh isn't that how much you are supposed to gain while you are pregnant?" No actually, you're only supposed to gain 25 to 35 pounds your whole pregnancy, but thanks! We can pretend!

Before I got pregnant I heard that Jessica Simpson gained over 60 pounds with her pregnancy. I was disgusted. I thought to myself, "How can someone just let themselves go like that? She must have been trying to gain weight! I  mean was she having french fries and ice cream for all three meals?!"

Then it happened, I got pregnant. During the first trimester I was nauseated and so I ended up losing 4 pounds. Long behold, one of my coworkers even said, "I don't think you'll gain much weight Britney!" And then much to my dismay the college semester started again, and I was doing full time school and working full time as a registered nurse (RN) at the hospital. Between being nauseated, doing 13 credit hours, and working three 13-14 hour shifts (shifts that are supposed to be 12 hour shifts, but you get there at 5:45 AM and sometimes don't get out until 7:45 PM on busy nights) I didn't find time to work out or to eat right. I was so busy that we were lucky if we got a home cooked meal. Consequently the pounds started to pile on.

Let's rewind to before Sam and I got married, I was working out with my friend Kaitlyn everyday. We would get up at 5:30, head over to Golds Gym and do our weight lifting class on Monday's, Wednesday, and Fridays, and then do an hour of cardio after that (either running or the elliptical). On Tuesday's and Thursday's we would still get up at 5:30 and then do 1.5 to 2 hours of cardio. On top of this I was eating clean and at 130 pounds I was in the best shape of my life.

Once I met Sam I loosened up on my workout routine and put on what us newlyweds like to call "Happy Fat", about 15 pounds of it to be precise. So you can imagine my dismay the night before I went into labor when I stepped on the scale and was a whopping 200 pounds on the dot. How did I get 70 pounds away from the best shape of my life in just two years?

This brings me to the reason why I created this blog. Because I am not going to allow myself to become a "fat" mom. I am not going to let my "baby belly" define me. I am not going to sit on the couch and say to myself "Oh I'm just big boned" or "It's just in my genes" and certainly not "My metabolism has just slowed down since I had a baby". Because none of those things are true. They are not true for me. And they are not true for you.

We are all capable of losing the weight, wether that weight was brought on by a pregnancy, by food addiction, by emotional stress, whatever! We are all capable of losing it! I have no reason to be over weight. You have no reason to be over weight!

This blog will follow my journey of losing the weight because I will hold myself accountable for losing this weight. I want to be a motivation for anyone who has struggled with weight. When I was standing on that scale at 200 pounds I thought to myself, "Well at least now I can show everyone that losing the weight is possible!". LET'S DO THIS!



P.S. Subscribe below to continue getting updates on my progress! I'll continue posting healthy recipes, dieting tips, and monthly progress pictures. If you are trying to lose weight, let's do this together! Have questions? Feel free to e-mail me at FitMomBritney@gmail.com.