Taking off Pregnancy Weight

[turnpup]

So I've heard people say for years that pregnancy weight is harder to take off than regular weight, blah, blah, blahcakes. Didn't really care because I wasn't pregnant and didn't intend to have children.

Fast-forward to now and I've got 46 more (!) pounds to lose from pregnancy (Somebody please slap me for not following the diet whilst pregnant!). It does seem harder to lose now than it did before, even though I'm following the diet exactly as I did before.

Does anybody know if there's something about pregnancy hormones possibly still being in your body for a while and contributing to slow weight loss? I'm three months post-partum, and not breastfeeding. Or could it be the pill? My OBGYN had me on the pill since 6 weeks post-partum, but I've since decided to go hormone-free and have just been fitted for a hormone-free IUD. I'm sure hoping that getting all the hormones out of my body will be helpful.

Before pregnancy, I lost 107 pounds on DANDR-style Atkins, but had to go off the pill to accomplish it (which is how I wound up with my sweet baby girl...).

I guess my broad question is whether or not there's any merit to the "pregnancy weight is harder to lose than regular weight" assertion. Anyone care to opine?

[MelissaF_07]

Re: Taking off Pregnancy Weight

Pregnancy really mucks up your insulin resistance! It's incredibly hard to lose pregnancy weight. Are you taking supplements? Ask your doc about metformin if you aren't already on it. Add cinnamon to anything you can. Research other IR-treating supplements. Avoiding eating late at night, instead exercise. Do some walking after every meal. Don't smoke. It can be done! Oh - are you nursing? It's the rare woman who can nurse successfully *and* lose weight. Just do what you can - eat right, exercise, take vitamins/supplements - once you are done nursing you'll drop weight quickly, plus doing the right things will help the IR come down w/ time. Be patient. You know this WOL is the right one, so do it for that alone. The weight will come off eventually.

HUGS! and congratulations!

[turnpup]

Re: Taking off Pregnancy Weight

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. No, I'm not nursing. Luckily I don't smoke. I'll look into metformin--haven't heard of it.

So is there a medical/scientific basis for pregnancy weight being harder to lose? It sounds like you think there is. I wasn't sure if it was medical/scientific in nature, or just that maybe women shedding pregnancy weight are more preoccupied with all the new mommy stuff and weren't as focused on weight loss and exercise. Still not sure. I'd love to see more postings dealing with whether or not the members feel like it's in my head or it's real.

[JMarsa202]

Re: Taking off Pregnancy Weight

It's not in your head. With baby #2, I gained 54 pounds, putting me at 254 when it was all said and done. My entire body was essentially rewired, it felt, and many things changed for me afterwards. I even got allergies. Never before had they been a problem.

I was breastfeeding #2 for 18 months (she's almost 2 now, only been weaned for about 3 months), and you know how some people say that the weight "falls off" if you breastfeed? Well, not the case! Less than 2 weeks postpartum, I started getting back into an exercise ritual, and eating healthfully. I ended up dropping about 10-15 pounds. It was only until recently that I started actually dropping the weight from baby. Since your are not breastfeeding, you are at a few advantages. First of all, you're okay to go into ketosis, thus lose the weight faster (they don't recommend it for breastfeeding mothers). Secondly, your hormones should stabilize faster and there will be less cravings and your body will get back to normal quicker.

With baby #1, the doctor had told me that the pregnancy hormone remains in your system (though decreasing tremendously) for about 12 weeks. Your hormones could take longer to recover though.

Scientifically, I don't know. They say that you are less likely to lose weight if you are under a lot of stress and sleep-deprived. Stress is very common for new moms, and I dont' have to talk to you about sleep-deprivation

Good Luck!

[turnpup]

Re: Taking off Pregnancy Weight

Thanks, Juli, for your information and insight. Twelve weeks, huh? OK, I'm at about 14 weeks and have just started noticing some size loss. Weight-wise, I'm still dangling the same 4-6 pound loss. One day up one or two, next day down, etc. However, I expect the hormone thing to change pretty soon.

Sleep is going great, but I am under a tremendous amount of stress. I am the family breadwinner, have my own home-based business, am responsible for the housecleaning, cooking, shopping, laundry, etc., and now have the additional responsibility of caring for the baby full-time. I'm very fortunate to be able to stay at home with the baby, but it's a unique situation for me. New moms generally either (1) stay at home and the husband earns the living; or (2) stay home for 8-12 weeks on maternity leave, then go back to work and the child is cared for in an alternate setting. I do everything. So if stress can inhibit weight loss, this might also be a factor. Oh well...life.

The key, I would guess, is to not get so frustrated that I just quit. That's why I've decided not to buy a bunch of size 14 clothes. I've left my size 4's hanging in the closet and live literally from a little stack in my closet floor. I have one pair of big jeans, two pairs of big crop pants and one pair of big dress pants. I can still squeeze (think sausage casing) into a couple of sweaters, so I have the tops covered. It really sucks feeling like this, which for me is a great way to not get complacent at this size. It's a form of punishment, but that's how I operate.

[Lyssie]

Re: Taking off Pregnancy Weight

ummm... sorry, but I don't think it's harder because of being pregnancy weight... I think it's harder if it's not the first time you've done Atkins. But that's standard STAC stuff... I put on a ton of weight while pregnant due to eating crap, and depression, and basically just not caring (as in like, 80lbs or something), and then another like, 20 on top of it the first couple weeks he was born (stress with him being in the NICU, etc). Anyway, the first 100 came off pretty easily... of course, I did exercise this time around, and hadn't previous times, and was following the actual way you're supposed to better...

I guess if there's medical opinions saying differently, then I'm a freak, but that was my experience.

BTW, you'd better get crackin' turnpup, it's not sweater season for much longer!! It's a much better idea to not buy clothes at that size... IMO anyway. I would think, well, these fit me just fine... until I would lose motivation to lose since those clothes *were* fine on me.

[JMarsa202]

Re: Taking off Pregnancy Weight

Lyssie: That's a good point. Any times after the first seem to be a bit harder.

[heatherm422]

Re: Taking off Pregnancy Weight

I agree about the pregnancy weight not really being "harder" to lose. I gained 30 lbs when Pregnant, which put me at 216 when I delivered. I ballooned up to 224 due to the pill/depression/etc.. I didn't really start losing any "baby" weight on my own until I went off the pill and got down to 205 when I re-started Atkins. After I had my son, my OB/GYN told me that it can take up to a full year for your body to "work" like it did pre-pregnancy. That means weight, metabolism, the whole nine yards.

The weight has come off slower for me this second time around than it did the first time too.

Good luck and be patient!