Jul

Losing Weight After A Pregnancy

I have been wanting to share my experiences in dealing with excess post-pregnancy weight. The weight issue is something that every woman has to grapple with at some point in their life, whether pregnant or not. But in the battle of the bulge, being pregnant seems to instantly to put most, if not all, women at a disadvantage.

When I was still single, I never had to worry much about gaining weight. I generally lived an active and healthy life. I jogged, walked, hiked, biked, played badminton and tried to eat nutritious meals whenever I could.

However, being pregnant can wreak havoc with one’s sound judgement. I knew what I needed to do for the sake of the child I was carrying. However, there were things I ended up doing in order for me to stay within the range of normal functioning, and that included devouring unhealthy foods.

When I was carrying my first child, I had to eat sweets all the time. It was not so much a craving as it was a means to mask the bitter taste in my mouth. I had doughnuts and fruit shakes everyday as these were readily available in our office building. I was so preoccupied with warding off the bitter taste and the discomforts that came with the pregnancy that I hardly noticed myself growing.

After I gave birth, I simply thought I was just a bit chubby. Even when my officemates started kidding me about my “growth,” I was not bothered.

The turning point came when I was shopping for a pair of pants one day and tried looking in the ladies’ section for a pair. But even the large or extra large sizes would not fit. Then a sales attendant pointed me to the…(drum roll)…the…PLUS SIZE CLOTHING.

It finally hit me how big I had grown.

I used to be either a small or a medium. How did all this happen?, I asked myself.

Afterwards, I swore to myself that I would do something.

After talking to the doctor, I started to devise my diet plan. I did not have time for exercise so I focused only on my diet.

Being fond of rootcrops (sweet potatoes and taro), I knew it had to be in my diet. After all, celebrities were starting to sing their praises, as they contain complex carbohydrates and are high in fiber.

As I could not subsist on rootcrops alone, I decided to add green salad to my diet.

I ate boiled rootcrops for breakfast and dinner. At lunch, I served myself green salad or whenever it struck my fancy, rootcrops or boiled bananas. They taste even yummier with shaved coconut meat and a dash of sugar. I drank only water. No sweetened juices. My salad dressing was without mayonnaise.

I stuck to that diet, and tuned out every skeptical remark.

When I came home, I ate ahead of the rest so I would not be tempted to ingest what was being served for dinner. (We live with my parents and sisters so imagine how much temptation I had to fight off.)

Every now and then, I allowed myself a morsel or two of porkchop or beef steak. But since, I would already be full, there was no real danger of giving in to the craving and losing control.

I steadily lost weight. On the third month of my diet, I was only 10 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. Friends and family were giving me a pat on the back and asking how I had done it.

There were no big secrets to tell. No fancy diets to follow. No starvation was necessary. I simply selected foods that I knew were healthy. But most importantly, they had to be foods that I enjoyed eating. I never once felt deprived.

Most of all, my motivation for wanting to lose weight was not so much to look good but more to avoid the health issues that came with excess weight.

I had a little boy to take care of so I needed to be in shape and feel good about myself.

Fortunately, I lost the excess weight before I became pregnant again when my son was 1.6 years old.