Weight Gain After Having a Baby

For obvious reasons, you hear a lot about weight gain during pregnancy. What you don’t hear much about is weight gain after having a baby. Because the weight should be going down, not back up again.

Of both my pregnancies, I didn’t have much trouble losing the baby weight I had put on, it was the weight I put on well after my first was born that was the problem.

Weight gain after having a baby

At the end of my pregnancy, I had gained about 14 kg, which I didn’t think was too bad. And after he was born, my weight slowly went down again. When he was about four months old, I had about 3 kg left to lose. Then something weird happened. My weight kept creeping up. It didn’t matter what I did, up it went. I was breastfeeding, eating less and moving more and it didn’t make a difference. Up, up, up it went.

When I weighed 4 kg more than I did when I was nine months pregnant, I was shocked. I still didn’t know why. Or how. It didn’t make sense. To have put on 15 kg in a short amount of time was frustrating and depressing. About 18 kg more than I weighed pre-pregnancy.

It made me miserable and I hated having photos of me with my son because seeing how terrible I looked would make me cry.

If I knew why it was happening or what I was doing wrong, it would have made it easier to deal with.

I can understand putting on a bit of weight, especially after having a baby, but to put on so much so quickly just didn’t make sense.

My son was about 18 months old when I went to the doctor and had checks done on my thyroid and I’m not sure what else, but everything was in normal range. So, no answers.

When me moved house, when my son was 2 ½, I even put on another 3 kg. We had started trying for our second baby, and it wasn’t happening and that made me feel worse. I’m not sure exactly how, but I managed to lose a few kilos and it wasn’t too long after to find out I was pregnant again.

My weight put me in a medium risk category and I was told to try not to put any weight on at all. I didn’t know how that would work. I put on around 9 kg this time, so it wasn’t too bad.

When my daughter was around three months old, I was already at my pre baby weight without having to do too much.

But I was worried that the same thing that happened after I had my son would happen again.

She got a bit older and I thought I had escaped it this time. But at the beginning of this year, I put on another 3 kg that I couldn’t figure out why. So far, that’s it and I’m hoping it stays that way.

It’s just been very confusing and frustrating.

They aren’t gradual increases that can be attributed to eating more or doing less. And they are put on quickly.

I had no problem losing the original baby weight, so I can’t understand why I keep putting more on when I was so close to pre-baby weight.

Everyone always says just watch what you eat, exercise, and you’ll be right.

But it’s not. I’m not the only one. It happens to a lot of mums. I just wish I knew why.

Is it the lack of sleep, the stress, or putting all your energy into caring for someone else?

Is it the hormones wreaking havoc over your body?

Maybe I’ll never figure out why.

My aim is to get back down to my pre-first baby weight. 20 kg to lose. It seems like a lot. I’m hoping bit by bit it will come down.

Countless times I have tried to lose some of it, but it always seems like the more I try, the more it goes up. If I don’t worry about it, it stays the same.

My kids have never been great sleepers, so lack of sleep and energy has always been something that has hindered the exercise motivation. But I do a lot of walking and my fitness has improved a lot this year, despite the extra weight gain. It just makes it harder to get motivated when it all seems counter productive.

I try not to let my weight upset me anymore. I’m finding there’s not much point.

I’m going to try not to fixate on losing weight. I’ll try to focus more on being fitter, healthier and happier.

Hopefully one day I can find out why.

I know there’s a reason.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and don’t think I look too bad, but when I see a photo of myself taken that same day, I absolutely hate it.

I don’t want to be thin or look like some person I don’t recognise, but if I can look at myself in a photo and not cringe, that’s got to be worth something.

Have you had trouble with weight gain after having a baby?