Nine Months On … 13-Plus Months Off, and Counting
The other day, in a fit of fury, I threw my scale in the closet. I wasn’t mad at the numbers; I wasn’t mad that it hadn’t budged since a few months postpartum. I was mad because for the second night in a row, someone had stepped on it, causing it to slam down on the bathroom floor and wake the baby.
Of course it happened during a rough period the baby was going through where there were teeth coming through, a runny nose and a strong desire to practice standing up rather than sleep, so any baby-waking caused me to want to slam my head into a wall out of frustration. Getting her to sleep for that few weeks was like a part-time job. Hours were spent rocking, nursing, praying and trying not to step on the floor in the wrong squeaky spot.
So I figured that the scale hadn’t budged anyway, what was the point in keeping it around as a baby alarm clock? Into the closet it went.
And wouldn’t you know it that when I finally stopped my once-a-week weigh-in, I started dropping a couple of pounds (I think, I haven’t actually gotten it out to check). It was only when I started having trouble keeping my jeans up that I even thought I should try a smaller pair of pre-pregnancy jeans. Granted, they’re super tight, but whereas they were inches from buttoning before, I can actually get them buttoned. I had been close to considering it a lost cause even though I know better.
I’m not saying that packing away the scale is going to make you magically lose weight. Not so coincidentally, my jeans fitting corresponds to weaning and tapering off breastfeeding. At 13 months, Emery is still nursing quite a bit, but as we’ve started skipping feeds here and there, I can feel a shift. My appetite isn’t as incredible. It’s like my whole body is adjusting to the decreased demands. But packing away the scale reminded me that the number isn’t the only measure of progress. And it’s a reminder that patience is a necessity when you’re losing pregnancy pounds. “They” say nine months on, nine months off. Well, sometimes it takes longer than that. That’s totally fine, too.
Did you get frustrated losing pregnancy weight gain? I liked to complain a bit, but honestly had so many other bigger fish to fry that I didn’t even have the capacity to care very much! —Erin