A One Month Post-Baby Body Update

It's already been one whole month since Baby J was born?  That seems impossible.  That little 6 pound 13 ounce baby has turned into a MONSTER BABY and is now tipping the scales at a whopping 9 pounds 12.5 ounces.  That's right folks.  He's gaining about a pound a week.  Scariness.  He's also grown from 20.5 inches (which reduced to 19.5 inches at his 1 week check-up thanks to cone-head) up to 21.5 inches, and I don't know what his head circumference was but it was in the freaking 80th percentile.  We are officially leaving newborn diapers and clothing behind!

Our baby is a counting prodigy already, no big deal.

Now an update on post-baby body.  Ugh.  It's not pretty folks.  I miss my (semi) flat stomach.  I kind of even miss being pregnant because then at least you have an excuse to be fat and your stomach is all hard instead of all soft, paunchy, and flabby like it is now. 

You can see that leaving the hospital I still looked a good 7-8 months pregnant:

But it was really promising how fast it went down.  These two pictures are just 9 days apart:

 

But I still look a good 4-5 months pregnant.  

Sadly, not much has changed since that first week though.  The first week's loss was AWESOME.  I gained about 31 pounds during pregnancy, from 143 to 174, and I went from about 174 pounds going to the hospital to 158 pounds a week later (16 pounds loss, with 15 pounds still to lose to get to my pre-pregnancy weight).  That first week I had the initial drop and then I lost a pound about every single day.

That has stopped.  Apparently they want me to work for the rest of the weight loss!  Boo. 

 

Not much change.

And sadly, there's been pretty much NO change since those first two weeks.  I'm sitting at a solid 154, with 11 pounds to lose to get to pre-pregnancy weight.  Losing weight is HARD.  Especially when you're freaking RAVENOUS all the time.  I thought I knew hunger.  I knew pregnancy hunger and I knew long-run marathon training hunger, but neither of those can compare with breastfeeding hunger.  It's OFF THE CHARTS.  Losing weight is also hard when you've had nonstop visitors which often involved delicious lasagna, ginormous marshmallows, and blackberry pie. 

And you can't really cut calories (much) if you want to keep your milk supply up.  So my August goal, if I choose to accept it (which I MUST), is twofold.  1) I must watch what I'm eating.  Not cut calories, not diet, but not eat crap.  REDUCE THE SUGAR.  And 2) EXERCISE.  Exercise is going to be key here to make that calorie deficit.  And I don't mean just walking.  I need to up the ante.  I need to figure out a way to get to the gym (for someone with abundant free time on my hands it sure is impossible to get there without daycare). 

So here I am, asking to be held accountable for losing this stupid baby weight.  Man I hate losing weight.  Not eating dessert is the WORST.  But it must be done.  My going back to work days are quickly approaching and I don't think they'll like me wearing maternity shorts and yoga pants...

Anyone have any weight loss secrets?  How did you lose the baby weight?