I hate losing weight, especially after pregnancy. I’m exhausted and irritable, hormones in chaos. All I want is pie. I can barely remember where I put the burp rag, let alone muster the motivation to work out. This is an introduction to my postpartum weight loss journey as I share some of my history, struggles, and victories.
UPDATE (October, 2025): Hi, it’s Megan from seven years (2025), double the kids, and a different way of eating later, having just typed “weight loss” in my article search bar and re-discovering this.
While the basic game remained the same, perimenopause seems to have changed the rules. The good news: I’m 10 pounds lighter and inches less at this writing, after four kids, than of the original writing, after two. The bad news: it’s never been this hard or taken as long.
Since things are different but not, I’ll publish this article, with my 2018 writings untouched, with only small updates about my current diet and size. Later this year, I’ll publish an article that focuses more upon the super sexy topics of blood glucose levels, NEAT, menopause, and bone density! Cuz I’m 42 now.
A Bit Of Backstory
I have lost approximately 2oo pounds over different time periods in my life. At my heaviest, I weighed 250 pounds. I lost my first eighty pounds due to dumb luck and sheer youth.
UPDATE (October 2025): I’m now up to approximately 400 pounds; with a new heaviest is 285.
Making the determination stick after noticeable results was difficult. I wildly gained and lost for years. Maintenance proved to be my personal demon, comparatively, losing weight is easy.
I’ll say it again: comparatively, losing weight is easy. Anyone can eat less food. But to keep doing it? Maintenance is the hard stuff. Let me refine that further: healthy maintenance is the hard stuff. I’ve learned that without internal work, I will never keep weight off.
UPDATE (October 2025): Still true, ugh.
Maintenance Skills
I had to learn that maintenance skills aren’t (necessarily) fancy calorie counting.
My best maintenance skills include increasing willpower capability through delayed gratification, exploring mental and emotional barriers in relation to food/self-image, and learning my triggers/best coping skills pertaining to stress, anxiety, and feelings of loss of control.
I try to use my maintenance skills in all areas of my life. I want you to understand that I fail half the time. A steady failure rate of 35% would make me really happy.
Discovering plant-based eating and the horrors of processed food greatly impacted my weight loss as well. It was counting chemicals, not calories, that accelerated my results.
UPDATE (October 2025): While I still avoid processed foods, I do not avoid animal products. We’ll talk about why the switch back made sense for me in the later article.
I’ll get more specific about the importance of creating maintenance skills and counting chemicals rather than calories in upcoming posts.
By my early thirties I was feeling pretty confident and in control of it all—then I started having kids.
I Ate For Seven, Not Two
Fun fact: did you know two Double Stuffed Oreo Cookies are approximately how many extra calories medically necessary in the latest stage of pregnancy? Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
I was sure that I would stick to the recommended thirty-five pound gain during my first pregnancy. Let’s all chortle for a moment. But pity that woman, too: she didn’t know how important food would become, that it could make her cry.
I was sore, hormonal, and working outside the home when I was pregnant with Big A. Soon I was getting drive through several times a week and drinking aaaallll the real soda (“cuz isn’t aspartame bad for fetuses??”) and eating a bowl of ice cream every night.
Surprise, surprise: I gained eighty pounds. I laser-focused on clean eating, did Blogilates and PIIT28 six days a week and lost the weight in nine months. I celebrated by getting pregnant again.
It Takes Time
I was more disciplined during my pregnancy with Little A and gained fifty pounds. I will most likely never stay within that damned thirty-five pound recommendation. Our babies are huge (Big A was 10.5 lbs, Little A was 8 lbs, 14 ounces), which leads to higher maternal weight. It feels so much harder to lose the weight this time around, though.
UPDATE (October 2025): Big babies, every single one of them.
During that first pregnancy, I sustained a birth injury and was unable to work out as hard as I’m used to for six months. The last half of the weight fell off once I could resume usual intensity. With this pregnancy I was jumping around six weeks postpartum and barely seeing results six months later.
UPDATE (October 2025): *laughs in 2023*
Work The Plan
What a discouraging six months that was. It feels terrible to keep making healthy choices when there are no visible results. There’s no pay-off! It makes me want to throw my hands (and protein shake!) in the air.
“Work the plan,” I tell myself. Every day. All the time. Not just with health stuff. Any choice calmly listed when creating an action plan is better than any choice I could make in a moment of frustration. I can’t react to my feelings, the junk food in sight, or the insecurities within.
If I eat clean, whole food, move at least 45 minutes a day, drink water, and lessen my overall sitting time, it is 98% likely that I am going to reach a healthy weight for my body. I have to keep swimming. Have faith. Work the plan.
I’m So Nervous
This article will be my first in a series of post about postpartum weight loss. I’ll share my workouts, recipes, meal planning, results, and disasters.
UPDATE (October 2025): Sure, Jan.
It is with great trepidation that I publish these “before” shots. But without measurement how can I track? Without tracking how can I identify successes and failures? Without identifying successes and failures how can I formulate the best plan of action?
There are my November 2018 stats:
- Waist: 37.5 inches
- Arms: 14 inches
- Thighs: 26.5 inches
- Weight: 204.2 lbs
UPDATE October 2025 stats:
- Waist: 37 inches
- Arms: 12 inches
- Thighs: 23 inches
- Bust: 39 inches
- Hips: 43 inches
- Weight: 190
Please share your stories, tips, commiserations with me, join me in a healthy dinner, and/or be my accountability buddy?
Conclusion (October 2025)
Hope you enjoy this blast from the pre-pandemic past as much as you’ll appreciate the perimenopause weight loss article that will come next. I’m gonna see if I can edit some more current pictures in here and publish it before I change my mind.
Want More?
Check out these healthyish articles:
- You Can’t Buy Health, You Gotta Earn It
- Genius Foods by Max Lugavere Personally Victimized Me
- 50+ Healthy After School Snack Ideas for Kids
UPDATE (October 2025) Pic:
