Over the past five years, I’ve gradually (in spurts) lost about 40 pounds and kept it off; but even with healthy diet, exercise, and lots of pauses and plateaus, you don’t (or I don’t, anyway) lose 40 pounds without getting at least a little obsessive about it, focusing on food way more than you want to, and so on. So here I was, 40 pounds down, a size 10, perfectly “normal” (whatever that means), and making a conscious choice to do something that would take me back where I’d been….and it freaked me out. My mantra for so long has been, “I’m not going back,” that going back really upset me. Nor has that six pounds gone away, and that’s kind of upset me too. I feel really shallow for thinking about this at all, but I do. I feel as though one slip might determine my weight, and therefore all the associated identity issues, for ever and ever.

I lost another 15 lbs while nursing, despite eating more than I’d ever eaten in my life. (Nursing twins is supposed to burn about 1800 calories/day.)

My weight boomeranged back up when I stopped nursing. Since September, however, I have lost 56 lbs., and am currently a size 14 and hoping to get to a 10. I think having my kids is one of the things that finally gave me the motivation I personally needed to live a more healthy lifestyle.

I never felt fat when I was pregnant. I did feel “big” during the last week or two. I know that seems like a distinction without a difference, but having another human in you, moving around and whatnot, feels very different from fat.

Now, my extra weight sits almost completely on the front of my belly. I’m about the same size as I was when 9 months pregnant, except lumpy and squishy. LOL So far, though, I’ve only had 1 person mistake me for being pregnant, and I found it quite hilarious. Never had gestational diabetes. Baby 1 was 9 lbs. Baby 2 was 9 lbs 6 oz

As for getting pregnant, while there are a lot of variables, both low and high fat percentages can effect fertility, but low percentages seem to have more of an effect than high – and it applies to both males and females. So can “healthy” diets. I first recall hearing about it in a story about a Toronto fertility clinic. When counseling people for fertility treatments, the first thing they looked as was lifestyle. For one couple, marathon runners, both the husband and wife needed to gain some body fat before they were able to get pregnant (with no fertility treatments). Another patient was so into eating healthy, the palms of her hands had taken on an orange caste from all the beta carotene rich foods she was eating. After cutting back, she was able to get pregnant without medical interventions.

I had a bit of baby blues (I don’t think I had full blown post partum depression), but I sure did nurse it with food. It was the one drug I knew wouldn’t adversely affect my breastmilk!

With my daughter (here, healthy, and awesome) I gained a reasonable amount of weight and lost it all right away. But the weight I gained from compulsive eating after I lost my boys still lingers. I don’t mind; I think that extra food kept me from killing myself during that dark time. Now, however…. sigh.

I was pregnant a couple years ago with my first (and only I might add lol) and from about 12 weeks I suffered badly with morning sickness, migraines and SPD(loosening on the pelvic muscles that makes moving from the tits down painful!).

I wasn’t fat to be begin with, at 11 stone, 5′7 and a size 14 I felt good about my body. At the end of my pregnancy I weight just under 10 stone and was a lovely size 12 and was amazed. I eat lik a pig despite my sickness, was addicted to strawberries and steak, not together mind you and I couldn’t do ANY exercise as by the time 5/6 months came around I was on crutches and couldn’t even get in the bath without aid :/

Lucky me – shame I have no social life now and quickly put the weight back on and more lol;)