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Body Changes During Pregnancy

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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13 Comments

  1. Sarah

    Your paragraph on getting winded made me laugh. Before (and now after) being pregnant, I like to speed up the stairs at work. While I was pregnant, I sounded like a blown horse every. single. time. I had several people stop and ask me if I was okay over the course of the 9 months.

    Gaining weight after having lost so much and kept it off is hard. There was always this little niggling fear that I wouldn’t be able to get back to where I was, but I realize now that the weight then was the symptom of a bigger issue which for me was in my brain. I’m not the same person I was the first time I lost all my weight and I have the many years of experience to call upon to deal with getting back to where I would like to be physically.

    But now that I’m ~8 months postpartum, I have to stay that I’m really, really (REALLY) glad that I didn’t focus on my weight or fitness until the 6 month mark. I think our society focuses far too much on women who bounce back within a few months of pregnancy and it’s completely unreasonable. I made myself secondary to my baby during that time and I’m glad that I did because I was able to enjoy her newborn and early babyhood.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thanks for the insightful comment Sarah! I think you nailed it, and I hadn’t thought of it this way: “the weight then was the symptom of a bigger issue which for me was in my brain.” I so agree. It’s not like I’m bingeing on pizza and ice cream like before. It’s different. I’m eating to be healthy and to help the baby grow, it has a purpose and it’s definitely not a result of some other “issue.” I guess I didn’t think about it that way…like you said, there’s that little fear in the back of your head and it’s hard not to worry about that. So far my body seems to be doing what it’s supposed to do and I’m not getting “out of control” like I was in the old days.

      That’s great to hear about your post-partum life/body. I agree, I think there’s a lot of pressure to get back to pre-baby body and I see it in bloggers especially. Immediately going back to the high-intensity exercise the second your doctor clears you. While I’m sure I will be excited to get clearance to workout because it makes me FEEL BETTER in general, my hope is that I won’t be obsessed with the “get rid of the baby weight” and take a page from your book…enjoy the newborn time!

    2. Lisa Eirene

      Oh and the huffing and puffing! What is with that!! How am I SO out of breathe??

      1. Sarah

        It was worst for me in the middle of my 2nd tri. My body seemed to manage to adapt by the start of my 3rd trimester but by then I was in the “I am so bored with pregnancy! WANT TO MEET BABY!” phase.

        1. Lisa Eirene

          Haha! I haven’t gotten there yet. I’m definitely feeling impatient but at the same time–“NOT READY YET!”

  2. Kalerae

    For me, when pregnant the worst was not being one of those women that “loved it”, I loathed it. I felt huge, I was constantly uncomfortable, I could never get a good night’s sleep (get that body pillow! It will be a life saver!). Maternity clothes never felt right, so I was always pulling down on shirts, or pulling up the pants. I am very short-torsoed, so I looked 25 weeks pregnant at about 18 weeks pregnant. I had horrible heartburn, horrible gas, was nasueous throughout both pregnancies and the drugs did not help, I could not have felt more un-beautiful or un-lovable. I was moody, tired, short-tempered and always aching.

    But the most amazing thing is once I gave birth all those issues immediately subsided and I had my baby. Every middle of the night pee-break, morning sickness that happened all day long, painful heartburn was completely forgotten and it was all worth it.

    My kids are 2 and 3.5 now and my body is not nearly where I want it to be and to be honest, I was unhappy with my size before having kids and now I’m still not at goal. But before going to bed I was told the best knock-knock joke a 2-yr old could muster and the extra poundage could not have been further from my mind.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Your comment made me smile. I could totally relate! I was not a fan of pregnancy in the beginning. I felt sick, I had horrible acne, I was moody and emotional. I was uncomfortable. I felt big…but once the “bad” symptoms kind of subsided I liked it much better. I’m enjoying the 2nd trimester a lot, especially now that the baby is getting really active! But I hear you on the clothes. Maternity clothes kind of suck. They aren’t attractive or flattering, they aren’t comfortable…I’m pulling the maternity pants up all day long, or the shirts down to cover the bump, like you. (But I do recognize that maternity clothes are much more flattering than the tent dresses in the 1980’s!)

      I’m glad to hear that once all that was over with you forgot about it and just enjoyed the baby. That’s what I’m looking forward to! The “this was totally worth it” glow! 🙂 Your kids sounds adorable. 🙂

  3. Ingunn

    I was so out of breath before I even knew I was pregnant! I was like whoa, I must have really overdone it on those Christmas cookies. Heh.

    Pregnancy made me love and appreciate my body in a way that I never had before. I felt so strong! If you’re able to stay active throughout, I think it makes a huge difference – I never reached that point where I was massively uncomfortable and just wanted to get the baby out (but Nora came almost two weeks early, so maybe that’s why). The gestational diabetes was a blessing in disguise, because it made me eat healthier than I ever had before and made me go for walks three times a day on most days.

    1. Ingunn

      Oh, and my hair was amaaaaaazingly thick and I didn’t have acne for the first time in my adult life (proof for me that the acne is a hormonal thing). But then a couple of months postpartum, the acne was back and I lost tons of hair. Sigh.

      1. Lisa Eirene

        Lucky on the acne. Mine came back so bad during the first trimester, then I got some relief for a few weeks, now it’s back again!

    2. Lisa Eirene

      Me too! I was out of breathe in the first trimester, before anything was really happening and my doc said that was the hormones. Weird!
      I love that pregnancy made you love and appreciate your body. Now that I’m in the 2nd trimester I’m getting there. I love some of the changes and the amazing things my body is doing.

  4. Mary @ Fit and Fed

    I’m glad you are enjoying the middle part of your pregnancy, I think it’s the best part! You are certainly being very thoughtful about how the body changes are affecting you mentally, that thoughtfulness ought to serve you well in navigating all the changes now and after baby comes.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thank you Mary. I am trying my best! It’s hard when you don’t know what will happen in the future but I’m trying to be realistic about things.

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