I feel like a failure....
05-21-2012, 07:45 PM
#1
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 4
I feel like a failure....
I gained 30 lbs during my pregnancy last year, which brings my total to around 60 lbs since I've turned 30 (I'm 33). Throughout my pregnancy I ate like a pig and barely got off the couch but I vowed to go bootcamp-style after she was born and work it all off within three months. HA! I dropped around 30 lbs immediately after delivery, but within months I gained back 20 lbs. It's over a year later and I can still fit my maternity clothes! And I'm ashamed of myself. My family teased me, making mean and insensitive comments when I was pregnant because I gained soooo much. Now, since I haven't lost the weight, I feel uncomfortable and ashamed, so I avoid them. 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and even my daughter's first birthday, I isolated us and made excuses to stay away. But it's not fair for me to isolate my daughter and keep her from people who love her because I won't stop eating. What's worse is I self-sabotage constantly. I diet, lose some weight, then I go off the deep end. My husband makes indirect comments so I know he's losing patience with me, and I feel bad about myself, but still I do nothing to change. I look at pictures from a few years ago and burst into tears- when we met I was a size seven. I'm now squeezing into a 14. I feel unhealthy and fatigued all the time, and I want so desperately to change but I just feel stuck....
05-21-2012, 11:56 PM
#2
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 443
I gained 30 lbs during my pregnancy last year, which brings my total to around 60 lbs since I've turned 30 (I'm 33). Throughout my pregnancy I ate like a pig and barely got off the couch but I vowed to go bootcamp-style after she was born and work it all off within three months. HA! I dropped around 30 lbs immediately after delivery, but within months I gained back 20 lbs. It's over a year later and I can still fit my maternity clothes! And I'm ashamed of myself. My family teased me, making mean and insensitive comments when I was pregnant because I gained soooo much. Now, since I haven't lost the weight, I feel uncomfortable and ashamed, so I avoid them. 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and even my daughter's first birthday, I isolated us and made excuses to stay away. But it's not fair for me to isolate my daughter and keep her from people who love her because I won't stop eating. What's worse is I self-sabotage constantly. I diet, lose some weight, then I go off the deep end. My husband makes indirect comments so I know he's losing patience with me, and I feel bad about myself, but still I do nothing to change. I look at pictures from a few years ago and burst into tears- when we met I was a size seven. I'm now squeezing into a 14. I feel unhealthy and fatigued all the time, and I want so desperately to change but I just feel stuck....
Is it something that you really want to do for yourself or is it something you feel obligated to do for them? If you can just try to maintain your weight for a while. That might be easier than trying to lose when you have all this emotional stuff going on.
When you're ready to lose, do it because you want to and because it will make you feel better, but not to stop other people from acting inappropriately. They shouldn't be actng like that even if you had gained 100 lbs.
05-22-2012, 03:55 AM
#3
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: canada
Posts: 441
I totally hear you. I gained weight with my pregnancy, but I gained more after it. My hubby wasn't saying anything (he's big too) but my mom was on a crusade. She was trying to talk to me about diet plans the day after my son was born, in the hospital, and she just got more pushy from there. I tried to shrug it off, but it did make me really ashamed and took my self-confidence.
The thing is, though, losing weight for other people doesn't work. People making comments and jokes about your weight isn't going to make you lose weight. What finally made me start, actually, was that I was having digestive problems and didn't want to feel sick anymore. Nothing to do with my weight, and certainly nothing to do with what other people were saying.
Women gain weight when they have babies. It doesn't always fall off the second their baby comes out (in fact, it almost never does). If you were struggling with a lack of sleep (which most new moms do), or post partum depression, it's really difficult to lose weight. You haven't done anything wrong, or anything to be ashamed of (but, I know, I would have rolled my eyes hearing this too). It took me two years to get started, but when I was ready to do it for myself, it clicked.
I don't know if you can talk to your husband and family about it, but you need to tell them that they need to butt out, that it's perfectly normal to be heavier than you were before, and that shaming you isn't going to do anything positive. If they love you, they need to love you for who you are and be supportive and encouraging.
The thing is, though, losing weight for other people doesn't work. People making comments and jokes about your weight isn't going to make you lose weight. What finally made me start, actually, was that I was having digestive problems and didn't want to feel sick anymore. Nothing to do with my weight, and certainly nothing to do with what other people were saying.
Women gain weight when they have babies. It doesn't always fall off the second their baby comes out (in fact, it almost never does). If you were struggling with a lack of sleep (which most new moms do), or post partum depression, it's really difficult to lose weight. You haven't done anything wrong, or anything to be ashamed of (but, I know, I would have rolled my eyes hearing this too). It took me two years to get started, but when I was ready to do it for myself, it clicked.
I don't know if you can talk to your husband and family about it, but you need to tell them that they need to butt out, that it's perfectly normal to be heavier than you were before, and that shaming you isn't going to do anything positive. If they love you, they need to love you for who you are and be supportive and encouraging.
05-22-2012, 04:28 AM
#4
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Michigan
Posts: 139
mamas0407,
rubystars is 100% right!!!! It's hard being a Mom and making time to take care of ourselves. Not many of us women are lucky enough to have our bodies bounce back into shape. I have been there, three kids and 20 years of marriage being over weight. (heaviest being 240)
When your ready.....start by just going for walks with or without your daughter it's great for stress, will give you more energy and kick your metabolism in to gear. Then move on from there. I hope you keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. Always feel good about yourself.
rubystars is 100% right!!!! It's hard being a Mom and making time to take care of ourselves. Not many of us women are lucky enough to have our bodies bounce back into shape. I have been there, three kids and 20 years of marriage being over weight. (heaviest being 240)
When your ready.....start by just going for walks with or without your daughter it's great for stress, will give you more energy and kick your metabolism in to gear. Then move on from there. I hope you keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. Always feel good about yourself.
05-22-2012, 04:35 PM
#7
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 4
Thank you all for your support and kind words of encouragement. When Nobe mentioned the story about her mom, I remembered how mine would call during my pregnancy, and the first question she'd always ask was, did the dr. say anything about your weight? When I was in the hospital, I had a very difficult delivery and had to have a second surgery after the C-section. I still remember my mom yelling at me in front of everyone to get my "fat ass up and walk." I am still hurt and angry behind it. But I have to let it go and stop treating myself with the same contempt others have shown me. Food has become a comfort and something I've come to rely on because really, I feel so alone and unsupported, but talking about everything might make it better. We'll see. Thanks again for listening...
05-23-2012, 05:28 AM
#8
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Michigan
Posts: 139
I think Moms mean well by what they say but it just made me eat more. I was worried about my Daughters weight for awhile but I made sure I didn't say anything unless she brought it up first. Then I was careful about what I said. My seventeen year old son is a little over weight, he talks to me about it now and then but again I am careful about what I say. He can see that my husband (diabetic) and I try to stay healthy by walking and eating right (most of the time). Everyone falls off the wagon now and then. Stay strong mamas0407
05-25-2012, 08:46 PM
#9
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 4
I'm trying to, ahappieru. Thanks for the encouragement- I'm gonna stop beating myself up because I think that just leads to more sabotage. I read something on Jillian Michaels website that said, lose the all or nothing mentality. I need to do exactly that, and then I'll have more confidence...
