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It took me 6 months to get back in shape, six long months. During the 8 weeks after having the baby I tried my best to stay away form mirrors. A guy I know told me “Wow, you put a lot of weight on! If I met you on a street I wouldn’t have recognized you”– and I just wanted to disappear. Honestly, I didn’t believe that those 6 kilos of baby fat will ever leave me and buying clothes 2 sizes up was humiliating. I gained 18 kilos during pregnancy and was hoping that most of those belonged to the baby, but if we really think about it – 9 kilos were all the baby supplies, 3 to 4 kilos were Eric’s and all the rest were mine.

I knew that losing weight really comes down to balancing the calories – I must burn more energy than I consume. Breastfeeding and dieting don’t really mix, so I figured – if I can’t eat less then I must exercise more. Gym was never my favorite, but walking and swimming are ok. In fact during my whole pregnancy I went swimming twice a week (also because I was terrified of gaining too much weight).

So after the baby was born as soon as it was safe for me (after the 6th week doctor’s appointment) I went back to swimming. As to walking, Eric and I started our little trips when he was 3 weeks old and we did a lot of them, at least 3 times a day for 30-60 minutes. In the beginning I didn’t see much difference (in the mirror and judging by the clothes).The scales showed me the same number over and over again, very discouraging and frustrating. But I knew I had to keep going because it made me feel good about myself. Another thing that helped was my concentration on Eric – it took my mind away of these weight issues. The progress was painfully slow and when I finally got back to my pre-pregnancy weight, it was unbelievable. And it took me less than I was expecting – six months instead of nine!