Week 2:
Starting weight: 128
Ending weight: 128
This was the second week of my own personal weight loss challenge. I was so proud of myself for losing two pounds last week…so proud that I allowed myself eat large amounts of restaurant food on two occasions this week. Let’s face it: it’s really hard to eat healthy at restaurants because of the large portions and high fat ingredients. It’s okay to treat yourself by going to a restaurant once in a while, but two times in one week really put a halt on my weight loss efforts this week. I’m going to keep that in mind for the next five weeks!
Speaking of restaurants…I wanted to share something that happened to me while out this week. I went to a delicious Italian restaurant in Manhattan and had a really good time…until we were leaving and the hostess smiled at me and congratulated me on my pregnancy! ( I am 4 and half months post-partum). I was stunned. I’ve heard about women making this horrible faux pau, but I never would have dreamed it would happen to me! What was worse than the actual comment though, was the way it made me feel. I automatically turned her seemingly harmless comment into “You are fat” in my head. I couldn’t get that comment out of my heard for days.
I know that I shouldn’t care about her off handed comment. I know that I should be confident in my body, beauty, intelligence and self worth, but instead I suffered a major blow to my self-esteem. I provide nutrition counseling for obese adolescents who are constantly battling with their self esteem and in this moment I finally understand how they must feel. All women of all sizes, shapes, colors and ethnicities are beautiful and strong and we shouldn’t feel so much pressure to be a certain weight or look a certain way! And certainly we shouldn’t feel bad about our weight after going through the most beautiful process there is: pregnancy and the birth of a healthy baby.
So, I’ve made a conscious choice to let go of the negative feelings that the hostess’s comment brought. I want to lose weight for me–not to fit the societal norm of what a woman’s body should look like. Everywhere we look in the media we see beautiful celebrities at a few days or weeks postpartum, who look just as thin as they did nine months earlier. It’s important for us to keep in mind that we do not have to compete with Giselle or Jennifer Lopez. We just have to eat healthy, exercise and be the best mamas we can!
Have you ever been asked if you were pregnant when you weren’t? How did it make you feel?
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