Baby Weight... Wait... fooooood!

While pregnant, I didn't get the crazy cravings you always see depicted on TV, you know, the ice cream and pickles kind of cravings! I didn't get them in the middle of the night and force my hubby to make a midnight run to the grocery store. Mine were pretty mild, not much stronger than pre-pregnancy. They were along the lines of "Oh my gosh I want some french fries" or "mmmmmmmm chocolate!!". Pretty run of the mill. Aversions were a wee bit stronger, mostly I was turned way off of chicken. I used to LOVE chicken burritos, but with a bun in the oven I quickly realized chicken was a no-go, and those formerly beloved chicken burritos turned into veggie ones.

Now that I'm breast feeding, unfortunately, the cravings seem just as strong! My biggest one is quite ironic following my pregnancy aversion... I'm obsessing over rotisserie chicken!! What is that about? Like, I can't get enough! Mabye Kenzo is sucking all of the protein out of me or something. Or whatever is in chicken that I went about 7 months without my body is in overdrive for? I'm sure the chocolate and french fry cravings are 100% mental, I mean, there's nothing healthy in there that you need. But chicken? So random...

Anyway, I wasn't expecting this food thing. Everyone said the baby weight just falls off if you're breast feeding. My sister said she got "scary skinny" and I was SOOOOOOO looking forward to that!!! Not the "scary" part, but definitely the skinny part!! Unfortunately, not happening. 20 pounds dropped off in the first two weeks - most of that was baby, placenta, amniotic fluid, extra blood supply, retained water, etc. But after that initial and very exciting plummet of 20 pounds, the scale has not budged. It seems my jelly belly and child-bearing hips are happily holding on to that final 10 pounds, but lets be honest, I could certainly stand to lose double that. Sure, I'm walking about an hour a day but other than that not doing much exercise. Definitely not dieting. Partly because I'm scared of it having a negative impact on my milk supply, but mostly because, well, I'm hungry and want food! I mean, I want FOOD, not salad and quinoa...But we're coming up to 4 months postpartum and I reflect on another situation in which I let time go by and ended up feeling ashamed with my lack of motivation... I am THAT American, you know, the one who lived in Japan for 5 years and still only speaks basic Japanese. Whoops!

They say it takes 9 months to put it on, so give it 9 months to come off...