The Incredible Shrinking Mrs. Love Bird

Mr. Love Bird is a former professional athlete, and when we were dating and subsequently married we always had a mutual agreement that we would "maintain ourselves." I know many women say, "It's not about what I look like - a man has to love me no matter how I may change physically." 

Yes, that is the truth.

But it is also true that what first drew Mr. Love Bird and me to each other was what we looked like. I also understand that men are visual creatures. Obviously that is not all there is to it, but that is an important piece of the Love Birds' puzzle!

So yes, I try to maintain myself the best I can. I grew up playing sports and went through my pre-marital years going to the gym 5 days a week (I was a freak that woke up at 5a.m. to go workout).

We canceled our gym membership in my first trimester (instead we infrequently did P90X) and now with Nia here it definitely doesn't make sense to have one since the location near us doesn't have childcare. Mr. Love Bird and I have such limited time together throughout the week let alone handing off our Lil Love Bird for gym time.

Anyway, Mr. Love Bird bought a scale a few months ago, but we've since found out that it's not calibrated properly after I visited my dr. and found out that I've lost 8 lbs since August. The scale was calculating us as 10 lbs heavier! Needless to say when I was weighed at the dr.'s office I was shocked. I don't weigh myself that frequently as I'm more likely to go by how my clothes fit.

The weight loss was completely unintentional. Friends and family had been telling me for months that I keep getting smaller, and while my clothes have been getting looser it didn't really hit home until I saw myself in pictures, especially this one from my recent date night post:

Understand that I do not work out. I just breastfeed. That is my workout in a nutshell! Well, that and walking all over NYC with Nia usually either wearing her or more recently, pushing her in her stroller (and carrying her in said stroller up and down lots and lots of NYC stairs!).

To put it into perspective I've lost 12 lbs since January and am now 10 lbs lighter than I was when I got pregnant and since being weighed at my dr. a mere 8 lbs away from my wedding day weight. To me this is crazy! As surprised as I was to be so tiny on my wedding day (my dress was slipping right before I was to walk down the aisle and some cutlets saved me!), I do believe the shape of the dress came across much better in photos on a slimmer version of myself than the heavier version that first tried on the dress.

And to drive the point home further, here are some pics of my transformation over the past couple years:

2009 during my wedding week

My wedding day - June 26, 2009

My post-partum self - beginning of 2011

Rather than losing more weight, I'd like to focus on gaining muscle mass since I miss feeling physically strong. I do have to confess though that one of my goals before trying for baby #2 was to get back to my wedding day weight. Starting out on the slimmer side would feel better for me. I gained 35 lbs when I was pregnant and got up to nearly 175 lbs. I know this was all part of being pregnant but actually seeing that # freaked me out. Seriously! I think seeing 155 would be much easier psychologically. Yes, this is one of my weird quirks and I know we shouldn't be tied to a #, but while I'm not having baby #2 any time soon, I get comfort knowing that I'm so close to my goal without really trying.

The real surprise will be seeing what happens when Nia weans. While I LOVE food and don't do diets, I don't eat massive quantities of food so I don't think it'll be too rough, but I know I'll probably need to make a few adjustments to my eating habits.

I'm looking forward to seeing what transformations are in store, but for now I'm reminiscing over the booty I used to have . . .

With my family pregnant and looking like a duck!

My booty of yore