POSITIVE Parenting
Extra rolls on the tummy, creases on the thighs, and dimples on the bottom, are all so adorable on an infant. However, we are not talking about our babies, ladies, but our bodies! Not so cute on us now, is it?
When I was pregnant, my appetite increased ten fold. I never had morning sickness, more like 'eating too much' sickness! During the first trimester, when the books tell you that you'll gain a couple pounds, I put on 12 of them. Dinner plates were not quite big enough and, therefore, I had to have a second helping. Teatime was a meal in itself, and dark Kit Kats became essential! This went on for eight months. Can you imagine the size I'd have reached if our son had not been born four weeks early? I dread to think.
Let me be frank with all you women out there who have not had a child yet. No matter what you do, your physique will never be the same once you've carried a baby. Well, that's not quite true, because I suppose you could go for liposuction, but who knows what damage that will cause! The truth is, even if you manage to squeeze back into your 'skinny' jeans, some things just will not be right. You could tread for hours on an elliptical machine, swim laps five times a week, and do a hundred sit-ups a day, but you will not get that loose skin to shrink right back to size.
Mirror mirror on the wall
Don't even get me started on the 'cottage cheese' look which will adorn your buttocks, or the waddles on your upper arms! It's only the love for your son or daughter that'll keep you from starving yourself to slimness. However, you will never accept the truth which stares back at you through the mirror. The smallest clothes you have will remain in your closet for decades. You know, in case you manage to fit back into them one day.
I even recently signed up for a carnival costume in Trinidad, and I have less than three months to firm up the flab. While the scale says I am doing okay, and I'm not looking too shabby in jeans and dresses, prancing down the streets of Port-of-Spain in a swimsuit will not exactly attract the right kind of attention! It's a good thing I already have a man! That being said, how does a 30-something-year-old mother compete with a gaggle of girl teenagers who are near replicas of Malibu Barbies?
Balanced diet
I'm determined to do it though, after I finish eating the Baked Alaska in my freezer. Oooh, then there are all those Kit Kats (yeah, I kind of did not lose that craving) in the fridge. Before you jump to any conclusions about how unhealthy I am, allow me to clarify. I eat a very balanced and nutritious diet, with more fruit and vegetables than is recommended. I make everything from scratch, and refuse to use any product that boldly proclaims to be low in fat or low in sugar, or that contains the like of artificial sweeteners, high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, and anything I can't pronounce or spell!
Our son is growing bigger every day, but unfortunately, I have stopped getting smaller. One would think that his increasing baby fat, thanks to my breast feeding, would at least result in me shedding the last eight pounds of my own baby fat!
Emmadaltonbrown@gmail.com