Here are things you might not consider when you are trying to lose the baby weight.
(1) Your baby might be a horrible sleeper. In my head, I had visions of doing some of my workouts while the baby slept (you know, workout DVDs or strength exercises indoors). Well, Riley would ONLY sleep while she was being held, which meant that there was no working out while the baby slept. And, because she woke up multiple times per night, in order to be a well-functioning mama, I needed to use her nap time to get some shut eye myself. So workouts during nap time were out.
(4) Breastfeeding might totally F things up. You read all the wonderful health benefits of breastfeeding your baby (to both mom and baby). But there are lots of things you maybe don't realize. And every woman is different, so I know some of these things were pretty unique to me, and may not have happened (or won't happen) to you. My milk supply took 6 MONTHS TO REGULATE. So I had an abundance of milk, which meant lots of soreness, lots of leaking, and lots and lots of pain when exercising, even with 2 sports bras. And I could ONLY even think about exercising if I had just fed Riley or pumped, otherwise it was just way too uncomfortable. And then, once my milk supply did regulate? Too much exercise would cause my milk supply to drop. I seriously could not win!! And I couldn't just cut back on calories because again, milk supply would drop.
(5) When you finally wean the baby and can actually maybe get back in a fitness routine, you might already be pregnant again. Vicious cycle, I tell you.
I get more nervous about weight gain this pregnancy because I know now the challenges I faced in losing the baby weight last time. And don't get me wrong, when I got pregnant with this time around, I was at my pre-pregnancy weight (before Riley), so I did actually lose the weight. But it was so much harder than "just breastfeed, the weight will just come right off." Here's to hoping it's less challenging this next time around.