I gained 35 pounds when I was pregnant. Under ordinary circumstances, that wouldn't seem like such a bad amount, a little above average maybe, but not too bad. But when none of the weight was amniotic fluid (because there was none) and the baby only weighed 3 1/2 pounds, it's not a good amount. I was down 5 pounds by the time I got home from the hospital, and another 3 pounds by the end of the first week. Unfortunately, I gained it all back by the middle of the third week. Not being able to do much more than sit on the couch and eat Christmas cookies will do that.

So the week before Christmas, I started going to the Community Center and using the track. I started out taking it kind of easy. I walked a mile and a half that week. While at my parents' for Christmas, I used my dad's treadmill and increased my distance by a quarter of a mile. I did a few days of walking 2 miles and then started to add in some jogging. The track is 1/12 of a mile, so I'd walk two laps and jog one. Then I moved on to jogging every other lap. Now I'm up to walking a lap and jogging two for a mile and a half and then jogging every other lap for another mile. I am not a runner in any way, shape, or form, so most days it feels like I am going to die by the time I get done. But still, my long term goal is to be able to jog three miles.

This week, I also started adding Tae Bo and Pilates back in to my workout routine. Tae Bo was pretty easy. I was surprised. The only problem I'm having is dragging myself out of bed in the morning to do it. Pilates was a different story. It's an ab workout and I really struggled through it, which I guess is to be expected after having a c-section.

I lost 5 pounds in the first few weeks. But for the past two weeks, despite all the exercise and a big reduction in food intake (back to eating the Dr. Phil way), the scale has not budged. I keep trying to tell myself that it doesn't matter because I'm building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat, but if that's what was actually happening, then my clothes should be starting to fit a little bit better, and that's not happening either.

I'm starting to get very discouraged.