This Is My Tina

When I was pregnant with my second daughter, I felt like a balloon that was so full with air, it had no choice but to pop. The final days of my pregnancy were made worse than my first time around because on top of not being able to see my feet, I had to keep track of a toddler below my belly line. When you are in the last trimester, ANYTHING below the belly can easily slip out of sight. I was ready to hold my baby girl, share her with her big sister, and receive a plethora of compliments about how cute she is. But most importantly, I was ready to lose weight.

Not to brag, but I bounced right back to pre-pregnancy sizes after Aubrey was born. I wound up only weighing five pounds more than my pre-preggo weight, and I was fine with that. I'm sure you will all hate me for saying this, but I didn't do a damn thing to lose weight. I didn't exercise or diet, drank lots of pop and ate junk food. My body corrected itself without my help, and for that, I am thankful.

Fast forward to the first months after Allison's birth. I quickly lost an initial 20lbs or so just by giving birth, but a few months in and nothing was really changing. So I did what anyone of my body type would do: I waited. Surely, if I just went about my business like normal, my body would fix itself again without any interference from me.

I'm reminded of an episode of Family Guy. Peter is saved by Spiderman, and thanks him accordingly. Spiderman informs him, "Everybody gets one." Well apparently, my metabolism and Spiderman have a lot in common because it was not helping me this time. I had my one, and now I was left to deal with an extra 20lbs on my own.

I would like to say that I toughened up, started exercising every day, ate only healthy food, and completely cut out pop. But that would be lying fabricating a beautiful yet ultimately fictional story.

Yes, as much as I hate not fitting into a lot of my old clothes and feeling self-conscious over swim suit choices, I am just a very unmotivated girl when it comes to getting into shape. Never before have I wanted something so much, and yet done so little to get it.

So tell me, beautiful readers who probably are all much more active than me, what do you do to stay in shape? How do you motivate yourself? And, most importantly, are any of you a licensed plastic surgeon willing to give me a free tummy tuck? I am willing to pay in cupcakes.