Shedding the Baby Weight

Caitlin McGillicuddy is a married woman with a job she loves that takes up much of her time, and a newborn daughter.

"My life had kind of gotten away from me. It was about everyone else in my life but me," she said. "I believed the crazy people with the high metabolism who said don’t worry it will fall off. I gained probably a regular amount of weigt up until the last three weeks. I was late, and I was hot, and I was tired of being pregnant."

She'd always had a gym membership and was able to manage her weight until the baby came along. When her daughter was one, she still had 30 pounds to lose. Between the weight, the stresses of motherhood, and the busy job, it was enough for anyone to snap.

"The turning point for me was I was really tired after work and trying to light the grill to cook dinner and it blew up in my face. I singed my eyebrows and I just stood there crying in the kitchen. My husband was like 'What’s wrong?' and I was like, 'I’m so tired and fat,' and he said, 'Well do something about it.'"

So she did.

She looked into gym memberships and personal trainers, but the price wasn't right for her. Then she learned about a women-only fitness club called Get In Shape for Women.

"I love communities of women," McGillicuddy said. "I went to a single-sex college, so when I went in I felt this was the answer for me. There was the accountability with scheduled apointments. It was almost like having a doctor's appointment."

What she liked best about the new gym was the accountibility.

"When you join, you pay up front so there’s no walking away. You pay for the whole year. So for me, at first when I didn’t want to go, it was a significant commitment, but that only lasted two weeks, after that I was already seeing results."

Over the past year, McGillicuddy has lost 35 pounds through and run a 5k obstacle course. 

"That was all my baby weight and more," she said. "I weigh less now than I did when I got pregnant. I know in the next year I’m probably goning to get pregnant again and I feel like I’m ready for it."

It wasn't always easy though.

"There was a six month stretch where I felt like my body was turning against me," she said. "I had carpal tunnel issues and couldn’t use the weights, and this 70 year old woman there who was kicking butt.

"I was like come on Caitlin, you're 33."