Baked-good body parts : Do you have them, too?

Kim at Let Me Start By Saying… recently posted about what she referred to as her “bagel belly.” If you are a mom you may know what this sad phenomenon is. If you don’t, go read her hysterical post. Then come back. Please.

(And if you’re a man, you may not want to read her post as it may be TMI for you. Seriously. My post might be, too. Fair warning. All’s fair in love and blogging, my friends.)

You back?

Ok. So I read Kim’s post and thought: Holy Crap. I’m not the only one!

And also: Holy Crap. I wish I thought of “bagel belly” first.

Oh, my, have I a bagel belly. And other assorted baked-good-like body parts, while we’re being brutally honest. But I’ll leave those for another day. Or not.

Anyway, for me, the bagel belly is an unfortunate byproduct of having babies. Even after I lost all my Lizzie baby weight, the belly remained. My doctor said it was because some muscle in my abdomen separated. “It happens to lots of women,” she tried to reassure me.

Oh, really? I thought grumpily. How come my friends don’t have this gross badge of baby-bearing honor?

I lost my baby weight with the help of Weight Watchers. But dieting was pretty much all I could handle. Working out? Not so much. The bagel belly shrunk, but there it remained.

Later I had Sophia, the non-sleeping colicky wonder. Getting back to my normal weight seemed impossible. Counting points? Working out? Try simple survival.

Eventually I did lose that baby weight. But I was out of shape. And exhausted. My clothes didn’t fit right. And my bagel belly was in full force. I was starting to tackle the gross Baked Good of Belly hanging onto me. Its demise was imminent, thanks to some serious crunches. I was making progress…

…and then my dad died unexpectedly. And I ate through the grief. Bagel belly got bigger and so did the rest of me. And I guess I haven’t cared enough yet to do something about it.

Until recently. It’s been bothering me a lot lately how awful I think I look. Time to do something about it. But what?

I honestly can’t drag my butt out of bed at 5:30 to hit the treadmill in our basement after being woken up all night by my toddler. I am just simply too tired. I really don’t know how some of you do it. You can’t all have angels who sleep perfectly at night. Can you? If so, keep your mouth shut. Please.

I have started walking once a week in the early AM with my neighbor, and that’s a good start. But not enough.

So I think I am going to do something that will shrink my wallet drastically. But hopefully also shrink my baked-good body drastically. I’m going to get myself a personal trainer.

My friend has been going to a personal trainer once a week and lost a ton of weight. I thought I’d have to go three times a week for it to make a difference, and I can’t do that time-wise or money-wise. But I can do once a week. It worked for my friend. Hopefully it’ll work for me. So I’m going to pony up the money and do it.

Having a date with someone to work out will be awesome for me. I like structure. I like the pressure of having to meet up with someone. And I like the idea of an expert giving me a plan and saying: Do this. If you do, you will lose weight.

I’m gonna do it. Bagel belly, you’re on notice.

What about you? Have you ever gone to a personal trainer? Are you struggling with baked-good body parts? Whattaya gonna do about it?