Well, it is quite normal for a pregnant mom to gain upwards of 40 pounds during pregnancy, and for dad it is quite normal to fight the battle of the bulge for nine months with her. The difference? Moms have a reason for the “baby weight”. Dads. Well, call it what you will, but the “sympathy weight” can have long term consequences. In my case it is a new selection of pants (not quite as extreme as Genuine’s case), but for others, these weight related consequences can be more dire.

In our house, Colleen looks incredible and has dropped weight significantly since Avery was born. Certainly this is normal, but in my case the scales have slowly tipped higher and higher. Over the past 2 weeks, I added another 7 pounds. In all, I am up nearly 30 pounds since Colleen got pregnant. What to do? I guess, my eating habits have not changed. Colleen ate for 2, so I did as well (sometimes even for 3), and now that Avery is here, I continue to be on the “see-food” diet.

What is my plan to get back to my “fighting weight”? I couldn’t really tell you. I am not sure of them yet. I do know that it starts with eating right and exercising, and I have done neither consistently. For now, I started drinking Green Tea in the mornings. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (via: About.com):

New evidence is emerging that green tea can even help dieters. In November, 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

So that is a start. As for what else I am doing. You’ll just have to wait and read.