How did this happen? I know, of course. My biggest problem hasn’t really been with food. I’m not a binge eater. I eat pretty healthy, actually. My problem is with exercise — or the lack of it. I have always exercised on a daily basis. Always being defined as “since I have been an adult.” I didn’t do it obsessively. It was just part of my routine. Brush teeth. Eat. Work. Workout. I never deviated from that schedule because I’ve known for a while that exercise is part of what makes me healthy and happy. It’s my self medication. I work out to clear my head and shake out any anxiety and depressive feelings. But once I had Little Girl my workouts started taking a backseat to life.

Instead of doing cardio six days a week it’s dropped to three — four if I am really lucky. This week I went to spin on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday I walked on a treadmill for about 40 minutes, but it wasn’t the sweaty, exhilarating cardio my body craves. Tonight I’ll try and get on the treadmill again, but I am exhausted from working until 3 a.m. last night, so it’s only a maybe. And while my exercise has waned, my food intake has not, hence the extra five or six pounds.

A lot of people would tell me to quit my whining. Boo-hoo, I can’t get to the gym every day. Poor me, I’ve gained a few. And in my head I’d probably agree with them. I don’t look a lot different. Rounder and fuller, but still myself. Besides, I find myself thinking — as I look at other thinner women — that as we get older we really do have to choose between our asses and our faces. There’s something youthful about a plumper face. Not to mention the fact that I am not a good dieter. I tend to let myself drift into Crazy Town, which for me is located just left of Eating Disorder Ridge.

And so I have come full circle. Do I want to weigh between 129 and 134 — what has always been my comfortable weight? Yes. Am I willing to change the way I eat? I’m not so sure. (Who am I kidding? The answer is no.) Can I start exercising more? Yes, but something — work, my kids, the house — will have to give. We’ll see, I guess.

My doctor admonished me, telling me toddlers were sometimes like puppies. They would keep eating for the sheer fun of eating. “Cut her down to one bowl. That’s all she needs,” my doctor said. She said she didn’t want Big Girl, who from birth had always been 95th percentile for height and 50th for weight, to end up at 95th percentile for both height and weight. (That month she had crept up to 75th percentile for weight.) I listened to my doctor’s advice and watched my daughter’s weight level out at her next check up.

When I told some of my friends, they questioned my doctor’s advice. Cutting back her breakfast was tantamount to putting her on a diet, they said. If she was hungry she obviously needed the calories. I thought about it some more and decided my doctor was right. A 15-month-old should not be eating three bowls of dry cereal in the morning. Heck, a 15-year-old shouldn’t be doing that, either. Turns out my doctor may have helped us dodge the obesity bullet.

Harvard University researchers this month published a study that says that risks for obesity may start while a child is in the womb, which is why obesity prevention should probably start then, too.

According to research, moms who gained more than the recommended amount while pregnant had kids who — at age seven — were 48 percent more likely than their peers to be overweight. This varies depending on how much a woman weighs before she gets pregnant, but it’s typically between 15 and 35 pounds, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Whether or not they got gestational diabetes also impacts childhood obesity.

Here’s where my doctor helped me out: Researchers found that babies who gain a lot of weight during their first few years and are disproportionate — they might be in the 25th percentile for height but the 75th for weight — often end up being overweight as children. Starting solids before four-months-old, and not sleeping enough were two other obesity risk factors that were identified, too. (We didn’t have these problems since Big Girl had the thrust reflex until six or seven months old, and she’s always been a phenomenal sleeper unlike her mom, thank goodness.)

Today she is still on that 95/50 percentile ratio. Her sister is, too. I won’t stop them from having an occasional second bowl of cereal if they want it, but they very rarely want one. Every once in a while Big Girl is ravenous in the morning, but most days she’ll rush out the door after eating her cereal telling me she’s full. (Usually as I am trying to get her to eat a little yogurt, too.) I think it’s because she’s in the habit of eating about the same amount every day. So thank you, Doctor, for letting me know I was making a mistake. Thank you for not being afraid to tell me the truth. One day Big Girl will appreciate it.

What do you think about limiting what kids eat? How about solid foods? Is there such a thing as giving kids food too early? Let’s hear it.

There’s a scene in movie when Meryl Streep, [spoiler alert!] after making love to Alec Baldwin’s character, stands up, drops her robe and exposes her body. Alec’s character had already seen it all, but she still tells him to avert his eyes because she’s scared. The last time he saw her naked and standing she was in her 40s. It’s a beautiful moment. She drops the robe all raw and worried-looking and self-conscious, and yet when he looks at her, naked and over 50, his eyes glow. You could see all over his face how much he loved her. He didn’t see someone in her 50s, with the reality of post-kids, post-life changes. He saw something truly beautiful and sexy.

One of the reasons I do this natural as possible thing is to prolong life, of course and stay healthy and strong, but I would be lying if I said it has nothing to do with staying in my favorite pants. I’ve struggled with body image and weight issues for as long as I can remember. I’ve blogged about how I was always the skinny one growing up until developing at 12.

I can clearly remember one of my more outspoken sixth grade classmates telling me to go get a bra — because I certainly needed it. I stayed thin and chesty until I was 17 waitressing in a diner. Cheese-covered French fries, hot-from-the-stove rice pudding, bread, sandwiches, shakes added up. I gained 40 pounds. A few years later I lost those pounds by very, very unhealthy measures. I struggled with an eating disorder in my early 20s. A super-skinny 5′ 8″ and 123 pounds. (Trust me, I have a larger frame, so that was super-tiny.) Even after I lost all that weight, I hated my body so much I barely let my husband look at me much less touch me. My stomach, of course, was off-limits. So was watching me get out of the shower or even getting dressed. Lots of rules.

My first pregnancy and loads and loads of therapy completely cured me of any disordered eating. As soon as I saw my daughter’s face I knew I could never do anything that could result in her having her grow up without a mother. I also knew she was genetically behind the eight ball, so I needed to do everything I could to help her grow up free of any body image issues. But even though my girls took care of the crazy eating part of things, the rules still remain to some extent. Even today as I tell my daughter how much I love the big, strong legs we share (and I actually do!), I still don’t let my husband see me naked very much. I am afraid he will see the less-than-perfect body left after two pregnancies and be grossed out. But while I was watching that movie, I recognized something. That look Alec Baldwin’s character gives his naked ex-wife? That’s the look my husband gives me all the time. And it hit me at that moment that I am so lucky. He really doesn’t see the small poof I have at my waist or the stretch marks on my inner thighs. All he sees is the woman he loves. And I guess that means that I have to love her, too.

As women our journey is a tough one. Most movies celebrate the super-skinny, and make a more natural-looking woman the butt of the joke. But just because Hollywood gets it wrong most of the time doesn’t mean we have to listen. Unless it’s the one time lately when they’ve gotten it right. Thanks, Meryl and Alec for opening my eyes to what was there all along.

What’s your biggest body image struggle? Do the movies and media affect you for better or for worse? I’d like to hear about it.

This week the New York City health department launched what has become a popular YouTube clip. In it, a man gets ready to guzzle some soda. When he pours it into a glass, globs of fat drip out instead. He drinks it anyway, which makes for good video. The point, of course, is to gross you out and get the message across that soda isn’t good for you. In fact, it’s bad for you, as the video explains, because drinking a single can of soda a day will add ten pounds to your weight. Sobering, but will it matter to those who are addicted to their 4 p.m. soda high?

About six or seven years ago, I would have said no. Back then, my husband drank at least three or four cans of Pepsi every day. No matter what. If we went out to lunch or dinner, he added another few glasses to his total. Around that same time I was starting on my current natural-as-possible path. I was reading a lot about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). I passed along the information. Since then, the news has only gotten worse. One study links HFCS to diabetes — especially in children. A more recent February 2009 study — this one out of the Loyola University Health System — found that women who drank more than two cans of soda a day “are nearly twice as likely to show early signs of kidney disease.” The American Society of Nephrology in October of this year released another study calling HFCS “a recipe for hypertension.” According to the study “…Americans consume 30% more fructose than 20 years ago and up to four times more than 100 years ago, when obesity rates were less than 5%.” The results point to HFCS being “significantly and independently associated with higher blood pressure levels in the US adult population with no previous history of hypertension.” HFCS even affects the brain. A July Georgia State University study found that it impairs memory function. This is because HFCS is metabolized by the liver, which in turn produces triglycerides that get into the bloodstream and mess with brain signaling.

And then there’s the whole it-makes-you-fat thing. A can of soda has 200 calories. (Yes, the label says 150, but that’s per serving, and a can has 1 1/2 servings of soda in it.) Many of us don’t use the portion controlled cans, instead slurping soda from Big Gulp cups (400 whopping calories — 800 if you get a Super Big Gulp). That’s a whole lot of calories, people. Drink a soda a day and — like NYC says — you’re going to gain weight unless you’re logging a lot of hours in the gym to work them off. Soda also erodes tooth enamel, fills you up so you’re not hungry for actual healthy foods, and diet sodas are no better since they are linked to obesity, too. ““The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with a higher-calorie sugar,” said researchers.

Back to my husband: After hearing all this, Chris went cold turkey on soda. (I also offered a deal he couldn’t resist, but that deal is not fit for a family blog, so we’ll just leave that there…) It was difficult. He craved soda. He couldn’t find something to replace it with for a while. But in the end he lost 15 pounds within a few months, and he didn’t change his routine at all aside from saying goodbye to Pepsi.

Today Chris drinks water, orange juice, a beer, or lemonade (made without HFCS) if he’s thirsty. Since it’s still a temptation, we try to avoid having soda in the house. For a while, we did try the natural sodas from Whole Foods, but they were expensive, and he decided that he didn’t want the calories after all. Is he completely off soda? No. He’ll still drink soda if we’re out to dinner, or at a party. And every once in a while like this past weekend he’ll swing into 7-11 and get a Big Gulp. Around the Jewish holidays he does buy Pepsi for the house because — since it has to be kosher — it’s made with actual sugar instead of HFCS. Still, bottom line: It can be done. You can eliminate soda from your diet. It can be as easy as thinking the way I do: I don’t like it, but I also won’t sacrifice the calories. I’d rather eat 200 calories worth of cookies than drink them out of a can. And until Pepsi starts putting chocolate chips in its products I should be okay.

Are you a soda addict like my husband? What do you think of the YouTube ad? Would you ever consider banishing soda from your diet? What do you drink every day? Would love to hear more.