Ah, I remember the most shocking scale moment of my life. Giving birth a +9lb baby and gaining 2lbs immediately following delivery (walked into hospital at 163, left at 165!!)
Not a good feeling when you assume you'll just naturally drop weight?? LOL.
I would say the majority of this issue is from:
- Not consistently counting calories (and nibbling baby's food)
- Increased appetite from nursing
- Increased calorie intake as you are awake more often
- Hormone disruption from some really nasty sleep deprivation (!!! this was a big one for me !!!)
- Inability to work out as efficiently as before (sure we can all work out but doing it alone and doing it while you have to stop and deal with a kid is a lot different)
Some women find the weight melts with nursing, other find it to be quite stubborn. I second the recommendation to do some serious calorie counting and take a long look at how much you are truly consuming - but also consider a lack of sleep and nursing to be something that just needs to be 'accepted' in the meantime.
When you walk 30 minutes, I recommend getting a good quality back carrier (I use an Ergo sling) - walking 30 minutes is good, walking 30 minutes with a 20lb 'weighted vest' is a good addition