20 tips to lose post-pregnancy weight

The post-pregnancy stage is blissful in every woman’s life. The excitement of starting the journey of motherhood. The adorable giggles of your baby resonating in your home. These are amazing times.

The enthusiasm for choosing your baby’s outfit of the day. The exuberant joy experienced when the baby is learning to speak, walk, or even do the littlest of the things.  Enter: The sheer happiness of having started your own family. Indeed, it is one of the most incredible times of life.

Yet, you might have to face certain post-pregnancy issues such as postpartum depression, anxiety, weight gain, body scars, along with a host of such issues.

This article will mainly focus on how to lose your post-pregnancy weight steadily in a healthy way. A lot of articles may suggest you do some hardcore diets and workouts. However, it is important that you shed the weight without causing any harm to you or your little one.

After all, losing weight isn’t our only goal. It is also to make you feel healthier and more confident about yourself. Jumping in to a full-on training/diet regime is not only foolish, but can make you more susceptible to countless health-related consequences. Let yourself heal and enjoy this time. Soon, you will get back to optimal health. It is only a matter of time.

You might have gained some additional weight after childbirth. A lot of women gain around 2 to 5 lbs after pregnancy, while 10-15% of them gain around 10 lbs.

This increased weight is due to the developed placenta, increased blood, enlarged uterus, breast tissues, and extra fat storage. Be proud! This is all normal!

Initially, this weight gain will not be an issue. However, if you’re planning for a bigger family in the future, all this can add up to an unhealthy amount of weight.

Postpartum weight can cause the following issues:

• High chances of being overweight
• Complications in future pregnancies
• High risk of heart ailments
• Can cause type-2 diabetes (can also be gestational and even age-onset diabetes)

Thus, it becomes necessary to drop some pounds/kilos after pregnancy without affecting your immune system or causing a hindrance in your newborn’s growth and development.

To make this journey easier for you, we have 20 amazing and effective tips that can lead you down a healthier road to motherhood and longevity.

The first step towards losing weight is acknowledging it. Once you are set on losing your weight, set a goal, and in due time speak to your doctor, midwife, naturopath, and fitness instructor. Get their opinions. When ready, make a post-pregnancy diet and exercise plan. Build the motivation to keep going.

Key success is based on discipline and we are all slightly different to one another, so results may vary. Embrace the 1% per day principle, coined by James Clear in his book, Atomic Habits and make it happen. We all need motivation, but we have to find it first in ourselves.

Now, we know it is very difficult to manage your baby on one hand and trying to lose the fat, on the other. So, we will give you a few easy tips to ensure rapid weight loss after pregnancy, along with having the time of your life with your baby!

Before you start your weight-loss plan, remember not to rush.

All the magazines and YouTube videos might entice you with their 30-days extreme weight-loss plans and challenges. As motivating as it sounds, it can get unhealthy and stressful for even a non-pregnant woman, let alone a pregnant one with a lot of responsibilities.

Losing weight is a slow process. There’s no average time to lose baby weight. You do not have to worry if, initially, the plan does not work out. You have to look at the results in the long run, which you will surely see if you follow our tips!

Crash dieting is the new go-to for so many dieticians and gym enthusiasts, but is it worth it?  Crash dieting can lead to decreased immunity, a sudden drop in the nutrient levels of your body, dizziness, irritability, and fatigue. Its effect is temporary, as well.

Thus, crash dieting is not suitable for you as you are not just providing nutrients to yourself but diverting a significant amount of energy to produce breast milk. More on that later.  The fatigue caused by going on these fad diets may also cause severe mood swings and reduce the overall excitement of taking care of your baby and the new parenting life.

This is the reason to go for a balanced and healthy diet. Consult your dietician and ask for a healthier diet rather than going for crash dieting.

After all, a healthy diet is the best diet. Depending on your previous fitness condition prior to pregnancy, you may want to consider OMAD, Intermittent Fasting, Ketogenic Diet, and Paleo Diet, for starters.

Healthy dieting and regular exercise are the best ways to drop the extra baggage, mostly in the form of fat. You do not have to do high-intensity workouts to lose weight. These can harm your postpartum body if you start them suddenly.

The ideal goal is to warm up your body with easy exercises first. You can go out for jogging, walking, cycling or do yoga, aerobics, or any other light exercise you prefer. This will help you drop those stubborn fat deposits and make you feel strong, revitalised and, of course positive. It also has many other advantages.

Consistency is the key. It does not matter if your exercise is high-intensity or low-intensity, if you’re consistent in it, nobody can stop you from getting a healthy body!

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Breastfeeding is not actually about losing weight but losing all the extra calories. It also has a lot of other benefits for you as well as your baby. Think about how high fat content the milk has… That fat was from you and breastfeeding helps mobilise fat from your body and converts them in to essential fatty acids for your baby’s brain development and healthy epithelial tissues. This is vital stuff!

Breastfeeding can increase the number of nutrients in your baby’s body. It lowers the risk of major diseases, like Leukemia or lung-related diseases, etc.. It can also improve the baby’s immunity by providing vital antibodies for him/her.

Additionally, it can lower the risk of diseases, in your body, like diabetes, cancer, and it may also reduce the risk of postpartum depression. It helps in the contraction of the uterus and returns it to its normal state.

It is not necessary to count your calories every time you consume anything. It can lead to poor intake of healthy food as you will tend to get conscious about everything you eat.

However, counting calories in a systematic manner can give you excellent results. All you have to do is keep track of what you eat throughout the day. You can also install applications for counting calories or use various spreadsheets and focus on realistic metrics of improvement.

At the end of the day or the week, analyze how many calories you have lost or gained. This can help you in maintaining your body by controlling the total calorie intake in a healthy manner.

Having a baby does call for an occasion of drinking wine and celebration! However, it should not be at the cost of you or your baby’s health.

Alcohol is known to increase calories in your body without providing it with any important nutrients. It is one of the biggest reasons for belly fat as it accumulates fat around organs and thus, leads to increased weight.

It can also harm your baby as it reduces the volume of breast milk. Small amounts of alcohol may also be passed on to your baby.

Hence, it is necessary to prevent alcohol fully or drink it in minimal amounts during the lactation period.

Your baby might be giving you a tough time when it comes to sleep. Still, it is absolutely necessary to get proper sleep, in any way you can. Cat-naps WELCOME! Irregular or reduced sleeping hours causes an additional risk of weight gain and obesity. It’s also a known fact that poor sleep can increase your appetite in unhealthy ways.

Let’s not forget midnight cravings. Sleeping early and being a busy mom can help you to reduce your intake of unnecessary food items and fight off those binge-eating cravings!

Sleep deprivation can also reduce your metabolism rate and thus, make it harder for you to drop the extra weight.

Processed food looks extra delicious and tempting, but let’s not forget all the unnecessary nutrients you’re getting incidentally for free when you eat it.

We know it is bad for us. This is where essentialism plays a vital role in getting you mentally prepared for the task of losing needless pounds. We know the yummy foods and readily available foods in this category contain unhealthy amounts of sugar, unhealthy fats, excessive sodium, and other harmful preservatives and additives, like MSG.

Nowadays, processed food is available almost everywhere in the form of chips, cookies, chocolates, etc.  You need to remember that just eating one packet can put all your efforts down the drain. Well, you can definitely make use of a cheat day at the beginning. LOL.

So remind yourself of your goals, and do not worry so intently about the result!

Proteins are considered vital macronutrients, along with fats, and carbohydrates. You must have noticed many diet plans focus more on the intake of protein than any other nutrient. Integrating protein rich quality products, like free-range beef or chicken, responsibly farmed fish (and give our oceans a break from overfishing),  happy free-range pig farms, or even wild game for all you meat-eaters out there.

There are seemingly limitless vegetarian and vegan products available on the market, and choosing the ones with the least amount of processing is the best advice any nutritionist could give. Not all protein is created equal, and it boils down to bioavailability. Proteins with higher bioavailability digest with greater ease and nutrient uptake is relatively higher. Why is this important?

In the case of Soya vs Casein proteins, soya has a greater portion of the total protein not available for the body to even utilise. Hemp seed, brown rice and pea proteins seem to have the highest bioavailability among animal-free products. Casein and whey proteins are considered to have the highest protein bioavailabilities and facilitate rapid tissue growth and recovery.

Protein is essential for the following reasons:

• It can boost your metabolism
• Vital for repair and recovery postpartum
• It can reduce your appetite and can smash cravings by giving you a sense of satiety.
• Reduces the urge of midnight munching
• It can energize you
• It uses more energy to digest and so burns more calories as compared to other nutrients.
• You are what you eat. You eat lean protein, your body gets lean.

Thus, following a protein-rich diet can help you in losing your weight and providing your body with healthy and regenerative food too. Read more about protein rich snacks here.

If you have a sweet tooth, this one’s definitely for you.

Sugars and carbohydrates are the major factors of weight gain. Easy calories may be inconspicuous at times and may go under the radar, But we all know , they catch up and add up fast. In order to lose your weight, you need to cut back on these two, in healthy amounts.

We suggest that you take it slow. Slowly reducing your intake of sugar and carbs can help you maintain your weight in the long term as well.

On the other hand, if it is abrupt, it may cause sudden cravings.

If you have an unsurmountable craving for sweets …  you can also go for healthier, yet sweet alternatives like fruits, vegetables, honey, and other such substitutes. Limit these by all means. Natural unprocessed carbs are always best. Fruit juices are often high in calories so always be aware of the information on the nutritional labels.

If you’re going to binge eat (if you want to feel at least satieted), why not do it with the right kinds of unprocessed snacks? There are various healthy alternatives for all types of snacks available in the market today.

All you have to do is research a bit and check the calories of your favourite snack. However, a better alternative would be eating fresh local food straight from the market. Support the farm-market near you, support small business and put money in the hands of responsible food producers to keep this vital healthy food road available, always.

Keep quality in mind. It doesn’t have to be more expensive and studies have even shown that “organic” is not necessarily healthier. Your farmer’s market will have all the wonderful goodness cultivated by responsible and reliable producers. We should be advocates for good products and support those who have good meats, fish, dairy, and produce.

Think about how many hands have touched it throughout its journey from the earth/ocean to your plate. In terms of the product in question, each successive process required to get to this food to your table, inherently reduces the food’s intrinsic nutritional value. Pick fresh, wholesome and ripe food items. It could be a fresh vegetable salad, a fruit platter, yogurt, low-calorie granola bars, roasted chickpeas, sashimi, or any other dish you would like to try.

Fibre-rich food can help you change your composition in a lot of ways.  These reasons are:

• It can make you feel full
• Reduced calorie intake
• Improved digestion
• Can help stimulate you to get rid of belly fat after having a baby
• Can keep you healthy by reducing the chances of diseases

Think complex carbohydrates! Fibre-rich foods include peas, fruits, kidney beans, broccoli, lentils, chickpeas, quinoa, and many other veggies and fruits.

For a more intense workout, you can try out resistance training. Check out these cool resistance bands! You can use them anywhere. They are light and malleable. Did I mention they were easy to use??? LOL.

Resistance training is beneficial for weight-loss. The studies all point to this as one of the best ways to build your muscles back up! Increasing your muscular strength and endurance too.

Heart health is greatly influenced about your activity level and the types of activities you do. Aside from being amazing for your health, especially strengthening your heart, it can also increase your bone mass, stimulate stem cell activation, replenishing bone marrow reserves, and make you feel stronger and fitter.

One of the major benefits of this exercise is its effect on metabolism. Resistance training improves your metabolism, which is a major factor in losing pounds, especially when you have some stubborn areas.

You can get more information about resistance training here.

You should adapt to the habit of drinking water regularly and in good amounts, as it is not just beneficial for losing weight but also for staying healthy and active.

If you drink adequately, it will increase the metabolism rate of your body. This can help in losing weight. It can also flushes out many of the impurities from your body that were making you unfit. Saunas can also be great to help improve circulation and excretion of more toxins!

Water plays an important role in reducing your appetite as well as calorie intake. Now, this is the easiest and quickest way to lose weight after having a baby.

So grab your glass of water and stay hydrated!

If you’re trying to get healthier and shed those extra pounds, remember that you are not alone. If things get tough and difficult to follow, do consult a doctor or a dietician. There are people out there who can guide you through this.

We understand that parenting duties are the most difficult ones sometimes. Make sure you take a break from the daily and stressful schedule and ask your beloved ones for some well-needed favours.

You deserve a break and some time for yourself to stay fit not just physically, but mentally as well. Staying active and positive may be the best advice anyone may give, but it is true that we need time. Some of us take longer than others in this process, so we endorse even the help of mental health professionals, life-coaches, and other communities you are involved in to give you that boost.

Grab a nice book on goal setting, map out your immediate future goals and get ready to rock this party.

You can also join a group-based weight-loss session offline or online. You can get yourself some weight-loss buddies.

It is scientifically proven that group-based sessions have helped people in losing weight and also to stay motivated at all times.

If exercise is not your forte, you can go for yoga. Yoga can help you lose calories in an effective and smart way.

Getting back into alignment, whether that is body or spiritual, taking steps to ensure you get back into the game on the right foot, so to speak. Your body has made compromises on shape, biomechanics, composition and distribution, all in the name of promoting the healthy development of your child. Your tissues and your bones and your joints…all were affected to some degree. Yoga focusses on attaining optimal alignment and flexibility. This is arguably the best way to achieve complete recovery and advance physical and mental readiness for your life post-pregnancy. It increases your metabolism and helps in losing kilos and pounds. Additionally, it is known to improve the quality of your sleep too. As discussed above, better sleep leads to a healthy and fit life.

Yoga can also help you grow mentally and emotionally. It can make you reconnect with yourself and your family.

If you think that to get your body in shape after childbirth, you will lose the time you have with your baby, this tip is the best for you.

You can exercise as well as bond with your baby. All you have to do is play some music, dance to the tunes of it or try out Zumba and lose yourself in the moment with your smiling and laughing baby!

Isn’t it a win-win situation?

Apart from exercising, there are ways you can dropping pounds/kilos. These steps are:

• You can simply use stairs instead of elevators
• Walk for small distances instead of using your vehicle
• Decide upon plans which do not revolve around food
• Stay active by doing easy house chores
• Cut back on unnecessary eating
• Do research on other diets that may be suitable for you, like OMAD, intermittent fasting, paleo diet, and the ketogenic diet….among others, may be an alternative if you are up to the challenge – consult your OB-GYN, family doctor, sports health specialist, and even a fitness trainer to see if you are suited for such a lifestyle change.

These few steps can help you achieve healthy and normal weight without jeopardizing your ideal/current lifestyle.

Time is ticking, so make a quick decision and let’s get cracking! I have found through personal experience, massive-action is the best way to get it in gear. Just going for it and ignore all the little temptations all around me.

The last tip of the day is to always stay motivated. It may get hard to constantly see no apparent changes in your weight even after sacrificing a lot of things. In due time.

Do not lose hope. Remind yourself of the purpose of all this and believe in yourself. A simple pat on the back after each little win always goes a long way.

We also need to understand that losing weight is a labouring process and judging by the nature of this description (i.e. labouring), it would be noted that this is not a something that simply lasts a few days.  Aim for a strong 3 month strategy, followed by another 6 month strategy and then you are ready for anything and the momentum you have built up until this point will serve you to propel yourself to the stars, so to speak! Once you’ve invested yourself in it fully, there’s no going back. We aim for change!

So go ahead and get a head start because if you can go through a pregnancy, you have got the power of achieving supreme health in the coming months, lasting for years and years!

I hope you get everything you wish for and you are able to lose post-pregnancy weight.

Need information? Contact us here.

Love Cassandra