How To Lose Weight After Pregnancy

It is normal to gain some weight while you are pregnant. Your doctor will advise you on how much weight you should gain over the course of the pregnancy, and if you follow his instructions then you should not have a massive amount of weight to lose after you give birth. A lot of people make the mistake of “eating for two” while they are pregnant, but this is not something that should be done. A growing foetus needs only a few hundred extra calories compared to your usual maintenance number of calories – after all, the foetus is just a small baby, not a fully-grown adult.

For women of average size and a healthy weight, the doctor will probably recommend a weight gain of about 25lbs. If you are overweight they may recommend that you look to just stay the weight that you are, or gain much less. Follow your doctor’s advice on this matter; do not trust advice given on the internet because pregnancy weight gain is something that should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Losing The Weight

The simple act of giving birth, and therefore losing the waters, baby and afterbirth from your body will reduce your total weight. This means that when you look at starting to lose weight after pregnancy you won’t have a huge amount of weight to shed.

If you managed to gain the recommended amount and no more, you will be able to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight within a couple of months.

One of the best ways to lose weight after pregnancy is to breast feed. Producing breast milk burns a significant amount of calories, and will help your body to bounce back to its normal size. If, for any reason, you do not want to breast feed then you will need to look at other ways to lose weight after pregnancy. The good news is that you don’t have to starve yourself or spend a huge number of hours in the gym.

Looking after a small baby is hard work, and it can be quite tiring. Your baby needs attention almost constantly, and this means that you will struggle to get to the gym or to cook fresh foods from scratch. You can still watch what you eat and get some physical activity, though.

Try to go for a walk every day. You could carry your baby with you while you do this. The fresh air will help to energize you and you will appreciate the chance to get out of the house for a while.

Drink lots of water. Simply by cutting down sugary drinks and even fruit juices you will reduce your calorie intake significantly. For people who used to have a soda or fruit-juice habit this is often all that is needed to allow them to lose weight.

Use a free app such as My Fitness Pal to track the number of calories that you consume each day. Aim to consume about 250 calories (or 500 calories at most) less than your daily expected energy expenditure. This is enough to allow you to lose between two and four pounds per month. This may seem like a relatively slow rate of weight loss, but it is a sustainable rate, and this means that you will be able to keep the weight off in the long term. One mistake that a lot of people make is crash dieting. When you limit your calorie intake too strictly you are more likely to start to crave sweet treats or calorie dense foods, and break your diet as a result…