While you may be wishing to shed the extra pounds quickly after having a baby, the reality is that it just doesn’t happen immediately. For many women, weight loss can be quite challenging as it’s probably the very last thing on your mind when adjusting to life with a newborn and recovering from birth. However, if you feel as though you’re lacking in confidence due to your body weight, it’s always worth looking at ways you can get back on track, so you start to feel better in yourself.
Here are 7 tips on how to successfully lose your baby weight:
1. Choose well-balanced snacks
Eating too much sugar can play havoc with your blood sugar levels and cravings. When your blood sugar does drop, you’re likely to eat the very first thing you can get your hands on, which does nothing for keeping your body in good shape. So, if you do keep getting hungry, it would be best to stock up on healthy snacks, so you don’t end up eating junk food alternatives.
Here are a variety of tasty snacks that are both healthy and delicious:
- Carrots, celery, and peppers with a hummus dip
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Fruit smoothies
- Salads
- Whole-grain cereals and breads
2. Meal replacement diet
The meals you eat are an essential part of keeping trim; however, with all your time being consumed by a newborn, it’s near enough impossible to stick to a new diet if you’re not too sure on what you should and shouldn’t be eating. This is where a meal replacement diet plan would come in useful. Within this plan, you will only consume specific products set out for you on a daily basis that are very low in calories. Shake that Weight is a cheaper alternative to the Cambridge diet and is lower in calories, meaning you’ll be able to eat more products throughout the day without getting hunger pangs or piling on the pounds.
3. Breastfeed Your baby
If you’re able to breastfeed your baby, you should try and do so. There are many benefits of breastfeeding to be aware of. Not only is the milk richer in vitamins for your newborn, but it can also help you lose weight. When breastfeeding, you need to be consuming up to 500 calories each day, but as breastfeeding burns up to 800 calories per feed, you could actually end up a lot of weight without having to do much.
Some women can lose extra baby weight through breastfeeding alone, but this all depends on how high your metabolism is. Do be aware that when you stop breastfeeding, you won’t need to consume as many calories, but your body may still crave the need to snack. Pay attention to this, or you’ll start to gain weight again without even realising it.
4. Get up and move
Most mums who have just given birth are very heavily sleep deprived and have no interest in getting up and exercising, but this is a perfectly normal attitude to have. It’s not a good idea to take on intensive exercise until at least 6 weeks after giving birth; or even longer if you’ve had a C-section, so your body has time to recover.
Don’t push yourself too far when trying out new exercise regimes as a new mum, or you may injure yourself.
Start off slow by walking around the neighbourhood just to stretch your legs. This won’t be too strenuous and shouldn’t cause any damage until you have been given the heads-up by a specialist to get more active. Once you have got back into a routine and your body is able to withstand more intensive exercise, try and stick to a regular schedule by heading to your local gym a few times a week or taking part in a few postnatal exercise classes.
5. Take naps
Now, this is probably one of the points on the list that has you clapping your hands with joy. Can you really nap throughout the day and lose weight at the same time? According to specialists – absolutely!
Your sleep cycle is likely to be completely messed up as you prioritise looking after your newborn, so every minute of sleep you do get is good for your body. If new mums don’t get an average of 7 hours of sleep each night, it will be far harder to shift the baby weight. This is because very little sleep can impact your metabolism and make it more difficult for you to shed the pounds, so try and sleep whenever the baby does. That way, you won’t end up suffering from a long-term sleep issue or suffer from a real lack of energy that prevents you from getting on with your everyday tasks.
6. Get support from your partner
It’s always more difficult to lose weight when you go it alone, which is, even more, the case when you’ve just given birth and need all the help you can get. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to get your partner on board to push you forward and help you reach your weight-loss goals.
Make a list of the foods you’ll be shopping for and how you can both spend time together exercising; even if it’s just walking in the park each morning – with the pram of course.
7. Drink enough water
Water is essential for anyone who is trying to lose weight as it helps to keep the body hydrated, satisfies cravings, and enhances metabolism. It’s also even more important if you’re breastfeeding, as your body needs water to help produce enough milk for your baby. If you’re unsure about whether you’re drinking enough water each day, look at your urine colour to help determine whether your body is well-hydrated.
We hope the above guide has given you some useful advice on how you can shed the baby weight. It will take a lot of dedication and preservation on your part, but over time, you should start to see some impressive results! Good luck!
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I needed to hear this! I hit my 39 weeks pregnant today. I had a bit of a break down getting dressed this morning as I looked at my body in the mirror. I love how powerful my body is. My pregnancy has been tough, so I am feeling beyond blessed to have made it this far. But from never having stretch marks to now seeing them on my hips and thighs is overwhelming! I just can’t wait to reach my new normal and get my shape back! Thanks for being so real and inspiring!