Losing Weight After Pregnancy
Simply put, your life changes when you have a baby. Don’t expect to walk out of the delivery room and slip into your skinny jeans. That only happens in the movies! Losing weight after pregnancy requires a little patience. Relax a little, you’ve just ‘rented’ your body out for nine months. Set a plan and give yourself at least nine months to get your body back. Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind:
Losing Weight After Pregnancy - How Come I Still Look and Feel Pregnant?
Patience! Do you realize what your body just went through? Its composition has changed, meaning you have been stretched and re-shaped from head to toe. That said, most women will lose between eight and twenty pounds during the first two weeks, when your body rids itself of extra fluids. It also takes up to four weeks for your uterus to shrink back to normal size. Your body will also take some time to re-align itself.
Bottom line is that the process of losing weight after pregnancy and getting your body back will take some time. You need to relax and let it happen.
Losing Weight After Pregnancy - Are There Strategies to Help Me Drop the Extra Pounds?
The good news is ‘yes,’ there are things you can do to help lose the extra weight. Although it is very important that you start slowly. Your body has been through a lot and you need to rest in order to help with the recuperation process.
- Exercising – After speaking with your doctor, you can ease your way back into some exercising, usually about six weeks after giving birth. Before that, you can do some strength and toning exercises, along with some light aerobic activity like walking. As you start to gain energy, you can slowly increase your exercise duration and intensity.
- Nature’s Way – Breastfeeding can also help you in losing weight after pregnancy. It can burn up to five hundred extra calories per day. Besides being the best food you can give your newborn, it also protects you from developing numerous diseases later on in life.
- Eat Sensibly – Sometimes eating healthy and regularly when you have a newborn is seemingly impossible! Your focus tends to be one hundred percent baby, zero percent you. It is important that you take care of yourself, so that you can continue to care for your little one. With that said, you need to feel good about yourself in the process. Make a point of taking the time to eat healthy regular meals and snacks. Both you and your baby will benefit from this.
- Rest – Your body has just been through the challenge of a lifetime. Believe it or not you are human and need to get some extra rest so your body can fully recover. Accept the extra help when possible and take a nap between feedings. Force yourself if you need to and take rests. Trust me on this one, it can make all the difference in the world!
Don’t fret! As long as you eat sensibly, rest and exercise in moderation, losing weight after pregnancy will happen fairly quickly. Take this time to enjoy your new little bundle of joy and be proud that your body made it all happen!
Related article: Weight gain during pregnancy
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