Curious about finding out how to lose weight after pregnancy?
Pregnancy is a blissful time for most women; however, it does come with some weight gain. The average woman puts on around 22 pounds during her pregnancy.
Your tummy’s appearance after the birth of the child may surprise you. In fact, you might still have around the midsection, making you appear 6 months pregnant. This is normal. However, once you give birth, the body really does begin working to shrink your belly to its pre-pregnancy state. However, the process is gradual. It takes about 4 weeks for the uterus to return to its normal size, and many women lose approximately 8-20 pounds during the initial two weeks as the body eliminates extra fluid.
Postpartum weight loss can be a challenge but armed with the right information and with a strategic food and exercise plan, you can snap back to your pre-baby weight.
Take Your Time and Set up a Postpartum Weight Loss Goal
First things first, establish a weight loss goal. Your doctor can help you set up a healthy goal after taking into consideration how much weight you gained during pregnancy. You should lose at most one and a half pounds per week. Aim for a calorie deficit of 500 to 750 per day.
Remember that you are not in a race with anyone. Our bodies are different, and for some people, the journey to shed pregnancy pounds might take a little longer than for others. Age, fitness levels and diet are factors to also consider. Give yourself up to a year to lose all the weight.
5 Tips To Lose Your Weight After Pregnancy
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While it might be tempting to look for alternative ways to shed the pounds, it’s always a good idea to remember that the best way to lose weight is to do it slowly and naturally. With that said, here are five tips that demonstrate how to lose weight fast after pregnancy.
1. Don’t Crash Diet
Pregnancy and giving birth cause trauma to the body. The last thing your body needs is you denying it the good nutrition needed to recover from the nine stressful months. Crash diets can do more harm than good as you try to lose weight after pregnancy. If you’re counting calories, reduce your daily intake by 500 calories by cutting back on food and exercise.
Additionally, you shouldn’t skip meals. Lots of new moms don’t eat regularly, resulting in less energy. Moreover, it doesn’t help in weight loss. Another tip involves eating 5-6 small meals daily with healthy snacks in between instead of three larger meals.
2. Choose Healthy Proteins
Of all the nutrients you eat, proteins are the most complex and require higher energy to digest. Therefore, increasing your protein intake means you’re inadvertently burning off more calories. In addition, proteins keep you feeling full longer. So, make sure you’ve got plenty of nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, fish, lean meats, and legumes in your diet.
3. Avoid Highly Processed Foods
If possible, avoid sugar and refined carbs at all costs. These two do nothing for your body except spike your insulin, causing you to get hungry and potentially binge eat. They are high in calories, and because of the vicious cycle of dependence on unhealthy food they create, they are the culprits behind heart disease, most cancers, diabetes, and weight gain.
4. Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol and postpartum weight loss do not go together at all. Alcohol is not even a food group – it provides calories without any nutritional value. If steady weight loss is the goal, then avoid unnecessary weight loss repressors like alcohol. Regular alcohol consumption will lead to increased belly fat, and that’s not what you want.
5. Start Exercising and Resistance Training
Lose weight after pregnancy by exercising. Exercise, as a general rule of thumb, is good for weight loss. How you gave birth, however, will impact the types of exercises you should do. If you had a cesarean delivery, you’ll want to give yourself enough time to heal before attempting any high-intensity interval training. Walking is a great exercise to start with. As you get stronger, you can add light jogging and cycling. As time goes on and you recover, consider implementing:
- Cardio: You’ll want to integrate cardio into your schedule, although it might not be possible to do your activities at the same level of intensity as before the pregnancy. You’ll notice high-impact exercises, for instance, aerobics or running might be uncomfortable as the body recovers. Therefore, you want to stick to low-impact activities, such as walking.
- Core Strengtheners: Unsurprisingly, pregnancy can weaken certain areas of your abs. It’s important for you to note that spot reduction of fat from certain sections of your body is impossible with particular exercises. You’ll need to lose body fat overall with a combination of a healthy diet, strength training, and cardio. Try to avoid excess pressure, especially around your lower belly where most women store surplus fat.
- Strength Training: Strength training forms a significant part of a weight-loss program and recovery post-pregnancy. It helps increase your metabolism, builds lean muscle, and gives you the necessary strength Like other activities, you’ll need to start out gradually, even if you did these exercises before birth.
Joy of Life Journeying With You
Joy of Life® is a premier surrogacy agency in California that journeys with surrogate mothers from pre-conception until delivery. If you would like to talk to someone about how to lose weight after pregnancy, do not hesitate to contact us.
