You’ve been pregnant for nine whole months and during this time you will have obviously put on weight. I’m sure you didn’t mind at the time but now that your bundle of joy has arrived, the focus shifts to losing pregnancy weight as quickly as possible.
It is understandable if, during pregnancy the desire just to slob out becomes too strong and watching what you eat and continuing with some sort of sensible exercise takes a back seat. What is often overlooked is that child birth will not result in all those extra pounds suddenly disappearing. It is quite normal for women to gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy and up to 14 of these can be lost during birth. This leaves up to 20 pounds in additional weight and the purpose of this article is to give you some steps that you can to lose pregnancy weight.
Apart from the weight gain the new mother is bound to be less than toned and returning to exercising properly may not be easy. Losing pregnancy weight soon becomes a battle and many women can get depressed. Did you know that breastfeeding results in weight loss? It has been proven time and time again that women who breastfeed their babies shed their pregnancy weight much quicker than those who don’t. In addition a breastfed baby is a healthy baby.
Stage two is to open that refrigerator door and be prepared to be firm with yourself. If you are honest with yourself you know that lurking behind the fruit and veg are some sugar filled snacks – throw them out ! You need to start eating a healthy diet and cut out the overeating that you became accustomed to during your pregnancy. You must remember that if you are breastfeeding that whatever you eat will have a direct effect on your milk
The third thing when it comes to losing pregnancy weight is to get active. Begin by simply walking, it’s free, is very good for you and you can take baby with you. Walking for 30 minutes each day will soon help you to shift that extra baby weight. Don’t forget toning exercises as well. You will need to ensure you take some time each day to do pelvic floor exercises and some abdominals too. Your baby can actually be part of the workout. Lie on the floor, knees raised, with the little one lying against them and do crunches while playing peek-a-boo at the same time. This is definitely not for newborn babies but will be the source of lots of amusement when baby is a little older.
It really is not too difficult to get back to your normal weight and shape in 2 months if your are prepared to do a little, regular exercise and adopt a sensible diet. Please remember that post pregnancy is not the time to go in for any kind of starvation or “fad” diet. The rapid weight loss that these diets promise can be accompanied by a serious lack of energy. A new born baby is going to take all the energy you have, you can’t risk reducing it further. If you are breastfeeding these diets may also affect your milk.
