5 Effective Tips to Lose Baby Weight After Pregnancy

While pregnancy comes with the best gift ever, having your little one with you, it also comes with additional weight. For most women, shedding off baby weight can be a struggle since you also need to care for the newborn, recover from childbirth, and adjust to a new routine. Prolonged baby weight has been linked to increased risk of being overweight, higher risk of complications in future pregnancies, and increased risk of heart diseases and diabetes. That’s why it’s important to work towards achieving a healthy weight after delivery. Just remember to do it in a more natural and safe way such as:

Breastfeed If You Can or Choose to

There are several benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby, one of which includes aiding mother’s weight loss. You need an extra 500 calories daily when breastfeeding. Since breastfeeding can burn about 600-800 calories per day, you can easily lose a few pounds feeding your baby. But, remember that as soon as you begin to taper off breastfeeding, your calorie needs will drop. This means that you have to adjust your diet or your exercise routine to avoid gaining more weight.

Start Exercising

Exercising provides several benefits to a new mum. It helps manage depression and stress, helps with sleep issues, not to mention, losing the baby weight. You don’t have to hit the gym to lose weight after pregnancy as your body needs time to recover from childbirth. You can start by taking a walk around the block, which is enough to get your muscles working and your heart pumping. You can gradually add other exercises like pelvic floor exercises, walking, aerobics, jogging, yoga, swimming, or even get the best boxing shoes for some action. Getting back into a full workout program will depend on generally how you feel, the mode of delivery, and if you experienced any complications during birth.

Count Your Calories

Counting calories helps you keep track of what you are eating and determine any problem areas in your diet. You can do this by simply taking photos of what you eat, keeping a food diary or using helpful mobile apps, all of which can keep track of what you eat all day. Using these techniques helps you choose healthier foods and reduce your portion sizes, which helps with weight loss. Keep in mind that breastfeeding requires extra calories.

Stock up on Healthy Snacks

New mothers, especially those breastfeeding, are bound to feel hungry faster. This means you find yourself reaching for more snacking options. The kind of foods you have around will have an impact on what you eat. Therefore, ensure you stock up on healthy snacks such as fruits, cut vegetable, roasted sweet potatoes, low-fat milk and yogurt, whole grains, nuts, and much more to ensure you are always snacking on healthy foods.

Let your body recover

Most new mothers are so caught up in losing the baby weight as fast as possible. Keep in mind that you gained the baby weight over a period of nine months, and as such, you may not be able to shed off in a couple of months. It’s important to let your body recover from childbirth and not overwork it. Get enough rest and sleep, and don’t forget about your pelvic floor. Studies show that a number of new mothers will experience some sort of pelvic floor dysfunction. Avoid jumping right into high-impact exercises and stick to low-impact activities and some pelvic exercises.