Postpartum Weight Loss Tips: How to Reclaim Your Body

How to Lose Baby Weight?

The postpartum joyful time can be mixed with some other emotions. Most important of all will be the changes in their bodies and they will have the question about how they are going to lose the baby weight. Some research studies have shown that several women hold on one or two extra pounds after delivery and quarter of women hold on 11 pounds and more for a year after delivery. It’s to be noted here that retaining your pregnancy weight can cause serious consequences to your health, putting you at risk for heart diseases and diabetes. Therefore, it’s important to lose your pregnancy weight.

To determine the best practices for newly delivered mothers who want to lose their baby weight, we dove into the best research studies on postpartum weight loss and spoke to experts in the area. Ultimately, we were able to come up with the following best practices to help you shed those extra pounds that you gained during pregnancy.[1]

Restore Your Pre-pregnancy Weight

When it comes to losing baby weight, you must plan to go back to your pre-pregnancy weight in six to up to twelve months after delivery. Most mothers will lose half of their extra pounds in about six weeks after childbirth. The remaining extra weight will be lost during the next several months.

Here, you must not forget that your body needs enough time to restore your pre-pregnancy weight. If you shed your weight too quickly after delivery, it may take longer for you to get your pre-pregnancy body back. Therefore, give yourself at least until the 6th-week checkup before taking measures to slim down. And, if you are breastfeeding, you must wait until your newborn is two months old before cutting down your calorie intake drastically.[2]

Postpartum Belly Bands for Weight Loss and Support

When trying to lose baby weight, there are a few important things to remember. Firstly, you must aim to lose only about a pound and a half per week. This can be easily achieved by following healthy habits and adding in postpartum exercises once you are signaled by your care provider for physical activities. Using a postpartum belly band  is recommended to help with your postpartum weight loss and support. Experts suggest you get a good one, such as Everyday Medical’s postpartum recovery band for best results.

Important Things to Remember:

Mothers who are exclusively breastfeeding their babies will require about 500 extra calories every day than they did before conception. DO NOT cut down on these calories and NEVER drop below the minimum required calories. Lastly, you must try to get those extra calories from healthy food choices like:[3]

•      Fruits
•      Veggies
•      Whole grains
•      Low-fat dairy
•      Lean protein

Don’t go for crash diet:

Crash diets are the low-calorie diets that will help you shed a lot of weight in the shortest duration possible. But, after delivering the child, the mother’s body needs healthy nutrition to recover and heal. Moreover, if you are exclusively breastfeeding, you will need to consume more calories than normal. Therefore, a low-calorie crash diet that’s likely to be devoid of important nutrients should be avoided. These diets may leave you feeling tired.

Breastfeed:

Yes, of course, if you breastfeed, you will need about 500 extra calories per day. But, at the same time, breastfeeding will help burn about 600 to 800 calories per day. This holds true if you are a person who sits comfortably and feeds the baby, you can still lose your baby weight. If you are lucky, you will lose all the baby fat through breastfeeding alone. But, remember, as soon as you are tapering off breastfeeding, your calorie requirements will plummet. At that time, if you don’t alter your diet and exercise routines, you could really pack on extra pounds.

References:

1..https://www.livescience.com/53768-how-to-lose-weight-after-pregnancy.html

2..https://www.parents.com/baby/health/lose-baby-weight/lose-baby-weight/

3..https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000586.htm

4..https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/weight-loss-after-pregnancy#section3

5..https://www.webmd.com/baby/features/8-tips-for-losing-weight-after-pregnancy#2