The struggle to get rid of baby weight after getting your bundle of joy is a struggle that many women identify with. With the constant stress of taking care of a new born baby, adjusting to new routines, and the process of recovering from childbirth, this is the last tong on your mind. It is however important that you return to a healthy weight after delivery for the sake of aiding in your body’s recovery, and especially if you have plans of adding to your family in future. It is important to note that baby weight could lead to complications in later pregnancies. The added weight could also put you at a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease.
There are a few things you can do to help you shed those postpartum pounds. The tried and tested methods include a healthy combination of diet and exercise. You should however be realistic in your weight loss goals, because contrary to what most magazines and celebrity stories tell you, this is a process that can take some time. Here are some of the ways you can get rid of the extra weight after pregnancy:
Increase your protein intake
A healthy way to shed pounds is to increase your intake of healthy protein in your diet. The science behind this is that protein increases the metabolism in your body, reduce your appetite healthily, which in turn reduces the amount of calories you take. Protein also takes more energy for your body to digest when compared to other foods thanks to its higher thermic effect. A healthy source of protein is to increase you intake of lean meats, fish, legumes, nuts, eggs, and of course dairy. You should also explore healthy protein supplements such as whey which you can add to a morning smoothie, especially if you plan on exercising.
Breastfeed if you can
The benefits of breastfeeding have been extoled for a long time, and have a lot of medical research backing them. Other than providing nutrition for your baby, breast milk is also the first contact point for your baby’s immune system, thanks to the antibodies in it that help fight bacteria and viruses. Breastfeeding is also healthy for you, since it helps your uterus contract and return to normal size, and also lowers your chances of getting complications such as ovarian cancer, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, and postnatal depression.
Additionally, breastfeeding has been known to help in your weight loss journey after childbirth. A study conducted on women after giving birth found that women who breastfed lost about 1.68 kilos more on average than those who did not, six months after delivery. While it is sometimes not possible to breastfeed for various reasons, it is something you should consider doing where possible.
Exercise
Without a doubt, exercise is the best way to shed those postpartum pounds. It has the dual benefit of strengthening areas in your body that sustained trauma during both the pregnancy and childbirth, while getting rid of the unwanted baby weight. Areas such as the pelvic floor and certain muscles especially in your core and back benefit from this.
When coupled with proper dieting and the use of healthy supplements such as whey protein, had the best results when it came to losing baby weight. In fact, an analysis of women six months after childbirth found that those who combined healthy eating and exercise lost an average of 1.72 kilograms more than those who concentrated on eating healthy alone.
After the demands of childbirth however, it is important that you should take it slow and ease into the exercise routine. Start with something as simple as taking walks in the evening. Increase the duration of the walks, then slowly over time, you can progress to more demanding routines such as jogging, running and interval training. The quiet exercise time also helps you cope better with the demands of being a new parent.
Avoid crash dieting
Crash dieting is where you take foods with low calorie values in order to lose the largest amount possible in a short time. This is dangerous for your body because after the rigours of sile birth, it requires proper nutrition to heal and recover to optimum levels. A low calorie diet will leave you deficient of a number of nutrients and will have you feeling constantly tire, which is the opposite of what you need in the sleep deprived haze of taking care of a new born.
You should instead consider counting your calories by working out the nutritional value of what you are consuming. This will have the dual benefit of helping you identify what nutrients you should incorporate more into your diet, and ensuring your body is getting enough calories to function efficiently. Along with counting calories, you can also explore eating food in smaller portions across the day, and having healthy snacks such as protein bars instead.
