Just like how every woman’s body, birth experience, and circumstances are different, the postpartum recovery journey is also different for everyone. You’ll find some new mothers losing weight within the first year, while the process could be longer for others. Doctors suggest that the critical time to start losing baby weight is three to 12 months, or there may be a risk of contracting high blood pressure, and later diabetes and heart disease. Below are a few effective methods to lose baby weight.
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Watch what you eat
Your food choices must consider your baby’s well-being first. While you work on shedding baby fat, you want your baby to feed well and remain healthy. Eliminate sugary foods and drinks, refined carbs, and highly processed foods such as prepackaged meals. Consider eating foods high in water like fruits, vegetables, and soup diets to keep yourself fuller. Focus on healthy proteins, fats, and snacks to avoid gaining more stubborn weight.
In addition, food high in fiber and especially soluble fiber foods slow digestion and reduce hunger hormones, making them ideal for baby weight loss. Considering that you may not always get all the necessary vitamins and nutrients to help with weight loss, you can complement your diet using healthy food supplements. Click here to continue learning more about the dietary supplements your body needs to shed off excess weight.
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Exclusively breastfeed your baby
Breastfeeding not only provides nutrition, supports the immune system, and lowers disease risk for your baby, it’s also effective for losing baby fat during the postpartum period. Additionally, breastfeeding helps tighten your belly by contracting the uterus, helping you lose weight. It also lowers your risk of getting high blood pressure, breast and ovarian cancers, and type 2 diabetes.
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Start exercising
Exercising is not only crucial for overall body health but also for supercharging weight loss. Beginning your postpartum weight loss journey will depend on your delivery method, whether there were complications or not, your fitness before and after pregnancy, and how your body generally feels.
Consult your doctor for advice on the workouts you can undertake and when it’s safe to begin. To help burn calories, consider cardio exercises like running, jogging, and cycling. You can also engage in moderate-aerobic activity throughout the week in combination with resistance training will help you lose weight faster. However, exercising alone may not help lose the baby weight, but combining it with the proper diet can work wonders.
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Get enough sleep
Sleep deprivation after giving birth can limit a woman’s ability to lose weight. Although getting enough time to sleep after the baby comes can be difficult, it’s essential to find strategies you can use to find time to sleep. This will help ensure you don’t retain postpartum weight.
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Monitor your calorie intake
Intuitive eating, especially when looking after your little one, can be difficult, but monitoring your calories will help you consume what you need for sufficient energy and nutrition. Consider keeping a food diary or a calorie tracking app to help monitor your calorie intake. You can also have an accountability friend to help keep the calories in check. Watching your calories will help you minimize food portions and eat healthy foods to lose weight.
Endnote
Losing baby weight may be difficult, but it’s achievable with the right steps. Combining the above tips will help you shed your baby weight faster.
