Are you struggling to shed the extra kilos after pregnancy? Want to come back to your previous shape? Is it difficult to reduce weight after delivery? Are all these questions are popping up in your mind?
Baby weight is all about the extra kilos that you gain up during the phase of pregnancy. Every woman normally gains 10-15 extra kilos during their pregnancy.
Well, if you want to lose your extra kilos, then scroll down the article and read on the various tips to lose baby weight after pregnancy.
What is Baby Weight?
As I said above, baby weight is all about the extra kilos that you gain up during the phase of pregnancy. Every woman normally gains 10-15 extra kilos during and after pregnancy.
As per the Institute of Medicine (R), a pregnant woman can gain about 25-35 pounds(11.5 -16 kg) during their pregnancy term.
The baby weight comprises the weight of the baby, placenta, blood, uterus, breast tissue, amniotic fluid, etc. Nearly about half of the women gain weight after pregnancy.
At first, it will be very difficult to lose weight. But, slowly and steadily you will reach the goal by taking your health and physical capacity in account.
There are a number of health issues that occur during pregnancy like becoming overweight, diabetics, heart diseases, gestational diabetics, etc.
[Read: Why Am I Losing Weight During Pregnancy ]
How To Lose Baby Weight?
Here are some of the best tips for losing baby weight fast, that you can try off-
1. Be Realistic:
Before you start losing the baby weight, try to be realistic or set a realistic goal. The goal should be as per the level it can be achieved as per your health and medical condition.
Losing weight after pregnancy takes time. As per the study, it was found that women retained an average of 1–6.6 pounds (0.5–3 kg) of their pregnancy weight gain even after 1 year. (R)
Another study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that pregnant women lose at about 4.7 kg in between 2 weeks to 2 years post birth.
So from the research, you can see how long it takes to lose the weight, so be realistic about your weight loss and adhere to a healthy and active lifestyle following that.
2. Get Support From Your Partner:
It is always difficult to lose weight if you are alone in the line. One of the tips to lose baby weight after pregnancy that works amazing is to get support from your partner.
It is wise advice that you can talk to your partner or other recent mothers around you and discuss about the weight loss. As a partner, you can decide the healthy food and exercise needed to perform to lose weight after pregnancy naturally.
3. Eat Regular Meal:
It is a wrong perception that dieting helps a lot in losing the baby weight.
Trust me, eating regular meals helps a lot in reducing weight after delivery. Make sure you eat a healthy and balanced diet meal at a regular interval of time.
Try to eat smaller portions increasing the frequency of the meals. This is one of the best tips to lose baby weight after pregnancy.
4. Don’t Crash Diets:
Crash diets are regarded as a very low calories diet. This lacks the necessary nutrients that the body needs. These diets don’t help you lose weight after pregnancy.
This is because it lacks essential nutrients necessary in the body. Instead of this, eat food with good nutrition that the body requires. After pregnancy, you need high calories food.
It is found that if you decrease your calorie intake by about 500 calories per day it will stimulate a safe weight loss of about 1.1 pounds (0.5 kg) per week.
Low calorie diets are not recommended for breastfeeding women to reduce weight.
5. Keep A Healthy And Well Balanced Diet:
As I said above how important food is for maintaining and losing the baby weight. The best tip for losing baby weight fast is not to go for a crash diet.
Instead of it, go for a healthy and well-balanced diet in order to lose weight. The food or diet must be enriched with all forms of vitamins and minerals that are required for the body.
Getting enough required calories through healthy food is a wise way to lose the baby weight. It is also necessary to take care of the newborn. Healthy food is a better option than anything.
[Read: Top Breastfeeding Diet Foods For New Moms]
6. Stay Hydrated:
Staying hydrated is one of the most important tips to lose postpartum weight. The body should be hydrated all the time before you try to lose the baby weight.
Make sure you drink at least 8-12 glass of water in a day to keep yourself hydrated. This works great in detoxifying the waste products from the body.
It also does increase the metabolism rate of the body and keeps the body from dehydration. As per the research and studies, it has been found that just by drinking 34 ounces (1 liter) of water or more per day, overweight women lost an extra 4.4 pounds (2 kg) in 12 months. (R)
For breastfeeding mothers, it is wise to drink an adequate amount of water and keep them hydrated. It also helps to reduce calorie intake and appetite.
7. Get Enough Sleep:
Sleep is one of the most important aspects that play an important role in getting rid of baby weight. As per the research, it has been found that lack of sleep has negative effects on weight loss. (R)
Lack of sleep leads to more weight gain during and after pregnancy. 8 out of 13 studies found that sleep deprivation is associated with weight gain. (R)
To lose the baby weight, you should have a good quality of sleep in a day. Getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep is necessary for better health.
8. Control Your Cravings:
Craving makes you eat a lot of stuff that even your body doesn’t want. The first and foremost thing that helps you reduce weight after delivery is to have control over your craving.
Make sure you cut down your craving for unhealthy foods. Certain foods like refined sugar, sugar drinks, salty food, alcohol, etc should be completely avoided.
Instead of it, eat healthy food that is good for health and helps in reducing the baby weight after delivery.
9. Start Exercising:
Without exercise, you can’t lose the baby weight. Exercise is as important as diet for a woman in order to lose the baby weight. At least include a small form of exercise in your daily routine to lose weight.
Initially go for small and minor exercises that help you relax your muscles and body, after that increase the level of exercise
Before you go for any sort of exercise do refer to take the advice of a doctor as it depends upon your health condition and physical strength. Make sure you exercise for an hour in a day.
10. Count Your Calories:
Calories play a vital role in taking care of losing weight after pregnancy naturally. This gives you an idea of the level of food to include in your diet and the level you need to lose weight.
It describes the overall level of energy and nutrition you need per day. This really works great to lose the baby weight. Nowadays, there are so many apps that keep the record of the calorie intake of yours in a day.
11. Avoid Caffeine and Alcohol:
This plays a vital role that helps a lot to reduce the baby weight. If you stop taking caffeine and alcohol, it helps lose the baby weight.
Instead of coffee, you can have black coffee, green tea, organic tea that is more wise and advised to lose weight naturally.
12. Eat Food With High Fibers:
A healthy diet should contain more amount of fiber foods than required in a day as it has tremendous effects in losing the baby weight after pregnancy.
As per the studies and research, it is found that food with high fiber helps a lot to lose weight. (R)
The studies found that about 1,114 adults consumed 10 grams of soluble fiber people per day ended up accounting for a 3.7% reduction in belly fat over a five-year period. (R)
Fiber rich food helps the women lose the baby weight fast. You can include apple, oatmeals, berries, pear, banana, carrot, whole grain, etc. In your healthy and balanced diet.
13. Drink Water Before You Have a Meal:
This is regarded as one of the best and easiest ways to lose baby weight after pregnancy. If you want to cut down your craving of food or appetite then you can drink a full glass of water before each meal.
This will help prevent overeating as well. This will make your stomach full and you will consume less food.
This tip is regarded as an ideal ways to lose weight after pregnancy naturally.
[Read: How Much Water You Need To Drink Every Day]
14. Choose Healthy Protein:
It is the protein that gives strength to the body. A high protein diet acts as a positive effect in reducing the weight after delivery. Protein diet increases the level of metabolism in the body.
It also helps to reduce the level of appetite and calories intake. (R) You should have about 30% of the protein in your diet on a daily basis. Try including beans, eggs, chicken, fish, meat in your diet as much as you can. The more protein diet you take the faster you will reduce weight after delivery.
15. Yogurt Dessert:
Yes, it is true that the yogurt dessert works great to lose weight after pregnancy naturally. Whenever you wish to have a dessert, choose a healthy one than the unhealthy ones.
After you have your dinner, try to include a bowl of yogurt in your diet as it helps a lot to cut down the fat and burn unwanted calories of the day.
If you wish, you can add fruits as per your choice and try to avoid the unwanted sugar in it. You can add food essence to it if you wish.
16. Start Resistance Training:
This is another healthy tip to lose baby weight after pregnancy. This helps a lot to maintain muscle mass and retain the bone mineral density. Gym, YouTube video, apps, classes will help you a lot to find out the way.
This goes simultaneous with diet in order to lose weight.
As per a study with 20 breastfeeding women found that when women included resistance training in their exercise, they experienced significantly less bone mineral density loss and muscle loss than women who didn’t exercise. (R)
Maintaining an ideal weight is very important to lose the extra kilos that you gain during pregnancy. These tips as mentioned above in the article will help you to get back to shape like you were before delivery. Lose weight the natural way with these tips.