Losing Weight After Pregnancy

Losing that post-baby bulge can be a tricky task. You must appreciate that your body has just taken a nine-month 'hammering' especially during your baby's birth. So, it is important to give your body time to recuperate. Although there is nothing wrong with going on a diet, there is an awful lot wrong with trying to diet too hard. Some experts quote a rule of “Nine months on, Nine months off,” meaning that whatever diet regime you apply you should not be looking necessarily to return back to your normal weight within a nine-month period after giving birth.

Nine months may appear to be a long time but losing weight after pregnancy is quite a different scenario than trying to lose weight because of general bad eating habits. So it really is important that you don't overdo it – and definitely no fad diets such as “the Cabbage Soup Diet”.

Some mothers have attempted to assist their weight loss by taking supplements like acai berry products or resveratroll-based products. Although many health and nutritional supplements can help speed up recovery time, it is important always to seek medical advice to ensure that they don't cause any adverse reactions while recovering from giving birth, and that they won't affect your breast milk if you are breast-feeding.

Patience is important. You should be aiming only to shed no more than a couple of pounds a week at the most. If you are breast-feeding, the size and weight of your breasts will be varying, so don't use the appearance or measurements of your breasts as a physical indicator of weight loss or gain until your newborn has weaned! For physical indication of weight loss, measure your waist, buttocks or face.

To make post-pregnancy dieting a bit more motivational, you could aim to slowly fit back into some of your old clothes. As in all cases, exercise can play a great part in weight loss and muscle-toning after pregnancy. But with the arrival of a newborn and often the rest of the family to look after too, finding time to exercise can be difficult.

However, light stretching exercises performed in your own home won't take up too much time. You can then try to build up from there to more energetic routines, as and when life starts to return back to some kind of normality. Walking, swimming, cycling and light jogging are fantastic for weight loss, and also have great cardio vascular benefits too.

These four forms of exercise are also fairly easy to enjoy with your baby – who can view the scenery in a three-wheeler while you're walking and jogging, ride in a protective trailer while you're cycling, and be with you in the pool for swimming on your back and treading water. Many babies love their mother's exercise routines!

The same rule applies to exercising as applies to dieting: take it easy, don't overdo it and once again be patient!

Good luck!