Women generally gain 25-40 pounds during pregnancy. They will naturally lose half of that weight after birth in most cases, but what remains of it can prove very difficult to lose.
Some of the excess weight gained during a pregnancy will be due to water retention, and this is the weight that disappears naturally. You can find out if some of your excess weight is due to this by checking to see if your fingers, ankles and feet are swollen; if they are, then you have not yet reached your natural post-pregnancy weight.
Once the water weight has naturally shed itself, what remains is what you must work on to remove, as it will otherwise just remain. Here are some tips from a mother who used them personally to lose her pregnancy weight…
1. Drink around twelve glasses (8-ounce) of water per day. Doing this will help clear out your system, particularly your colon, which becomes clogged up during pregnancy.
2. You will be hungry so snack on non-fattening and low fat snacks (Nuts, raisins, whole-wheat crackers, etc.) as well as fruits and vegetables. Snacking on these will give you a feeling of fullness, meaning that you will be less likely to snack on fattening and sugary foods.
3. Avoid fatty meats. You can still eat meat though, so long as it is the lean variety, such as skinless chicken, tuna in water, lean beef, lean pork, or turkey.
4. Have the whole family adopt a healthier diet. It is much more difficult to eat healthily when those around you are eating unhealthily, so ask your family to support you by eating the same foods as you are, at least for a few weeks.
5. Start walking as soon as you feel able to, with it being safe to do so, for most women anyway, within a week after giving birth. You should check with your doctor first, but they will probably be more than happy for you to take a walk for 10-15 minutes every day.
6. Breastfeed when you can, as studies have shown that doing so can burn up to 500 calories a day. So, you will benefit from it as well as your baby.
Keep in mind that there are no shortcuts to losing pregnancy weight, and that the healthy way is the both best and safest. Skipping meals and diet pills may seem like an easy option, but they are unsafe, and only a short-term solution.
Following these guidelines will ensure that you will almost certainly lose the extra weight that you gained during your pregnancy. The time to see results will vary though, so do not give up if after a few weeks you have not seen as much progress as you would like to have done.
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