June 07, 2018
10 Tips for Losing Weight After Pregnancy [2018 Update]
Six Pack Bags Article
10 Tips for Losing Weight After Pregnancy [2018 Update]
Going through pregnancy and having a baby is a dream come true for many women, and now that the baby is here, they're excited to start this new chapter of their life. Although pregnancy was a challenge, another challenge remains: losing weight after the baby is born!
Your doctor probably recommended that you gain around 25-35 pounds during your pregnancy. Many women think that once they have the baby, weight loss will happen naturally. Yes, you'll lose a few pounds initially, but if you want to get back to your pre-pregnancy shape, you need to take some steps to get the weight off. The good news is that if you were able to avoid being overweight, losing the baby weight can take only a few months.
Today, we're going to provide you with our top ten pregnancy weight loss tips to help you lose the baby weight, and look even better than you did before!
Here's how you drop the weight fast
Weight loss after pregnancy is essentially the same as weight loss in general, and it all comes down to diet and exercise. The only difference with post-pregnancy weight loss is that your pregnancy weight loss goals might be different than other people. While they might want to end up in even better shape, you might just want to get back to your weight pre-pregnancy.
With all of this in mind, no matter what your goal is, you won't find much success unless you have a post-pregnancy weight loss plan. Here's how you create one.
Tip 1: Create a Plan and Stick to It!
The first tip in our How to Lose Weight After Baby guide is crucial, and many new moms seem to overlook this. It all starts with planning ahead and creating a fitness and diet regimen that works for you and fits your schedule.
Everyone is different, and everyone has a different body type. What might work for other new moms might not work well for you, so it's vital that you listen to your body and make any necessary adjustments. If you have no experience creating a diet plan, we'd recommend that you work with a dietician or a nutritionist to create a customized program.
Make sure to write your meal and exercise plans down, and keep them somewhere handy where you can review them every day. This will help you stay on track and disciplined.
Tip 2: Take the Stairs
If you're reading this while you're still pregnant, you might wonder how to lose weight when pregnant. While it is often not recommended to go on any type of diet or try to lose weight while pregnant, immediately after your child's birth, you can start losing weight sooner rather than later by merely moving.
One of the best ways to start losing weight after pregnancy is to take the stairs instead of the elevator. All weight loss begins by burning calories and expelling energy through movement and walking up stairs can help you get back into the routine of exercising. This won't be for everyone, and some new moms will need some time to recover. Listen to your body, and if you feel like stairs aren't your thing at the moment, focus instead on the foods you eat.
Tip 3: Set Big Goals
Many new moms simply set a small goal to only lose the weight they gained during pregnancy. While this is a perfectly fine goal, since you're going to go through the trouble of eating well and exercising, why not shoot for the stars?
Were you happy with the shape you were in before the pregnancy? If not, why not aim to be even healthier and in better shape than before the pregnancy? Big goals are great, and the larger your goal is, the more likely that you will stick to your plan and really work towards achieving the healthy lifestyle you had only dreamed of before.
As the saying goes, if you shoot for the stars, even if you miss, you'll still end up somewhere in the clouds. This saying is excellent to keep in mind as you start this weight loss journey. Set your goals big, and if you don't quite reach them, you'll still achieve more health success than if you had established a small, easily-reachable goal.
Tip 4: Lose Weight While Breastfeeding
If you've been following thus far, you might wonder: "Does breastfeeding help you lose weight?€
The shorts answer: Absolutely! In fact, while you're breastfeeding, you could burn as many as 800 calories by simply sitting there. Many women are surprised by their weight loss breastfeeding, but the results are pretty astounding. In fact, some women can lose all of their baby weight through breastfeeding alone without the need to go on any exercise regimen. Even so, if you plan to exercise and diet to lose pregnancy weight, keep a slow and steady approach in mind.
If you lose weight too rapidly, you will end up producing less milk for your baby. Keep this in mind and aim to lose only around a pound and a half a week, so you don't affect your milk supply.
Tip 5: Take Plenty of Naps
Did you know that getting plenty of sleep can actually help you lose your baby weight? When you think scientifically, all food really is just energy to keep you going throughout the day. If you get enough sleep, you'll have more energy to handle your next challenge of the day and complete your exercise routines each day.
Getting enough sleep as a new mom is a challenge, and sleepless nights are a staple of the first few months of the baby's life. With that in mind, even just taking short naps throughout the day will make up for any lost sleep during the night. Whenever the baby sleeps, you should too. If you can get enough rest, you'll be able to shut down your bad cravings, and you'll have enough energy to conquer your baby losing weight workouts.
Tip 6: Cut Out Sugar
Want to know perhaps the fastest way to lose the baby weight? Cutting out sugar from your diet can save your insulin and blood pressure from a roller-coaster of ups and downs. The latest diets focus heavily on protein and vegetables and are showing excellent results. We know that sugary treats were your savior from cravings during pregnancy, but it's time to break the habit.
To overcome your sugar cravings, we recommend that you keep your fridge and pantry stocked with nutritious, healthy snacks. Common foods that can help curb your sugar cravings include Greek yogurt, apples, grapes, and other naturally sweet but fiber-rich fruits. You should also eat fiber-heavy foods like figs, raisins, and wheat crackers to help keep you full throughout the day so you can avoid reaching for candy bars.
Tip 7: Stay Away from Crash Diets
Achieving weight loss success is about following a controlled diet and fitness regimen over the long-term€”not just over a few weeks. Many new moms, and even ordinary people, think that the best way to lose weight is to follow a calorie-restricted diet that only allows for water and lettuce. While you can definitely lose weight in the short-term with these types of crash diets, they aren't sustainable.
After a few weeks, you'll start to crash and burn and will revert back to eating unhealthy food, limiting your progress. Our best advice is to look at losing weight after pregnancy as a marathon, not a sprint. Pick a plan that works for you that you can consistently follow, and be patient with your weight loss success!
Tip 8: Make it a Team Effort
There are thousands of babies born every day, and chances are, you might know other new moms in the area. You are all facing the same challenge of losing the weight they put on during pregnancy so why not join them for weekly walks and workouts?
When you meet with a group of women same goal of losing weight on a regular basis, you can help support each other and keep yourselves accountable for your diet and exercise routines. Going it alone can be more challenging, and if you don't have a support group to help, you might not succeed. Reach out to friends and family and form a weekly, new moms walking group!
Tip 9: Flex Your Muscles
When many women are pregnant, they think that the baby weight would come off naturally. While you can lose considerable weight immediately after birth, you must still put in some effort to lose the remaining weight and get back to your pre-pregnancy weight.
If you're strong enough to carry a person inside of you for nine months and go through childbirth, there's no reason you can't flex your muscles in the gym. Despite what some might say, you won't turn into a bulky bodybuilder by simply touching a dumbbell.
The amount of muscle that you put on significantly depends on your workout plan and the amount that you eat. Since you're trying to lose weight, lifting weights will serve more as a way to speed up your weight loss efforts rather than to build massive arms.
Weight training can speed up your metabolism, coaxing your body into burning more fat and excess baby weight throughout the day. While most think of weight training as lifting barbells and dumbbells, after you just had your baby, we'd recommend that you start small.
In fact, before you hit the gym, you should try incorporating your baby into your routine. It might sound silly, but your 10-pound baby can help ease you back into a lifting routine. Here are a couple of exercises that many new moms around the world do every day.
· Hold your baby to your chest, and slowly perform lunges in your hallway, kitchen, or wherever you have space to move in your home. This will help strengthen your legs and kick your metabolism into overdrive during your days at home with the baby.
· Another great exercise is a bench press type of movement. Lay on your back with your baby above your chest and slowly lift him/her towards the ceiling. This can strengthen your chest, and many babies have a blast with this exercise.
Once you've done these exercises for a couple of weeks, you can start incorporating a gym workout as a new activity into your pregnancy weight loss plan. Depending on your experience in the weight room, you might want to start light and make sure you know the movements well. Either way, by simply lifting weights you can improve strength and burn more calories at the same time!
Tip 10: Try Meal Prepping
Meal prepping has taken the fitness world by storm, and for a good reason! Many people find that the single biggest obstacle standing in their path to fitness success is finding the time to eat healthy meals. Let's face it; with our hectic lives, especially if you're a new mom, finding the time to prepare a healthy meal in the middle of the day is a challenge.
By meal prepping, you can make your healthy meals in bulk, and you can munch on them throughout the week. They're incredibly convenient, and if you use containers like the ones from Six Pack Fitness combined with a handy travel bag, you can take them with you wherever you go. By having healthy meals ready and on hand, you'll be much less likely to reach for unhealthy frozen snacks and fast food, and you can instead nourish yourself with delicious meals you prepared for yourself.
To put it simply, when you meal prep, you don't have any excuse not to drop the weight fast!
Final Thoughts on Losing Weight After Pregnancy
Losing weight after pregnancy is similar to typical weight loss plans with emphasis on diet rather than strenuous exercise. Remember to set big goals and stick with a diet and exercise plan. If you want to get a jumpstart on your weight loss, you can start small by walking up stairs or incorporating your baby into fun workouts. From there, you can start walking and exercising more, but you should always listen to your body to make sure that you aren't overstraining yourself.
You should also remember that your body will naturally start to drop the baby weight through breastfeeding, so ensure that you are eating enough and getting your sleep daily to preserve your energy levels.
Finally, you should try meal prepping to help you stick to your health plan and avoid eating junk food that will hurt your weight loss efforts. If you're looking for high-quality meal prep containers that will hold up to the freezer along with convenient cooler bags, check out https://www.sixpackbags.com/ and browse the huge selection available!
Tip 1: Create a Plan and Stick to It!
The first tip in our How to Lose Weight After Baby guide is crucial, and many new moms seem to overlook this. It all starts with planning ahead and creating a fitness and diet regimen that works for you and fits your schedule.
Everyone is different, and everyone has a different body type. What might work for other new moms might not work well for you, so it's vital that you listen to your body and make any necessary adjustments. If you have no experience creating a diet plan, we'd recommend that you work with a dietician or a nutritionist to create a customized program.
Make sure to write your meal and exercise plans down, and keep them somewhere handy where you can review them every day. This will help you stay on track and disciplined.
Tip 2: Take the Stairs
If you're reading this while you're still pregnant, you might wonder how to lose weight when pregnant. While it is often not recommended to go on any type of diet or try to lose weight while pregnant, immediately after your child's birth, you can start losing weight sooner rather than later by merely moving.
One of the best ways to start losing weight after pregnancy is to take the stairs instead of the elevator. All weight loss begins by burning calories and expelling energy through movement and walking up stairs can help you get back into the routine of exercising. This won't be for everyone, and some new moms will need some time to recover. Listen to your body, and if you feel like stairs aren't your thing at the moment, focus instead on the foods you eat.
Tip 3: Set Big Goals
Many new moms simply set a small goal to only lose the weight they gained during pregnancy. While this is a perfectly fine goal, since you're going to go through the trouble of eating well and exercising, why not shoot for the stars?
Were you happy with the shape you were in before the pregnancy? If not, why not aim to be even healthier and in better shape than before the pregnancy? Big goals are great, and the larger your goal is, the more likely that you will stick to your plan and really work towards achieving the healthy lifestyle you had only dreamed of before.
As the saying goes, if you shoot for the stars, even if you miss, you'll still end up somewhere in the clouds. This saying is excellent to keep in mind as you start this weight loss journey. Set your goals big, and if you don't quite reach them, you'll still achieve more health success than if you had established a small, easily-reachable goal.
Tip 4: Lose Weight While Breastfeeding
If you've been following thus far, you might wonder: "Does breastfeeding help you lose weight?€
The shorts answer: Absolutely! In fact, while you're breastfeeding, you could burn as many as 800 calories by simply sitting there. Many women are surprised by their weight loss breastfeeding, but the results are pretty astounding. In fact, some women can lose all of their baby weight through breastfeeding alone without the need to go on any exercise regimen. Even so, if you plan to exercise and diet to lose pregnancy weight, keep a slow and steady approach in mind.
If you lose weight too rapidly, you will end up producing less milk for your baby. Keep this in mind and aim to lose only around a pound and a half a week, so you don't affect your milk supply.
Tip 5: Take Plenty of Naps
Did you know that getting plenty of sleep can actually help you lose your baby weight? When you think scientifically, all food really is just energy to keep you going throughout the day. If you get enough sleep, you'll have more energy to handle your next challenge of the day and complete your exercise routines each day.
Getting enough sleep as a new mom is a challenge, and sleepless nights are a staple of the first few months of the baby's life. With that in mind, even just taking short naps throughout the day will make up for any lost sleep during the night. Whenever the baby sleeps, you should too. If you can get enough rest, you'll be able to shut down your bad cravings, and you'll have enough energy to conquer your baby losing weight workouts.
Tip 6: Cut Out Sugar
Want to know perhaps the fastest way to lose the baby weight? Cutting out sugar from your diet can save your insulin and blood pressure from a roller-coaster of ups and downs. The latest diets focus heavily on protein and vegetables and are showing excellent results. We know that sugary treats were your savior from cravings during pregnancy, but it's time to break the habit.
To overcome your sugar cravings, we recommend that you keep your fridge and pantry stocked with nutritious, healthy snacks. Common foods that can help curb your sugar cravings include Greek yogurt, apples, grapes, and other naturally sweet but fiber-rich fruits. You should also eat fiber-heavy foods like figs, raisins, and wheat crackers to help keep you full throughout the day so you can avoid reaching for candy bars.
Tip 7: Stay Away from Crash Diets
Achieving weight loss success is about following a controlled diet and fitness regimen over the long-term€”not just over a few weeks. Many new moms, and even ordinary people, think that the best way to lose weight is to follow a calorie-restricted diet that only allows for water and lettuce. While you can definitely lose weight in the short-term with these types of crash diets, they aren't sustainable.
After a few weeks, you'll start to crash and burn and will revert back to eating unhealthy food, limiting your progress. Our best advice is to look at losing weight after pregnancy as a marathon, not a sprint. Pick a plan that works for you that you can consistently follow, and be patient with your weight loss success!
Tip 8: Make it a Team Effort
There are thousands of babies born every day, and chances are, you might know other new moms in the area. You are all facing the same challenge of losing the weight they put on during pregnancy so why not join them for weekly walks and workouts?
When you meet with a group of women same goal of losing weight on a regular basis, you can help support each other and keep yourselves accountable for your diet and exercise routines. Going it alone can be more challenging, and if you don't have a support group to help, you might not succeed. Reach out to friends and family and form a weekly, new moms walking group!
Tip 9: Flex Your Muscles
When many women are pregnant, they think that the baby weight would come off naturally. While you can lose considerable weight immediately after birth, you must still put in some effort to lose the remaining weight and get back to your pre-pregnancy weight.
If you're strong enough to carry a person inside of you for nine months and go through childbirth, there's no reason you can't flex your muscles in the gym. Despite what some might say, you won't turn into a bulky bodybuilder by simply touching a dumbbell.
The amount of muscle that you put on significantly depends on your workout plan and the amount that you eat. Since you're trying to lose weight, lifting weights will serve more as a way to speed up your weight loss efforts rather than to build massive arms.
Weight training can speed up your metabolism, coaxing your body into burning more fat and excess baby weight throughout the day. While most think of weight training as lifting barbells and dumbbells, after you just had your baby, we'd recommend that you start small.
In fact, before you hit the gym, you should try incorporating your baby into your routine. It might sound silly, but your 10-pound baby can help ease you back into a lifting routine. Here are a couple of exercises that many new moms around the world do every day.
· Hold your baby to your chest, and slowly perform lunges in your hallway, kitchen, or wherever you have space to move in your home. This will help strengthen your legs and kick your metabolism into overdrive during your days at home with the baby.
· Another great exercise is a bench press type of movement. Lay on your back with your baby above your chest and slowly lift him/her towards the ceiling. This can strengthen your chest, and many babies have a blast with this exercise.
Once you've done these exercises for a couple of weeks, you can start incorporating a gym workout as a new activity into your pregnancy weight loss plan. Depending on your experience in the weight room, you might want to start light and make sure you know the movements well. Either way, by simply lifting weights you can improve strength and burn more calories at the same time!
Tip 10: Try Meal Prepping
Meal prepping has taken the fitness world by storm, and for a good reason! Many people find that the single biggest obstacle standing in their path to fitness success is finding the time to eat healthy meals. Let's face it; with our hectic lives, especially if you're a new mom, finding the time to prepare a healthy meal in the middle of the day is a challenge.
By meal prepping, you can make your healthy meals in bulk, and you can munch on them throughout the week. They're incredibly convenient, and if you use containers like the ones from Six Pack Fitness combined with a handy travel bag, you can take them with you wherever you go. By having healthy meals ready and on hand, you'll be much less likely to reach for unhealthy frozen snacks and fast food, and you can instead nourish yourself with delicious meals you prepared for yourself.
To put it simply, when you meal prep, you don't have any excuse not to drop the weight fast!
Final Thoughts on Losing Weight After Pregnancy
Losing weight after pregnancy is similar to typical weight loss plans with emphasis on diet rather than strenuous exercise. Remember to set big goals and stick with a diet and exercise plan. If you want to get a jumpstart on your weight loss, you can start small by walking up stairs or incorporating your baby into fun workouts. From there, you can start walking and exercising more, but you should always listen to your body to make sure that you aren't overstraining yourself.
You should also remember that your body will naturally start to drop the baby weight through breastfeeding, so ensure that you are eating enough and getting your sleep daily to preserve your energy levels.
Finally, you should try meal prepping to help you stick to your health plan and avoid eating junk food that will hurt your weight loss efforts. If you're looking for high-quality meal prep containers that will hold up to the freezer along with convenient cooler bags, check out https://www.sixpackbags.com/ and browse the huge selection available!