Losing Weight After Pregnancy

It is also quite natural that after pregnancy and childbirth, you would like to lose weight and come down to your pre-pregnancy level at the earliest as it is quite normal that you had gained weight during the months you had been pregnant. This is where you need to exercise great caution and restraint. You, just as many other women like you, would like to get back into shape fast, but you need to be patient. Trying to lose weight fast could, after all, adversely affect you, because after childbirth, your body faces a completely different set of problems.

Take Time To Recover

You need time to recover and it would normally take you 6 to 8 months after pregnancy to come back to your pre-pregnancy level. If you wish to compare yourself with celebrity moms, do not do so. They are very poor role models to emulate, and then, they have a team of dietitians, nurses and fitness experts, etc to help them. In addition they have their commercial commitments to consider.

You, on the other hand, are probably looking after your child yourself. Do not be in such a hurry to cut calories. You need them, and so does your baby. After pregnancy and childbirth, you would feel exhausted, not to talk of the physical trauma of childbirth, and feel stressful looking after your baby. You need to have enough energy to recover and meet with the extra requirements of the new baby.

If you are breastfeeding your new born child you are producing an average of 850 ml of breast milk each day. During the period of lactation, you need to consume, on an average, approximately 500 extra calories per day. In addition, you also need extra nutrients. It is best that you consult with your doctor and follow his/her advice regarding after pregnancy diet and nutrition.

The first three months or so is the time when you should concentrate on eating healthy foods, enough calories, and nutrients, to cope with the changes your body is going through, instead of focusing on immediate weight loss.

Postpartum Exercises And Diet

It is not such a bad idea to start exercising after your return from the hospital, after pregnancy and childbirth. A word of caution, though. Start with gentle exercises and forget your pre-pregnancy strenuous exercises for the time being. Exercise only if you feel like it. Follow the advice of your doctor about the type of exercises you can do, just as you would follow his/her advice on postpartum diet. A suitable exercise regimen would do wonders to your mood and benefit you physically, as well.

Once you feel your strength returning, and this could take about 3 to 6 months after pregnancy and childbirth, you can start a healthy diet for weight loss, and supplement with a slightly vigorous exercise regimen. Here, again, your aim should not be for a fast weight loss. Ensure you eat nutritious foods and aim to lose not more than 1 pound a week.

The time it will take for you to come down to your pre-pregnancy weight level after pregnancy will depend very much on the weight you gained during your pregnancy. On an average, you would have gained between 25 and 35 pounds during your pregnancy. On an average, you would have lost between 12 and 14 pounds during childbirth. This leaves you with an average of 13 to 21 pounds to lose after pregnancy and childbirth. After an initial recovery period of 3 months, you should require another 6 to 8 months to lose the extra weight and get back to your pre-pregnancy weight level.

If you happened to gain more than the average of 35 pounds during your pregnancy, you would require another month for every extra 6 pounds gained. Use these weight and weight loss figures as a guideline and do not take them literally.