Having a baby not only changes your life, but it also changes your body as well. One thing new moms first notice is that they still have a lot of fat weeks after giving birth and still look months pregnant. This is where the questions on how to lose weight after pregnancy arise. First of all you should know that you will lose a lot of the baby weight in a matter of weeks right after delivery. From the moment after giving birth, your body starts to shrink your stomach back to its pre-pregnancy state, or close to it, but it is a slow process. It takes about four weeks for your uterus to contract back to its normal size and with a few changes that you may add to your new lifestyle you will see that you can diminish the pregnancy weight.
Many women in this four week period will lose between 8 to 20 pounds during those first two weeks as the body gets rid of all that extra fluid built up from being pregnant. It also takes time for your hips and pelvic area to go back to their pre-pregnancy state, so it’s normal for things to be out of whack after giving birth to a child. Just make sure that you remember this because your body did not change like this overnight, it took nine months for it to get this way.
Although it is not recommended, you may feel like you want to jump right into a weight loss program immediately. It’s better to ease into a light exercise regime to keep your body safe and avoid injury. After giving birth, you’ll need to clear it with your doctor how you should proceed to exercise depending on the kind of birth you gave. It can take up to 8 weeks before you can engage in serious exercise.
Here are a few things that you can do to get started with loosing weight after baby:
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding can help you lose weight! Breastfeeding requires an extra 500 calories a day and helps reduce some of the fat you gained during pregnancy. But now’s not the time to go on a diet, restricting your calories too much can reduce your milk supply. The good news is you can still exercise while you are breastfeeding.
Exercising
There have been studies that found that short bouts of exercise throughout the day could have the same benefits as continuous workouts. If you can’t work out continuously, split it in intervals of two 15-minute workouts, one 30-minute workout and so on. This could be really beneficial for a new mom that is short on time. Here are a few workouts that you can try to lose some of the unwanted baby fat.
Quick Vacation Workout
The Quick Vacation Workout is an ultra-workout that targets the major muscles of the body for a quick yet efficient workout. It’s good for maintaining fitness without spending a lot of time exercising. For this workout, you’ll need a light weight resistant band and a chair. And if you don’t have a resistant band, you can use full water bottles as weights or nothing at all.
Do some light walking exercises. Take a few minutes to warm up and stretch and keep your resting periods short between exercises. And end with a light cool down and stretch. If you’re short on time, do a quick lower body workout. This will hit all the major muscles in the legs, including the gluts, thighs, hips and calves. Complete once circuit of each exercise using a challenging weight.
