After the pregnancy and delivery, the body's weight starts to accumulate and every woman becomes concerned and begins looking for ways to lose weight after pregnancy. Losing weight after pregnancy becomes more challenging as you are breastfeeding your little one – and it’s not advisable to extremely reduce your diet.
If you are not sure how to execute your weight loss plan, here are the best ways to lose the extra kilos safely without hurting your breastmilk supply.
Also Read: Your Mama Figure & How To Embrace It
Best Ways To Lose Weight After Pregnancy
1. Breastfeed your little one frequently
Breastfeeding is the best exercise. You can burn up to 300 calories by nursing on demand daily. Avoid extreme dieting and extra strenuous exercising, as it can cause a decrease in your supply. The best practice is to nurse your little one on demand. It will help to burn the maximum amount of calories in a healthy way.
2. Avoid crash diets
You can also determine your BMR while nursing. BMR is the Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the total number of calories required to keep your body functioning and doing your regular routine tasks. You need to add 300-500 calories to it. You can take help of an app to track the calories. When you eat more, try to include more healthy calories that are not less than 1500-1800. And NEVER ever, ever diet. Avoid sugary and oily foods as much as possible and eat greens and fruits.
Rujuta, Kareena Kapoor’s dietician behind her awesome transformation explains why
“We don’t want to go forward one step and then back two steps. This is what happens when you do crash diets. Crash diets can lead to lifestyle disorders, like postpartum thyroid. When you’re on a crash diet, you reduce the calorie intake and your body is forced to slow down its metabolism.”
3. Drink plenty of water
Water is highly recommended to lose weight, as it helps to flush out toxins and also keeps you fuller. During breastfeeding sessions, staying hydrated is crucial. If you are bored with regular water, you can try infused water, natural juice. Additionally, drink a large glass of water before every meal, it will help you to cut down portion sizes as well.
4. Exercise in moderation
Doing exercise is always the best to stay active but avoid losing too many calories as it can decrease breastmilk supply. Moreover, when your accumulated fat deposits get burned, they also release a lot of toxins which can get passed into the baby's breastmilk. Follow a simple exercise routine like 30 minutes of walking, 10 minutes on treadmills and 5 sun salutations.
Kareena said “After pregnancy, even getting onto a treadmill may require tremendous effort, so the easiest and safest exercise for women to do post delivery is walking.”
5. Take naps
Plenty of sleep is very helpful to lose weight. Every mom goes through strange sleep cycles while handling the baby, it can upset your metabolism and can make it harder for you to lose those extra kilograms. Take a nap when the baby sleeps, this will keep your energy level up and you can also keep a check on your cravings.
6. Eat healthy snacks
Avoid indulging in too much sugary food, as it can drain on your blood sugar level. This is even more significant if you have gestational diabetes. Stock up on nutritious foods, nuts, low-fat yogurt, milk and buttermilk. As per research, calcium can promote weight loss by blocking the hormone responsible to store fat.
Also read: Do Creams and Oils Prevent Pregnancy Stretch Marks?
7. Eat more frequent meals
As a nursing mom, you are bound to be hungry and if you don’t eat well it can affect the milk supply. Eat more frequent meals but in smaller portions. When you are starving you are more likely to eat junk and sugary items. Divide your meals into 5-6 meals throughout the day.
Conclusion
Losing weight after pregnancy can be a challenging but beneficial journey. It’s essential to maintain a healthy diet both during pregnancy and after pregnancy. It’s actually not advised to stick to a diet that offers quick weight loss. By breastfeeding frequently, avoiding crash diets, staying hydrated, doing exercise, getting enough sleep, eating high-fiber foods and maintaining your calorie intake. Try to keep realistic goals and with little patience, you can lose weight since you brought a wonderful baby into the world.
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