Postpartum Weight Loss

After nine months of pregnancy and carrying an extra 20 to 60 pounds around, and after finally having that baby and taking inventory of your postpartum body, you’re likely thinking, “Yikes!” and “How fast can I lose this weight ?”

While you may be over eager to jump into your postpartum weight loss, it’s actually advisable to be patient, take it easy, and go slowly. Remember, it took nine months to pack on those pounds, so it’s likely to take about that long—if not longer—to lose them. In addition, it takes new moms time to recover from the ordeal of childbirth, which is another reason to go easy.

Your first priority is the care of your newborn, and the second, taking care of yourself—by resting and taking it easy.

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Besides taking it easy and going slow, it’s also important not to compare yourself with other new moms with post-baby weight loss. Remember, everyone’s pregnancy weight gain, body, and circumstances are different, and it’s important to keep this in mind as your start thinking about and planning for weight loss.

Make sure you eat healthy foods in the first several months, but don’t try to diet, especially if you’re breastfeeding. You will need extra calories and nutrients from a wide variety of healthful foods to give you strength and energy to deal with motherhood and to recover physically and emotionally, as well as to keep the milk factory chugging and able to nourish your child.

However, after a few months, once your milk supply is established, you can start focusing your energies on weight loss, and start adjusting your diet and caloric intake slowly and very gradually. You will still need more calories and nutrients while breastfeeding, but a good weight loss tip to keep in mind is to focus on eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats rather than high-calorie snacks and sweets.

You also shouldn’t jump right into exercising for postpartum weight loss, either, besides gentle walking and stretches. In fact, doctors and other postnatal health professionals advise against any type of sustained or vigorous exercises until your six-week postpartum checkup. If everything is okay, then you’re given the green light for exercise. But don’t start until you feel ready.

Once you feel your body can handle more intense and active exercise, it becomes essential to start slow, then build up, and keep up a good pace of exercising as regularly as you can manage if your goal is weight loss.

The time it takes to lose all your pregnancy weight depends on how much weight you put on, and how dedicated you are to your weight-loss goals. Also, keep in mind that while breastfeeding does help you to lose weight faster in the beginning, it is likely that you won’t lose those last five to 15 pounds until after you have weaned your baby.

Had a baby? Lose the extra weight!