How do you go about losing weight after pregnancy? And I’m not talking about your pregnancy that happened 30 years ago. Sorry, that excuse is out the window, big momma. And I’m not talking about dads who gained weight during their wife’s pregnancy. No excuses there either, big poppa.
In this article, we’re going to discuss how to go about losing weight after pregnancy if you were pregnant less than a year ago.
But wait! If this doesn’t apply to you, don’t close this article. Pass it on to someone who would benefit from it.
In this article, we’re going to discuss:
- How to go about losing weight after pregnancy
- How to fix your diastasis recti (the abdominal muscles that separated during pregnancy)
How to Go About Losing Weight after Pregnancy
The basics of weight loss after pregnancy are the same as weight loss before pregnancy. Let’s review them:
- At least half of everything you eat should be non-starchy vegetables
- About 15-30% of what you eat should be meat, fish or seafood
- The remainder should be starches
- You should be consuming some healthy fats (like fish, avocado, nuts, olive oil, grapeseed oil, etc.)
- You should be doing a mix of strength training and cardio 4-6 days per week. If this is your first time getting into strength training, you should check out the recording of my seminar, strength training for beginners.
Those are the basics, but there are some specifics that apply during this period of your life, and we’ll go over those here:
Breast feed
It’s still debatable whether breastfeeding helps you lose weight or not. But one thing that’s fairly well-established is that breastfeeding helps you burn an extra 300-500 calories per day (depending on the size of your baby, and how much you feed him/her).
So whether it actually helps you lose weight or not, why not go for it, just in case?
Balance Your Hormones
There is an intricate play with the hormones during pregnancy, and in an ideal situation, the hormones balance themselves, and you lose the weight effortlessly (but maybe not quickly). That’s the ideal situation. But what about situations that aren’t very ideal? Then you’ll need to use some external help to help you balance your hormones.
I recommend seeing a naturopathic doctor, like Dr. John Dempster to help with that.
Be Careful with Abdominal Exercises (And How to Fix the Diastasis Recti)
Whereas before pregnancy, you may have had your go-to abdominal exercises that would “flatten and tone” your stomach, you probably want to avoid those during the post-pregnancy period. So exercises like planks, crunches, roman chair knee lifts are out. Why?
Because you have diastasis recti. That is a separation of your abdominal muscles. Here’s a picture of what diastasis recti means.
Original source: here.
Because you had a baby growing under the muscle, it separates in the middle. And doing traditional abdominal exercises will separate it even farther.
So you’ll make your “mommy tummy” even worse. You’ll look like you’re 5 months pregnant pretty much all the time. Even when you’re not. Very frustrating, considering you’re working hard at those abdominal exercises.
And if you’re wondering “do I have diastasis recti?” the answer depends on how long it’s been since you were pregnant. Most times, diastasis recti come back together on their own, but not every time. The ultimate test for it is simple: you check how many fingers you can stick in between your abdominals. It looks like this:
The best way to fix it: see a pelvic floor physiotherapist.
