If you keep certain things in mind during the pregnancy as well as the post partum period, you would not be stuck with carrying the baby weight well past years after your baby is born.
During pregnancy:
- Keep a check on what you are eating. It is true that your baby gets nutrition from your body. This doesn’t mean that your keep gorging on food. Eat when you are hungry and ensure the food you are taking is healthy. All the junk food taken during this period would just pile on the pounds and offer no nutrition. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to provide you with fiber, proteins to help you with energy.
- Be physically active. Even during pregnancy, you can exercise. Avoid high intensity exercises during pregnancy, but walking is not restricted. And continue doing the work in your house or other activities that you were used to, pre pregnancy, unless medically advised.
Post partum period
- During post partum, adequate rest is essential to aid the body to recover from the effects of the delivery. Also, this period would be tedious because of the demands of the small baby. Get in as much period of rest as you can.
- Eat a balanced diet during the post partum period. Include veggies, fruits, proteins and adequate amount of carbohydrates. Avoid junk food.
- Start exercising as much you can. Start at lower intensity and for a smaller period of time. Increase the duration and intensity as your tolerance improves. If you are not able to manage the whole exercise at one go, split it up. Instead of exercising 30 minutes at a stretch, you can do 10 minutes of exercises three times a day.
- Start doing strength exercises. Include core exercises in your daily routine in addition to other strength exercises. Get adequate rest in between the strength training schedules.
- Include Kegel’s exercises in your daily regimen. Kegel’s exercises help in strengthening the pelvic floor. This may seem a trivial matter when you are young, but would be really helpful as you age.
- Include your husband and other family members in your efforts to lose weight. Taking care of the baby and exercising in the mean while may become tedious for you, any little help you can get might go a long way.
- Breast-feed your baby. Studies have proven that breast feeding aids in weight loss after pregnancy. The longer you breast-feed, the better for your baby as well as for your efforts at weight loss.
These smaller tips and measures would go a long way in helping you to lose weight that you gained after pregnancy.