Introduction
The birth of a child is beautiful and in almost all cases it is a great joy for the parents. After the first euphoria has slowly subsided, it is time to return to reality. And for many new mothers this means the realization that the baby is there – but the baby pounds from the pregnancy as well!
So what to do if you want to have your pre-pregnancy figure back? How can you lose weight healthily after pregnancy? Does it work at all?
Permanently and healthy? And if so, how? All these questions will be answered in the following.
When am I allowed to do sports again after a pregnancy?
When you are allowed to do sport again after pregnancy depends very much on how fit you stayed during the pregnancy. If you were physically active in the last weeks of pregnancy, you can start with simple stretching exercises and light sport just a few days after the birth. After a Caesarean section, it is essential to consult your doctor before any physical activity.
In the first few weeks after giving birth, many women also do postnatal exercise and pelvic floor exercises. Women who have not done any sports during pregnancy and are new to sports in general should definitely start exercising slowly. It is advisable to take walks in the first few weeks, which can be extended gradually.
The simplest way to lose weight after pregnancy is to assume that a woman who was previously of normal weight has gained the (recommended) amount of weight during her pregnancy. Much of the weight that was gained as a result of an uncomplicated pregnancy disappears in this case almost by itself. With the birth of the child, about 3 – 4 kg are lost.
The uterus shrinks again and loses weight in addition to size. The breasts find their previous size after the hormonal change has been completed – breastfeeding women often notice this during the course of the breastfeeding period, non-nursing women often notice it earlier. Any additional water retention also gradually disappears as soon as the natural oestrogen balance has returned to normal.
Which might also interest you: Losing weight on the stomach But what about the remaining weight? Depending on how much you put on weight over a period of 9 months, there will still be kilos left over after all these changes. This is where the nutrition of the newborn baby and the actual purpose of weight gain during pregnancy come into play: If you breastfeed your baby, the body needs – without it being very noticeable – an enormous amount of energy to produce breast milk.
For example, many women notice a great desire for high-calorie snacks or they eat more overall than before pregnancy. In addition to such adjustments, however, the body also draws on previously stored energy reserves, i.e. its fat pads. The fat stored in this way is broken down, converted into energy and used to produce milk to supply the infant with nutritious breast milk and thus cover its daily calorie requirements.
So anyone who breast-feeds automatically loses pregnancy pounds – with a small restriction. The exception to this rule are those who consume even more calories than are needed for breastfeeding. If all the calories that the body converts during breastfeeding are ingested in the form of food, the body does not have to rely on depot fat for energy production and the weight remains constant. If your daily energy intake even exceeds your energy requirements, you will gain weight, regardless of whether you are breastfeeding or not. So if you make sure, despite the new mother’s happiness and the breastfeeding phase, that you eat approximately the amount of food that was normal before the pregnancy and breastfeed your child, your weight will also regulate itself automatically.
