Giving Birth is a great experience for a mom. It is common to maintain additional pounds after giving birth and many women cannot wait to regain their pre-pregnancy shape as soon as possible.
It normally takes up to 6 months after pregnancy for your body to regain to pre-pregnancy shape. Dont be in too much hurry to cut calories even you are not breast feeding. You will feel completely exhausted after giving birth and being responsible for a new baby can also be very tiring and stressful. It will require all your energy especially at night as you have to get up for “night-feeds” and all the other demands of a new infant!
It is important that you make sure that you concentrate on eating healthy food enriched with enough calories and nutrients to give you the energy and nutrition to take care your new born baby especially if you breast feedings. Breastfeeding burns about 500 calories per day, so the longer you breastfeed, the more calories you burn.
Exercising too soon and too energetically after giving birth can be damaging to your health. Especially as a new mom, you wont have much time to exercise, you can start a light exercise like take a 10 minute walk with the baby every day or running up and down the stairs a few times.
Be Patient! After 2-3 months, when you feel your strength is returning, and when your period has returned to normal, you can start following a healthy weight loss diet and begin doing more vigorously exercises, such as running or training on an Elliptical. You can take Strip That Fat’s advice and “Go Easy!”
How long it takes to regain to pre-pregnancy weight? It is depends on how much weight you gained during your pregnancy. The average gain in weight during pregnancy is 25-35 pounds. Mothers typically lose 12-14 pounds after pregnancy, leaving a remainder of about 12-21 pounds of weight to be lost which should easily be lost within 6-8 months. Every woman is different, however, so use this as a flexible guide, and remember the main goal is to be a healthy, happy mom!