A desired pregnancy is a happy time in a woman’s life. The expectant mother enjoys life, walks a lot, seeks to experience only positive emotions, protects herself from troubles, leads a healthy lifestyle. And she does not deny herself a tasty one, naively hoping: "I give birth - I will constantly move and lose weight quickly."
Reasons for a constant feeling of hunger during pregnancy
In the last months of pregnancy, a woman often begins to experience a painful feeling of hunger - a baby in the womb requires useful trace elements and vitamins necessary for full development.
Hormonal changes caused by pregnancy also play an important role in what the expectant mother constantly wants to eat.
Another reason is psychological: we all have heard more than once that the expectant mother should eat for two, rest a lot and move less. This is fundamentally the wrong statement. Many do not believe in him, but still many women unconsciously follow this stupid advice. Sometimes the desire to eat something (preferably sweet or fat) overshadows common sense, and the woman succumbs to it. The result is logical: during pregnancy, many women gain excess weight in excess of the norms recommended by the World Health Organization - from 7 to 16 kilograms.
What is fraught with a strong weight gain during pregnancy
When the expectant mother comes to the next scheduled appointment with the gynecologist, he grabs his head and starts scolding her and begging her to stop eating too much. There is a reason for this. Excess weight is very harmful for both the pregnant woman and her unborn child:
- Due to excess weight, gestational diabetes can develop, which usually goes away after the birth of the baby, but in some cases, if the woman has a hereditary predisposition, remains for the rest of her life. The child may also develop diabetes during the following life.
- Being overweight is at risk of developing hypertension.
- Gained kilograms risk causing gestosis - an extremely dangerous condition for both the pregnant woman and her child.
- The development of cardiovascular disease is another sad consequence of the love of overeating.
- Due to overeating, a large child is born in a woman, this is fraught with unforeseen complications in the process of childbirth.
- Excess mother weight is extremely dangerous for an unborn baby. Possible oxygen starvation, difficulty supplying nutrients to the fetus, an increased risk of neurological diseases and heart defects, as well as a high risk of obesity.
The most dangerous consequences of weight gain were listed above, but there is one not dangerous, but very unpleasant consequence.
The kilograms gained during pregnancy do not want to part with their mistress. An unpleasant surprise awaited many women after childbirth: it is not easy to part with extra pounds. But before pregnancy, many easily managed their weight: for some it was enough to give up sugar and carbohydrates for a while, someone helped the gym, someone ate only salads for several days - and the excess weight with forms evaporated before our eyes.
Why it became hard to lose weight
Childbirth and the postpartum period are a huge stress for the female body both physically and psychologically, especially if the first-born is born. The young mother has not yet learned how to allocate time so that it is enough for both the baby and herself. Maternal instinct requires that the mother selflessly and completely devote all her time and energy to the child. The result - the mother eats as necessary and when necessary. This usually happens when the father of the child appears in the house. He cooks food (usually dinner) and mom finally eats something. Since the mother never ate during the day of the difficult work of caring for the newborn, she is very hungry and eats portions much larger than they should.
There may be such an option: the mother takes care of the baby, and when he falls asleep, she runs to the refrigerator and eats whatever she finds. And he eats “with a margin”: who knows when there will still be an opportunity to eat?
New physical activity does not contribute to the loss of excess weight. It would seem that the young mother moves a lot and gets tired so that she lacks the spirit to even think about the gym, not to go there.
But these physical activities do not contribute to weight loss after childbirth at home. A young mother is busy with such activities as carrying a baby in her arms. She constantly leans in, wears a heavy stroller up the stairs - this has a negative effect on her mother’s back, but not on her weight.
After pregnancy and childbirth, the hormonal background changes, as a result of which the metabolism slows down. This is conceived by nature: the accumulated fat protects the uterus during the recovery period after childbirth. And also thanks to this fat, the mother will not freeze during frosts and will warm the baby with her soft body.
If a woman is breastfeeding, the body accumulates any calories - this is necessary for milk production. In connection with breastfeeding, the older relatives put pressure on the young mother to eat more and more nutritious, as if the child receives more useful and nutritious substances with milk.
Another reason for weight gain is baby blues, a depressed mood that a young mother can visit. This is not postpartum depression, but still an extremely unpleasant state of mind. Up to 80% of women experience this extremely negative state, and they need support from friends and relatives. This postpartum symptom disappears within 2 weeks - a maximum of a month, but during this time the young mother manages to gain a few extra pounds, which are then difficult to get rid of. During the baby blues, a woman is sad, crying and ... seizes melancholy.
Some time after giving birth
Many young mothers at some point linger near the mirror and are horrified: “What have I turned into?” They have a desire to urgently return to their previous form and they begin to look for the answer to the urgent question: how to quickly lose weight after childbirth? But quickly lose weight does not work. People say: “How many months he gained weight, in the same number of months he will leave.” It is not known how this saying is true, but one thing is certain: zeal in losing weight after childbirth is fraught with negative consequences. It’s better to get rid of excess gradually, the better the result will be, and the kilograms lost will not return.
Where to begin
The most important thing in the fight against weight gain is nutrition. How to lose weight after childbirth with nutrition: firstly, you need to completely change your eating habits. If before pregnancy and childbirth you ate what you wanted and when you wanted, then after childbirth, start to eat fractionally - 5-6 times a day in small portions. Nutrition itself should not be very high in calories. If the season allows, take short snacks with fruit.
Eliminate carbonated drinks from your diet, especially Coca-Cola, which contains a critical amount of sugar. Store-bought, supposedly natural, juices also contain sugar.
Do not be afraid to eat fermented milk products such as yogurt and kefir. They contain probiotics that give an excellent immune response and are transmitted to the baby along with breast milk.
Do not forget about natural protein, and if you are prone to iron deficiency anemia, eat red meat at least 2 times a week.
Consume carbohydrates only in the morning.
It is recommended to exclude potatoes from the diet altogether: it does not have the necessary vitamins and mineral elements, but it is stuffed with carbohydrates and starch, which is hardly useful.
If you are breast-feeding, do not eat very small portions in the hope of losing weight as quickly as possible, this can affect the quality and quantity of your milk. Remember: if you breastfeed, you already automatically lose 500 calories per day. But this does not mean that you can indulge in cakes and pastries, in addition, do not forget that the "500 calorie rule" applies only in the first year of a baby’s life. To the question of whether it is possible to lose weight after childbirth, the reviews of nutritionists and nutritionists are unequivocal: yes, you can, just don’t have to limit yourself to useful trace elements and vitamins.
If losing weight does not happen instantly - be patient, you will surely succeed, but not immediately.
Sleep is health
Hearing this phrase, a young mother can either cry or pounce on you with fists. The fact is that in the life of a young mother, sleep is catastrophically small. This phenomenon is called “sleep deprivation,” and it is a real tragedy that is fraught with postpartum depression and psychosis. Therefore, a young mother needs an assistant, at least in the first months after giving birth.
Healthy sleep contributes to the loss of extra pounds. The fact is that our body restores energy either through food (calories) or through sleep.
If sleep in a person’s life is not enough, he will unknowingly gain energy through food.
Therefore, try to find a way to get enough sleep as much as possible.
When can I start physical education after childbirth
A small remark: you should not try to perform exercises for weight loss immediately after childbirth. It should be at least 5-6 weeks after a natural birth without complications and tears. If the baby was born using cesarean section, you need to wait at least 2 months with exercise and start doing it only with the permission of the surgeon.
The very first exercises should be as gentle as possible, even if you have physical training and the word "gym" is familiar to you. Imagine that you have never been involved in sports, and for the first 4 months from the start of classes, do only warm-up exercises. Six months after the birth, you can begin to do exercises for weight loss after childbirth more intensively, increase the load.
Important
If you want to lose weight after childbirth while feeding, you should start playing sports after you feed the baby. At this time, the resulting lactic acid will be neutralized.
Wear a special sports bra for nursing mothers
Drink the right amount of fluid. As the load increases, the amount of fluid consumed should increase. This is necessary so that the amount of milk produced does not decrease.
In order to lose weight after childbirth during feeding without negative consequences, you can not dramatically increase the load. If this rule is not followed, there is a risk that milk will be lost.
In the first months after birth, sports should not be longer than half an hour. At the same time, consider: if you perform exercises for weight loss after childbirth during breastfeeding, you automatically burn from 500 calories per day. This means that breastfeeding helps to lose weight faster.
Recommended Types of Exercises
They are as follows:
- Walking. This type of physical exertion of a young mother cannot be avoided. In the question of how to quickly lose weight after childbirth, walking is in the first place. Walking is good for both mother and her baby.
- Swimming. A very useful form of exercise for losing weight after childbirth. You can do it with your baby. Tidies back and chest muscles
- Pilates. Not only tone the muscles, but also contributes to a good mood.
- Water gymnastics. Increases the elasticity of joints and ligaments, leads to muscle tone. According to reviews, it is this sport that contributes to weight loss after childbirth at an accelerated pace.
- Yoga. Not only does the female body get into shape fairly quickly after childbirth, it also prevents the appearance of postpartum depression and nervousness caused by a lack of sleep and rest.
- Special group sports for mothers with babies.
Abdominal Weight Loss Exercises
Even if a woman followed a diet during pregnancy, did not lean on sweets, and did not exceed the WHO norms for weight, after giving birth her belly will be the most problematic area. And this is completely normal, because within 40 weeks the abdominal muscles were stretched, the uterus grew.
If you have not gained critical weight during pregnancy and breastfeeding, be aware that in a matter of months your stomach will return to normal. During breastfeeding, the uterus contracts and decreases in size along with the stomach, and you will not notice how you lost weight after childbirth. If it happened that your baby was breast-fed or you relaxed a little during pregnancy and gained weight, you can’t do without exercises to lose belly after childbirth.
The most famous effective exercises are exercises to strengthen the muscles of the abs.
You can find out how to strengthen your abdominal muscles after childbirth by watching videos of fitness trainers. In them, many trainers explain how to lose weight after giving birth to a nursing young mother.
These exercises are good because you can do them without going to the gym. However, there are cases when the pace of life is such that a young mother is physically unable to carve out 20 minutes for the press to swing. These are twin moms or those who have no helpers at all. For such women, there are also effective exercises that will help both lose weight after childbirth and reduce belly.
These exercises are called Planck and Vacuum.
On the "Planck" takes 2-3 minutes. How to do this exercise, you can see in the video below.
Many fitness trainers demonstrate this exercise and explain how to perform it correctly in order to lose weight after childbirth as comfortable as possible.
Exercise "Vacuum" is good in that it can be performed even on a walk with a child, the main thing is not to forget. Doing this exercise is not difficult.
If you are at home, the optimal pose for this exercise is the cat pose from yoga or lying on the floor. If you are on a walk with a stroller, you can do the "Vacuum" on the go.
Inhale as much air as possible into the lungs, and when you exhale, bend as cats do. Exhale all the air from the lungs, drawing in the stomach as if you want to stick it to the spine. Hold your breath for a few seconds and stay in that position for at least 20 seconds.
Repeat this exercise 3 times per set and as often as possible. If you perform this exercise every time you think of it in the bustle of everyday worries, the result will come in a matter of weeks.
Other benefits of this exercise: improves posture, eliminates visceral fat.
What is important, this is a very effective exercise for those who have experienced such an unpleasant and hazardous phenomenon as diastasis.
Diastasis often appears precisely during pregnancy: the rectus abdominis muscles diverge as the abdomen grows, and after childbirth they may not converge even in those who strengthened abdominal muscles for years before pregnancy.
Either surgery or Vacuum can save you from diastasis.
What types of physical activity are contraindicated after childbirth
Not all sports are equally beneficial for young mothers. In conclusion to the article, we list those types of physical activity that you can not deal with after childbirth
- Adrenaline sports. If you are thinking about how to lose weight after childbirth during breastfeeding, and want to do any of the sports that cause you to rush of adrenaline, because you practiced these sports before pregnancy - temporarily refuse this. Adrenaline flashes in the blood will deprive your baby of mother's milk.
- Run. This sport is contraindicated in breastfeeding, it also burns milk.
- Any power sports. Despite the fact that exercises with weights (barbells, dumbbells) burn calories perfectly, they also burn milk. In addition, power sports can cause bleeding and damage the spine and spinal muscles.
- Cycling and tennis. They give a big load on the heart and mammary glands.
As you can see, it is possible to lose weight after childbirth, but you have to follow a lot of conditions and not show excessive zeal and enthusiasm.
You still have time to regain your form, but for now there is a person in the world for whom you are the most beautiful in any weight. This person is your favorite long-awaited baby. If you are reading this article while in a position - just believe that it is harder to get back in shape after giving birth to sweets that are sweet and high-calorie, so try not to bring this up, even though it's not easy.