Well, you’ve made it through the first 6 weeks of motherhood…you’re starting to feel a bit of a routine forming in your day to day once again (don’t worry it will definitely continue to get easier – you can do this!). By now, you’ve also probably had your postpartum checkup when your doctor told you that everything is healing nicely and you’re ready to get back to your regular physical routine. Way to go, mama! So, with what little sleep-deprived time you may have, how will you go about losing that baby weight? It’s a legitimate question that I’m sure you’ve asked yourself numerous times. Aside from getting yourself moving with some physical activity, your food choices are also really important. Here are a few pointers to get you started…
- Get up and get going. I know you’re tired, but trust me, you’ll feel so much better, mentally and physically, if you take some time out of the day for yourself. Self-care is so important (and so overlooked!). Take a 15-30 minute walk outside with baby. Grab a friend (or a few) if available. It’s always better to have workout accountability. But, start off slow. Giving birth no easy feat, you’re body needs plenty of time to recover and that means you have to take the time to rebuild the endurance you once had. In addition, I offer many yoga, barre, and fitness sequences you can do online on your own time. Best of all, they only take 30 minutes (and you can pause and come back to them if you need to).
- Watch your total calorie intake. That means read your food labels. Pay close attention to the serving size of a food. If the serving size is ½ cup and you eat 1 cup, then you have to multiply the total calories by 2. It’s no secret that when we’re tired and worn out, we tend to make unhealthy food choices for comfort. That means we tend to eat more without even realizing it. Try not to fall into this trap, even if you’re breastfeeding. While it’s true that breastfeeding requires additional calories each day, try to make these healthy calories. Remember, you need a calorie deficit to lose weight. That means paying close attention to what you’re eating. There are so many calorie-counting apps out there to help you. Don’t feel like you need to add another step to your day by actually tallying up calories. The apps already have many foods pre-programmed into them to make it even easier for you. I personally like the Lose It app. Best of all, it’s free! Try it out.
- Be mindful of your sugar and fat intake. Like most people, when I’m stressed out and tired the foods I crave most tend to be high fat, sugary foods. Hello, baked goods! I’m sure you can feel me on this one. Aside from satisfying our senses of taste and smell, sugary foods provide you with quick energy to get you through the next few hours. While this works in the short-term to give us the energy we need to make it through the day, the long-term effect isn’t so great for our waistline. Not to mention, we get hungry again pretty quickly since our body isn’t satisfied. Time to check those high fat, sugary snacks at the door, which leads me to the next tip…
- Eat healthy snacks. Don’t be tempted to fall for one of those fad diets. Yes, you’ll probably lose weight fast on any one of those numerous diet plans, but the problem is that once you’re off the diet (and who can keep something that extreme up forever?), you’ll probably gain the weight back. The best way to take the weight off (and keep it off for good) is to eat healthy, wholesome foods. This begins with having healthful snacks prepped and ready for when you’re all of a sudden hungry after realizing you haven’t eaten all day (I understand that feeling, mamas!). Have celery, peppers, or other cut-up veggies already on hand so you can just grab and go. Hummus is always a great pairing option. Keep some hard-boiled eggs in the fridge or some whole grain bread to pair with almond butter. It’s important to pair a whole grain carb with a lean protein to help you stay satisfied longer until your next healthy meal. Most importantly, get those unhealthy snacks out of the house!
- Take naps. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times. Sleep when the baby sleeps. I bet you want to strangle the next person who tells you that one. We all hear it and we all think the same thing…sure, then when am I going to shower, do laundry, eat, the list goes on and on. Of course, those same mamas who thought those same things are the ones telling you now to take a nap. Why? Because they realize that without that extra sleep, you’ll become a walking zombie with no energy to care for your baby or yourself if you don’t heed the advice at least some of the time. Great thing about sleeping is (in addition to making you feel refreshed) it aids in weight loss by stabilizing hormones in the body. Win, win! So while you might not be able to allow yourself a nap everyday, try to take one at least a few times a week. In a few months, you’ll be SO glad you did.