If you’re looking to bounce back after having a baby There are a few things you need to know. You can have a better body after baby comes, but you want to be careful about how you do it. There are some major diet and fitness pitfalls that mothers need to avoid if they’re going to have a healthy body and take good care of their baby.
Getting a great looking body after the baby comes is possible, as evidenced by the Better Body after Baby program. You’ve probably seen pictures of celebrity models looking fit and thin just a couple months after having their baby.
You might have wondered how it was possible. It could be that they took serious risks and damaged their body in order to get that idealized look back, but you don’t have to. I’m going to share with you some advice I hope helps you to avoid unnecessary risks and also helps you to get the body you want following the birth of your child.
Should you Diet Once the Baby is Born?
You shouldn’t rush to start dieting Right after the baby is born. In fact, health experts recommend that you wait at least six weeks until you even consider beginning a diet program. It’s a very good idea to talk to your doctor before you start any diet program after the baby’s arrival. You may not be feeling better about body image after baby comes along, but you need to be careful about rushing into a diet or workout program.
This can be very damaging to your health and damaging to the baby as well. If you’re breastfeeding, that’s already burning a lot of calories. You may actually have trouble keeping up with the pace of how quickly calories are burned after the baby is born.
It surprises many mothers how many calories they burn while breastfeeding, and dieticians recommend that women eat 1,800 to 2,000 calories every day during this period.
Your body will also be lacking in key nutrients after the baby is born. You need to make sure it’s being rejuvenated and replenished, getting what it needs to thrive. That’s why you want to be very careful about any kind of dieting. You can deprive your body of essential nutrients at time that is particularly vital for your health and health. If you’re not getting enough nutrients and enough food, the breast milk production and quality will suffer.
Start Off Slow with Your Exercise
If you want to make your body after baby even better, then don’t rush into exercise. There is a temptation to start exercising as soon as you feel able to, but you may notice that your energy levels are low.
Giving birth to baby can be very exhausting, and it can take you weeks to start getting your energy levels back. Your energy just won’t be there, and you may find yourself collapsing and fainting because you’re not paying attention or you are expecting your energy to be close to where it was before.
Can I get a better body after baby is born? Sure you can, but you have to give it some time. If you use a crash diet or very strict workout routine, you’re going to cause more damage rather than doing anything to help your body.
If you get back into exercising too quickly after childbirth or your exercises are too intense, you can make postpartum depression even more severe for you. You want to take things slow and easy.
Gauge your energy levels and what you’re able to handle. Start off at a level of exercise that’s much more relaxed than what you did before, and then slowly and gradually work your way back up.
Try simple, easy exercises like yoga, stretches, and walking. Keep away from high intensity exercises and any heavy weightlifting. If you’re going to lift weights, make it small dumbbells rather than a big barbell.
Set the treadmill for a relaxed pace and take things easy for a while. You may not be sure what all your limitations are, but you can easily overexert yourself and make it difficult to get back into exercise by pushing yourself too far during your workout sessions.
It’s Going to Take Dedication
Your post baby body may be difficult to perfect and get the way you want it to look, but having a better body after baby is possible. You just have to get on the diet program and workout regimen as soon as it’s safe to do so and then stick with it.
If you fall off these programs, it can be difficult to get back on. Staying motivated will be a challenge, especially as you’re still trying to recover your energy and get back to eating enough for just one person.
You have to find your motivation for working out, which I’ve written about before, but I will reiterate it here. This is how I stay motivated, keep improving my body, and stay on my diet and workout programs when I’m doing them:
- treat myself with something other than food
- hang around people who have slim, fit bodies
- remind myself what my goals are
- don’t punish myself too hard when I make a mistake
- keep thinking about the consequences of cheating on my diet or skipping a workout
So, sticking with your weight loss program after the baby is born will help you have a better body after baby than before. However, you’ve got to keep your motivation high.
Doing some of the things I just listed will help, but ultimately it comes down to your will and self-control. Your worst enemy is going to be yourself. You will have days where you feel like you want to quit and times where it seems unfair that it takes so much work to get a better body than ever.
Keeping pictures of the kind of body you want to have and posting them in your living spaces will make a big impact on your mental state and your motivation levels.
At the same time, you want to give yourself time to relax and recover. If you’re pushing yourself too hard or you’re very tired, it’s not a bad idea to take a little break and then get back on it the next day or in a couple days.
You want to be careful about splurging at all. Try to clean out your fridge of unhealthy foods, particularly fattening and sugary ones, like milk, cream, desserts, and similar foods.
This takes away a lot of the temptation and makes it easier for you to stay on track. Try to only shop at times when you’re not hungry, like right after a meal. You will be less likely to cheat on your diet or buy things that shouldn’t be kept in your house while you diet.
You should also give yourself a time to rest from your workouts each week. You can choose either five or six days a week to work out, but you should definitely take at least one day.
You can do a few little exercises even on your off days, if you want to keep things moving, but don’t do a full 30 or 45-minute workout session every single day of the week. You need to have time to mentally recover and give yourself a break so that you can keep up the pace.