The Sunday Mail
It’s understandable that you may be keen and impatient to return to your former glory and get on with your life as before.
the best advice I can give you is to allow eight weeks after giving birth to pass before you engage in any form of vigorous exercise.
Your body requires a lot of rest and recuperation from stretches and stress that occurred in weeks prior to giving birth.
If you really feel like exercising before the eight-week period, I recommend light walks, which maybe 10 to 15 minutes long. Vigorous work-outs can cause the body to get acidic and could be harmful to your baby’s milk.
You will find that your body after giving birth will be tender and vulnerable to any dramatic exercise movements which may result in joint injuries and sprains.
Throughout your pregnancy you can gain so much weight than you might like. Some call this “baby fat”, but it is known as water weight.
Water weight gain is a common side-effect of pregnancy, losing it takes time. Although a considerable amount of body fat may be present due to fat stores used to nourish the baby, the remaining weight is very likely just a matter of water retention.
Your body will be holding excess water during pregnancy which is its safety mechanism to protect and store the placenta. It’s a lot easier to get rid of water weight than it is to burn fat.
Some women are naturally slender and lose excess water weight without much effort while some women may need to put in more work.
First time pregnancies usually don’t surpass 13,6kg of weight gain so it’s usually easier to lose weight. When you give birth to number two or three, the weight gain is usually more of body fat than water based so it’s tougher.
Steps to losing weight after pregnancy
1. Exercise: Walking will help reduce swelling in your feet and ankles after delivery. Sweating will be one of the ways you lose water weight; you could wear a walking suit, it promotes sweating.
Ideally your exercise endeavours after pregnancy should aim to re-align your posture and joint alignment pilates is my recommendation. You should stretch more to restore muscle imbalances and stability.
To reduce the belly forget crunches or sit-ups they cannot work since you stretch and lengthen your abs, you need to shorten them through seated tuplers and head lifts (specific belly contracting exercises). You also need to restore the pelvic muscles, try bridge exercises and pelvic tilt exercises.
2. Breast-feeding: Breast-feed your baby unless advised otherwise by your doctor. This will help you to lose weight. Breast feeding for more than four months will be beneficial to your weight loss. This means her body will burn fat and this is the one time in a woman’s life where she will burn the fat in her thighs.
3.Rest: To lose weight the easy way, get plenty rest; if your baby is sleeping – sleep! Your baby may cause you to have strange sleep cycles, this can upset the metabolism and this makes it hard to lose pregnancy weight. Enough rest will help curb sugar cravings.
4.Water: Drinking water will hydrate your body and flush out excess water. I know you doubt this statement but actually the best way to lose water weight is to drink more water and you should be aiming for around 10 to 12 glasses a day.
Dehydration causes water retention and can interfere with your milk production if you are breastfeeding.
5. Don’t take weight loss supplements. Weight loss supplements are not approved for women who are
pregnant or nursing. Take natural weight loss foods that have good fibre sources.
Drink cranberry juice or grapefruit juice, just don’t overdo it to maintain a non-acidic state.
6. Sauna, hot shower or tub: A quick way to lose water weight, try visiting a sauna or steam room, limited to 40 minutes only. When you have a shower close the curtain, create something close to a steam room when you have a hot bath.
7. Eating: I don’t encourage total elimination of carbohydrates as the energy is necessary to recover from giving birth. Avoid a high-protein diet it could cause a energy deficit. Avoid eating processed foods as these can make fluid retention worse.
Increase your potassium; if your body lacks potassium, you retain water because your body is unable to regulate fluid levels accurately. Take special care to go high on calcium to replenish your bones as your body is low
on calcium after giving birth; try white beans which are very high in calcium.
Eat the following foods: Oranges, green and red peppers, melons, potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, salads, beets, broccoli, asparagus, chickpeas and bananas, sunflower seeds, sweet corn and cashews or almonds nuts.
Avoid these foods: coffee, black tea, pizza, foods high in salt and fizzy drinks
Exercise Plan
Monday to Wednesday: Brisk walk, 15 minutes (always stretch before and after walking) Jog 10 minutes
Thursday to Saturday: Walk easy 15 minutes, brisk walk 10 minutes, plank one minute (repeat all).
- Tatenda Musonza is a personal trainer and runs a body makeover course, you can contact him on email: [email protected]
