Dieting After Pregnancy
So the time has arrived and you are now a new mother with a new little stranger to occupy your time after 9 long months of waiting for him to arrive. If you are like most new young mothers in this day and age, you are probably trying to figure out how you are going to lose the extra weight you put on while you were pregnant. This is all well and good to think that way, just don't go crazy with a radical weight loss diet or crash diet to take the pounds off quickly because there is so much peer pressure to get back to your pre-pregnancy figure and weight.
Unfortunately, we live in a time when celebrity pregnancies are all the rage...with or without a husband...and as soon as the baby makes his appearance; bingo! it's time to diet and exercise and get that weight off fast so we can parade on the cover of Hoopdee Doopdee magazine with our money making figure regained. Well, don't be fooled by this irresponsible behavior...dieting after pregnancy is a serious matter and one not to be taken lightly or you can suffer serious consequences.
It is possible to lose the weight in a shorter period of time than normal, but it is usual ly done under the guidance of a professional fitness trainer to help with the exercise routine and diet that is needed to get the weight off in a healthy manner. And these trainers don't come cheap. If you are not in the same tax bracket as some of these celebrities we are talking about, then dieting after pregnancy is a fact of life that you have to pull off on your own.
Since that is usually the case, where you and your doctor are the ones trying to formulate a plan to help you lose the weight; then you are much better off if you use the "9 months on, 9 months off" rule. As you probably have deduced from the name, that means it took you 9 months to put the weight on during the pregnancy, then you should allow 9 months to take it off in a healthy way.
Think about it...with all the demands you will now have on your physical strength and your emotions coupled with the lack of sleep you will be experiencing; you don't need a radical dieting after pregnancy plan that will sap your strength when you need it the most. You will now be charged with not only your own health and wellbeing, but also that of the newborn baby, who is dependant on you for everything....life itself.
So be careful when you think about losing the weight, and how you are going to go about it. Stay sensible in your eating habits, like you did when you were pregnant, and if you are breastfeeding the infant, you will need all your strength and lots of good nutrition to keep your energy level up and be able to provide enough fuel for the child as well.
One other little aside, is that while you are breastfeeding, you actually do lose weight....studies show you will burn 700calories a day while breastfeeding; so if you keep your diet on the even keel it was when you were pregnant, you should lose weight without too much effort.
Work with your doctor to set up a plan that will work for you so that you do not deprive yourself of any essential nutrients that you now need for good health, and also for the health of the baby. It is very important to stay with sensible plan, and lose the weight slowly and in a gradual pace.
Remember, now that you are a mother and you have an infant who is depending on you for his life and health, make sure that your plan for dieting after pregnancy is a solid, sensible one that you have worked out with the help of your doctor, and one that you can stick to. You need to be as careful, even more so now, as you were when you were carrying the baby as to what you eat. You do not need or want to get sick from lack of a proper diet and poor nutrition when you have a little someone looking to you for his existence.