| On average, a woman gains between 25 and 35 | | | | delivering. Don't worry about exercise so much as |
| pounds during her pregnancy. During and labor and | | | | just being sure you remain active and moving |
| immediately after delivery a new mother might | | | | around. You can use your menstrual cycle as an |
| shed 10 to 15 pounds of that. This leaves from 10 | | | | indicator of when your body is ready to take on |
| to 25 additional pounds of weight left on the new | | | | a more intentional program of diet and exercise; |
| mom's "new" body. It can be a source of great | | | | when it normalizes, you're ready to go. |
| shock, disappointment, frustration, and despair to | | | | Start slow: Your body is still healing from the |
| a woman to discover that after giving birth she | | | | pregnancy, and diving headlong into a heavy-duty |
| can no longer fit into the clothes she wore prior | | | | exercise regimen may be too much of a shock |
| to the pregnancy. | | | | to your newly-adjusting system to do you any |
| Losing weight after pregnancy is not a fool's | | | | good at all. Walking around the block or the park |
| errand, but neither is it an easy errand; it requires | | | | with your baby is an excellent way to begin, and |
| patience, a realistic attitude, a positive outlook, and | | | | it primes your body exquisitely for taking on |
| when it comes down to it - persistence and | | | | more extensive and intensive exercise at a later |
| dedication. A realistic outlook by any means is to | | | | date. |
| expect to lose no more than 1 or 2 pounds per | | | | Set yourself up for success: That means keep |
| week. For an extra 10 to 25 pounds, then, that | | | | your kitchen stocked with fresh and healthy |
| can take anywhere from 2 months to 2 years. | | | | foods, particularly snacks, so when you feel the |
| There's no quick fix to losing weight after | | | | urge to eat something, you have only suitable |
| pregnancy - not a sustainable and lasting one, at | | | | options around. Several smaller meals throughout |
| least. So the best way to succeed is to start out | | | | the day will serve your ends far better than just |
| with realistic expectations for the time frame in | | | | 2 or 3 large meals. And don't try and starve |
| which to achieve your results and with the | | | | yourself. You'll do no good to your new baby that |
| commitment to seeing the process through, | | | | way, and you'll invariably find yourself binging |
| however long it may take. | | | | sometime later on to compensate. |
| Now that you have the right mental attitude, let's | | | | Have patience with yourself. The period of time |
| go over a few suggestions for ways to get rid of | | | | following pregnancy is already exhausting and |
| that unwanted weight postpartum: | | | | exasperating enough, on so many levels. Don't |
| Don't start right away: Contrary to the "do it | | | | burden yourself further with guilt, shame, and |
| now" mentality you're normally advised to live by, | | | | unrealistic expectations. |
| when you've just given birth, your body needs | | | | Shedding excess weight after pregnancy is not an |
| time to adjust to the changes it's undergone over | | | | easy task, but it can be done. Every body is |
| the preceding 9 months. Remember, you are not | | | | different. Rather than comparing your rate of |
| "returning" to the state you were in before your | | | | postpartum weight loss to that of any other new |
| pregnancy; you're in a new state you've never | | | | mother, focus on sticking to the slow and steady |
| been in before. You are in the body of a new | | | | path to the long-lasting results you crave: a body |
| mother, and this body needs time to get used to | | | | that glows more than it ever did during or before |
| this new way of being. Avoid weight-loss dieting | | | | you got pregnant. |
| of any sort for a good three months after | | | | |