The female body is phenomenal! It goes through so many changes as it adapts to accommodate a baby. Almost everything grows bigger; the belly, the uterus, breasts, feet, and appetite. It is so amazing how women can power through morning sickness, mood swings, and backaches to bring such precious life into the world.
While the body contends with its changes, the mind also has to fight its own battles. Feelings of depression, anxiety, and fear may heighten during pregnancy and spill into the first few months after childbirth.
In some situations, these physical and mental transformations, when put together, may be an unhealthy combination. After delivery, some new moms tend to get very critical of themselves. They fuss over their ability to care for the new life in their hands, and the changes that have gone on in their body.
New moms need to keep in mind that when it comes to losing baby weight, the goal is not to have a skinnier body, but a healthier and stronger body.
We have come up with 5 tips to help you maintain your figure after childbirth;
1. Recognize the Power of Time
It took 9 months for your body to create the amazing being whom you recently birthed. 9 full months of major and minor changes that all added up to give you the body you have now. Let’s be honest, you will not bounce back to your original body in a just a couple of months, it will take some time and a lot of determination. Once you accept the role that time plays in your journey towards attaining your fitness goals, you will save yourself a myriad of stress, trauma, and disappointment.
- Accept that it will take some time for your body to bounce back to your previous “normal”,
- Set realistic expectations in reasonable timelines, and then work hard and tirelessly towards your goals. For example you can have a specific weight goal that you work towards every month. That way you can measure your progress, adjust your goals and reward yourself accordingly.
- Don’t waste precious time and strength comparing yourself to celebrities and personalities who seemed to have bounced back almost immediately after giving birth. Focus on yourself and your journey which is completely unique to you.
2. Ask for and Accept help
It is easy to get in your head when you have a helpless child whom you are fully responsible for. Self-doubt, anxiety, and paranoia can easily creep in and cause new mothers to fret about a wide range of irrelevant things. This usually translates into sleepless nights and lethargic days which could lead to overeating or undereating. Both of which will take you back many miles on your journey towards maintaining your figure.
- Ask for help when you can. Admit it to yourself that you are not superhuman and you need others to chip in as much as possible. You can ask your partner or trusted family and friends to help with small and/or big tasks. It may take you a while to get used to, but make an effort to trust that you can leave your baby in a responsible person’s care so you can get some shut-eye.
- Accept help. When someone you trust offers to assist you with something, don’t misunderstand their offer to insinuate that they think you are incapable of taking care of yourself and your baby. Instead, appreciate the offer for what it is;, a desire to help you out and lighten your load. Don’t beat yourself up if you are unable to achieve everything on your to-do list, live in the moment, and enjoy the opportunity to love and nurture your child.
Taking some time off to rest will help calm your anxieties and be level-headed enough to make the right decisions.
3. Pay attention to what you eat
- Although a reduction in calorie intake may seem like the best route to take for losing your baby weight, we suggest that you refrain from it.
The body after delivery will require a daily minimum intake of 1500 calories to heal the body and bounce back from postpartum changes, especially after delivery via C-section. For breastfeeding mothers, an additional minimum of 400 calories per day would help in the production of breastmilk.
A reduced calorie intake will reduce the amount of breastmilk that you produce and will affect how well your child is fed. You can include a healthy snack or two into your diet to keep up your calorie intake. Calories are burned during the production of breastmilk, so to an extent, this may help in weight loss.
- Stay away from weight loss supplements, especially if you are breastfeeding. The ingredients in such supplements have not been proven to be safe for pregnant and nursing mothers. Your best bet is to keep away.
- Eat healthily. It may be convenient to yield to your cravings during this period and eat whatever you feel like, but if you really want to maintain your figure, you will need to stay focused on the goal ahead of you. Incorporate more fruits, vegetables and whole grains into your diet. These help with healthy weight loss.
- Eat smaller portions, multiple times a day. Eating at regular intervals during the day helps to increase metabolism and decrease the feeling of hunger from dieting. This, in turn, accelerates weight loss.
- Continue taking your prenatal vitamins for some time after you deliver. This will help to regulate and regularize your hormone levels. You can take some iron and vitamin c; which helps with the absorption of iron.
4. To exercise or not to exercise?
- Doctors do not recommend the use of gym equipment until after 6 weeks post-delivery, especially after a C-section. That should not deter you from exercising. For the first weeks following delivery, you can continue with the exercises you were doing during your pregnancy and before delivery.
- With time, you can transition into more involving workouts while keenly observing how your body responds. You can do some workouts such as Kegels that are designed to help you lose weight and tone your muscles, strengthen your pelvic muscle floor and regain bladder control.
- It is always advised that new moms who want to lose weight and maintain their figure join a fitness club or gym where they can be directed by a qualified trainer to perform workouts that are best suited for them. Watching videos online on your own may be great, but nothing beats the motivation from a coach and an enthusiastic community of people who are all working towards the same goal.
5. Accept your new normal
Instead of trying to fight your new reality, you can welcome your current state as your new normal. Replace resistance with acceptance and learn to love everything that comes with motherhood.
- Acknowledge your body and all the changes it has been through. Notice your current clothes size, your new bra size, your new shoe size, your new tastes, and preferences. Notice and accept them all. Note the ones you can and want to work on, and work at them with dedication and resilience till you get the results you aimed for.
- Although the walls of the vagina are stretched during childbirth, they spring right back in place. Whenever you feel ready, you can resume your sex life. This should contribute to you feeling a lot more like yourself again.
With the baby around, things will never be exactly how they used to be. You can embrace it and choose to live a full life, changes and all. We are certain that you are going to enjoy being a mother.
References
- Grunebaum A, (2021, Feb 23), How to get your body back in shape after pregnancy, https://www.babymed.com/postpartum/how-get-your-body-back-shape-after-pregnancy-12-steps#
- John Hopkins Medicine, What really helps you bounce back after pregnancy, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/what-really-helps-you-bounce-back-after-pregnancy
- Nierenberg C., (May 19, 2015), Body Changes During Pregnancy, https://www.livescience.com/50877-regnancy-body-changes.html#:~:text=%7C%20Shutterstock.com)-,A%20woman’s%20body%20undergoes%20many%20transformations%20during%20the%20nine%20months,uterus%2C%20morning%20sickness%20and%20backaches.