Post Pregnancy Diet

Contents:

• Diet for Healthy Post-Baby Weight Loss
• What Can Be Done to Prevent Weight Gain and Not to Harm the Baby?
• Best Diet to Lose Weight after Pregnancy

Diet for Healthy Post-Baby Weight Loss

Many women gain extra weight during pregnancy. It can be just some 6-8 kilograms or a significant weight gain of 10-20 kilograms. Usually a woman looses about 4-6 kg straight after the delivery, but it takes a lot of effort to get back into shape. Many women mistakenly assume that they will get their body back without any problem. Of course, those who minded their weight gain during the pregnancy will loose weight quicker, but it still takes some work to do it. In fact, something can be done as soon as the first months after giving birth.

After a baby is born a woman’s body experiences a great amount of stress caused by both the delivery and hormonal changes. Strict dieting is not recommended during that time, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t be mindful about what you are eating.

What Can Be Done to Prevent Weight Gain and Not to Harm the Baby?

The main rules of a healthy diet during the first 2-3 months after the pregnancy are:

1. A woman burns more calories during that busy period, which means that her daily meals should contain at least 500-600 calories more than usual. Thus, a daily calorie plan should be around 3000 calories.
2. It’s important to have a healthy diet so that the baby gets all the vitamins and micronutrients it needs through the breast milk.

Post-pregnancy daily meal plan should include:

• Milk, kefir, curdled milk (0.5 l minimum);
• Cottage cheese or similar (50-100 g.);
• Meat (about 200 g.);
• Vegetables (600-800 g.);
• Eggs and butter (50 g.);
• Fruit (not less than 300-500 g.);
• Bread (400-500 g.);
• Vegetable oil (20-30 g.).

Try to avoid rich foods such as sour cream, cream, mayonnaise, fat meat, duck or goose meat, nuts, sugar, candies, baking, cookies, rice and potatoes. Be cautious about allergic foods: honey, citruses, strawberry, chocolate, coffee, fish, pickled vegetables, canned foods, meat broth, eggs and deli meats. All alcohol including beer is strongly prohibited.

3. Try to eat 3-6 meals per day, because that is not only a healthy meal plan but also good for producing breast milk. Spread food throughout the day evenly and avoid uncontrollable snacks. Don’t eat late at night; the last meal should be eaten not later than 6-7 p.m. If you are hungry have a glass of milk or eat some fruit.

4. Make sure you drink enough water. A post pregnancy diet plan should include at least 2 l of water per day during the first 3 months. Women with increased milk production can drink a little bit less water. The easiest way to see if you drank enough water is to check if you have a regular urination.

5. To avoid gaining weight, a woman can apply Dr Shelton’s food combining rules. The rules state that proteins and carbohydrates or fats must be eaten separate meals/see “Shelton’s food combining rules” and “Chart of compatible foods”. Food combining will be beneficial for your health and weight loss without any harm to your baby.

6. Make sure you exercise regularly but don’t push yourself too hard as that can affect breastfeeding. Do some household chores, stretching and walking, but intense workouts should be avoided.

7. Getting enough sleep and rest is very important for keeping fit. It’s scientifically proved that an 8-9 hour sleep helps you keep fit, and to the contrary, lack of sleep increases the weight gain, that’s why you need to think through your work-to-rest ratio.

After first 3 months you can increase your efforts but don’t try to loose your weight instantly. It’s hard to do because, firstly, the weight gain is a natural mechanism for protecting a mom and baby, and secondly, a hormonal imbalance during this period prevents the body from loosing weight even on a strict diet. Choose a healthy diet and increase your exercises slowly to loose your weight smoothly.

Best Diet to Lose Weight after Pregnancy