When Should I Start To Lose My Baby Weight

The first thing any mum should be keep in mind when adjusting to their post baby body is not to stress about the pregnancy weight gain and be thankful of the amazing job your body has done by producing little babies!

The media have a wonderful habit of publishing celebrity post baby bodies on the red carpet only a few weeks after the birth of their baby and this can make the normal mum feel inadequate that their bodies do not look the same.

But hopefully most of us can take the celebrity mums weight loss with a pinch of salt. They do not have lives like ours and many of them feel extreme pressure to lose their weight in record time and as such have full time nannies, night nannies, personal trainers, full time chefs and dieticians to help them lose weight so they can get back to work as soon as possible – which most people do not have!

The advice we like to give to mums is to not even think about trying to lose weight until you feel 100% ready to do so and not to think about it until you are feeling that life with your baby is under control and your hormones have settled down. And for every mum this is different.

For some mums this can be a couple of months after the birth of their baby and for others it is more than 12 – 24 months.  The key to remember is that weight loss is a deeply personal issue and if you put pressure on yourself to do it too quickly you run the risk of making yourself miserable and not being emotionally ready to do so which will result in you not reaching your goals.

It is also important to remember that when you do decide to lose weight that you do it in a healthy way and focus on eating a diet rich in nutrients by including foods like whole grains, fruit, vegetables, lean proteins and legumes and if you are breastfeeding make sure you are following a breastfeeding safe plan (we have a 28 Day Breastfeeding Friendly Diet & Exercise Plan which you may find helpful) and steer clear of any diets which restrict calorie intake or include weight loss accelerants.

A healthy weight loss is an average of 500g – 1kg a week and if you combine a healthy diet with daily light exercise you can reach your goals without having to resort to drastic measures.

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This article was written by Rhian Allen, Founder of Lose Baby Weight. For more motivation, advice, recipes and exercise plans visit http://www.losebabyweight.com.au and for daily motivation join the Lose Baby Weight Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/losebabyweight.com.au