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Losing Weight After Pregnancy
The Vegan (Healthy) Way
Losing weight after pregnancy is often one of the first things on the mind of young mothers.
While gaining weight during pregnancy is vital to the health of your unborn child, and most women embrace that process, I know some get anxious about putting on weight. Some eye the birth day as the starting mark in a race to lose the baby weight. This is a guide to losing pregnancy weight in a healthy, joyful way.
Don't Put Too Much Pressure On Yourself
to Lose Weight
To start, you should expect that by the end of your pregnancy you will end up gaining anywhere from 15-45 pounds, depending on your weight before pregnancy. With a normal BMI, you should gain 25-35 pounds, and if you are underweight, it will be on the higher end of the scale. If you're overweight, you will be more in the range of 15-25 pounds.
Much of that weight is not just fat, but uterus, baby, blood, and other bodily fluids associated with your new baby. Some of the weight loss after pregnancy will happen immediately, but the rest is going to take some time.
It took you nine months to put on the weight, so you should expect it to take nine months to go away. Studies show that if you haven't lost the pregnancy weight at the one year mark, it's more likely to become permanent, so that's a nice, healthy goal for losing pregnancy weight.
Most likely your weight loss after pregnancy will be in the 1-2 pounds per week range, but for the first six weeks you should not make any extra attempts to lose weight.
Healthy Tips for Losing Weight After Pregnancy
Breastfeeding helps your uterus to contract and tighten, which speeds the process of losing your pregnancy belly. However, breastfeeding is not a good time to start losing weight after pregnancy. You need to be eating enough calories to provide proper nutrients for your growing baby, so don't start trying to cut out calories while breastfeeding.
What's great is that a vegan diet is perfect for losing weight after pregnancy, as well as for your breastfeeding baby. Focus on eating mostly whole grains, vegetables, fruits, beans, and nuts and seeds, and you will experience vegan weight loss. Leafy greens are packed with folic acid, which is excellent for your growing baby, so load up on them.
Once your doctor or midwife clears you to start exercise, slow and stay wins the race. You'll probably want to start by just taking your baby out for a few short walks each day. You can also use the baby's nap time to do some exercise videos, or to have someone babysit while you run to an exercise class. If you've had a cesarean section, it might take longer before the wound is healed enough for you to exercise regularly.
Make sure to get rest whenever you can, and the sooner your baby gets on a regular sleep schedule, the better it is for your weight loss. Studies have shown that women who get less than six hours of sleep at night by the time the baby is six months old will have a harder time losing weight after pregnancy than moms whose babies sleep at night.
Give yourself a break and don't put too much pressure on yourself to lose weight. If you eat properly, drink enough water, and For more information on healthy diet plan and tons more information on vegan weight loss, check out this great site.
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Want to meet the Vegan Momma? It’s me, Cathleen Woods!
I believe some of the most important things you can teach a child are to respect all living beings, to cook food that was grown in the earth, and to understand that our actions have an impact on the environment in which we live. Raising my daughter as a vegan has been a natural process, and as she's grown I am amazed at how well she understands and believes in these basic principles. Vegan-Momma is my way of sharing what I've learned about raising vegans with the world. I hope you love it!
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