Losing Baby Weight: 10 Mistakes To Avoid And How To Fix Them
The key to losing baby weight lies in empowering, not punishing your body.
There are plenty of ways out there on losing baby weight. When it comes down to it, a lot of the programs and methods out there are too intense; or extreme for most women looking to lose baby weight in the first year after having their babies.
I’ve worked in the fitness industry for over a decade now and even taken part in bikini fitness shows (seven in total). But in having a single pregnancy leading into single motherhood; only 2 years after losing my own mother, the weight piled on. I comfort ate my way through pregnancy, gaining a solid 22kg; or just over 3 stone.
From my pre-pregnancy figure and position as a busy London Personal Trainer, I was expected to ‘snap back’ — This was self-imposed expectation more than anything.
I did not.
Like everyone else, I had to really put in the work to lose the baby weight.
I didn’t hop onto any fad diets, extreme training regimes or slimming aids. As tempting as speeding the process up was, I wanted to prioritize my mental and physical health. Also to have the energy to enjoy my little girls' early days despite getting as little as 2 hours sleep a night.
It wasn’t always super fun — but I rarely felt hungry; I kept a good milk supply and I had better energy.
By being sensible, I improved my mental wellbeing too. This was massively important to me as I had suffered Post Natal Depression and Severe Insomnia.
Mistake # 1 Cutting Calories Too Low
This is a common mistake in all dieting really, but much more miserable when losing baby weight. Cutting your calories so low that you’re low on energy, crabby and hate what you’re doing is setting yourself up to fail.
It goes like this: If you are hungry, dreaming about all the things you ‘can’t’ have and feel like s***. Chances are that you will fall off the diet pretty sharpish and hit a binge. When you are already hormonal and lacking sleep, the last thing you need to do is cut your calories so low that you don’t sleep well and will elevate feelings of mood swings.
Solution: Make small changes to your diet and each time you nail one for a full week, add another change. If you are breastfeeding you need around an extra 500kcal a day to look after your milk supply.
For example: Make a switch and cut your starchy carbs in half or all together in each meal and replace them with loads of veggies.
Mistake # 2 Guess Work
If you’re forever guessing how much you’re eating and how much you weigh you aren’t going to get very far. Not tracking food intake means you can end up eating and drinking way more calories than you realize.
Solution: I use My Fitness Pal to track my food intake, even if I ham into a whole bag of chocolate buttons and don’t want to accept the reality. That way I can see how well I am doing; if I am eating enough protein, and what really needs to be dropped from my plate.
Mistake # 3 Too Much Too Soon
Having a baby is a huge ask of your body. I don’t think mums give themselves near enough credit for what they have just done in giving birth. Then running on next to no sleep and looking after an extra human! Try to diet, carry out a full intense workout routine, and hold your shit together on top of that, is too much.
Solution: Start small. Early days, walks with the buggy are enough with an aim of 2000 steps a day. Why 2000? To increase your motivation it is better to use a number that is reachable and anything else is a bonus. I own a mum and baby exercise company and follow the guidelines of 6 weeks for a natural birth and 12 weeks for C section before returning to formal exercise to make sure mums are healed well first.
This article from Pregnancybirthbaby Australia provides some guidelines on appropriate postnatal exercise.
Mistake # 4 Avoiding Resistance Training
The common belief that weights make you bulky is now a thing of the past. These days more and more women are hitting the weights room understanding that resistance training helps to give a feminine shape and the ability to burn fat quicker too. But, big but, you need to wait until you have recovered well before you start hitting the weights room.
When you first have a baby you want to start with pelvic floor exercises and gentle rehab work.
I referenced a program by Birthfit for my early postpartum training before returning to lifting weights — a program put together by postnatal specialists. If you aren’t sure of how to get started with weight training it is a good idea to get in contact with a Pre and Post Natal Qualified Level 3 Personal Trainer to help you get started.
I didn’t start back in the gym until 7 weeks and started really light.
Mistake # 5 Not Eating Enough Protein
This was the other urban myth eating protein makes you jacked. While it does support muscle tissue growth, it doesn’t make you look like Arnie.
Protein helps you to feel fuller for longer, helping with food cravings. Your body also uses more energy to break protein down in the digestive system meaning that you are effectively burning more calories just by eating a diet higher in protein.
Mistake # 6 Cutting Food Groups
Cutting food groups means you miss out on key nutrients keeping you happy and healthy. It also means that you’re stripping enjoyment out of your life. Couple cutting food groups with cutting your calories super low — it’s safe to say you’re going to resent it quickly and quit.
Solution: Add more veg to your diet and have fewer biscuits. Losing weight doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing gig. Set yourself a meal in the week that you can have something you fancy. That way you’re only delaying gratification. You don’t want to feel like you’re going into some crazy chocolate famine; one which ultimately leads you to eat more of it than you would have.
For more information on the importance and benefits of having a balanced diet check out this Precision Nutrition article.
Mistake # 7 Inconsistency
Inconsistency is a biggy. To the point, it should be number one really. Inconsistency is a huge reason weight loss doesn’t happen and is much harder to come by. If you diet for then weekdays and then splurge at the weekend, it is likely you will have undone any hard work in the week. This is the same if you do a couple of weeks and then go back to old habits afterward.
Consistency can be tough in juggling newborn life adjustments, but if you can do little things consistently it makes all the difference.
Solution: If you consistently go for a brisk buggy walk 4 days a week, you will get better results than if you do this walk every day for 2 weeks then stop for 2 months. The same goes for the way you eat.
Mistake # 8 Comparing Yourself To Others
Social media has led us to become even more obsessed with comparing our lives to others. The ‘snap back’ that’s expected of new mums has added pressure when there are profiles of seemingly perfect figures of some mums a few weeks after giving birth.
Solution: Mute or unfollow any accounts that don’t inspire you or make you feel bad about yourself. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t doing any harm if it makes you feel bad, unfollow. We all look at others and compare our believed shortcomings to other successes at times.
Your circumstance is different from my circumstance; is different from Sarah’s. Be kind to yourself. Motherhood is hard work and often exhausting, take your time.
I took 6 months, but my professional career is fitness and I love it, so putting the work in was easier to design and more fun to apply. I had to unfollow accounts I would torture myself with because they had got there in 4 months, but they had partners and family; where I don’t.
We all have our own situations and reasons. This article by Mind gives more information on the importance of looking after your maternal mental health.
Mistake # 9 Chasing Fads
New fad diets and exercise trends are being created all the time with the goal of making the creator more money and a bit of fame. The one thing these fads have in common is that the weight more often than not goes back on and the dieting cycle continues. Not what you want when losing baby weight.
Solution: By changing habits one at a time, over time, you build a new lifestyle that is sustainable allowing you to keep the weight that you lose, off.
Add more vegetables into your diet; switch from white bread to wholemeal; drink more water; walk the buggy around the block instead of trying to get the baby to sleep by going for a drive. These are just a few ways to make long-lasting changes.
Mistake # 10 Slimming Aids
Using slimming tablets, teas and whatever else is out there now; Lollipops apparently, only end up leaving you with a slimmer bank account. Your liver and kidneys do a pretty sweet job of detoxing your body without the help of a $40 tea. These are definitely not something to be doing if you are breastfeeding. For more information on Breastfeeding guidelines
Solution: Stop looking for the quick fix and go natural when losing baby weight. If your aim is to lose body fat, it is as simple as drinking more water, eating less sugary, fatty foods and eating more protein and vegetables. Oh, and of course, moving more.
When losing baby weight you want to keep it off; enjoy your baby and feel happy, it is all about being kinder to yourself. Little and often really is underrated!
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Amanda Jayne is single mummy to Ruby, aged 2, Personal Trainer and Nutrition Advisor of over a decade; and a C-PTSD warrior passionate about sharing all she’s learned about personal growth, self-development, fitness hacks, and her own healing and wellbeing journey.
Originally published at https://strongmamamoves.com on September 16, 2019.
