How To Lose Weight After Pregnancy | 5 Things That Can Help

If you’re not one of those women who comes out of the delivery room with a flat belly and abs minutes after giving birth, these tips might help you. This is the story of how I gained around 40 pounds during my pregnancy and how I lost 20 with some commitment and time. It took a while, but I started doing 5 easy things each and every single day and I think they’ve been the best tool in helping me get my weight under control.

How I Gained The Weight

You know how they say it’s normal to gain 25 pounds when you’re pregnant? That you’ll lose it all after you have the baby? And that breastfeeding will basically suck out all the fat and cellulite out of your body? Ever heard of that? I know, we hear it all the time.

Well, my case was different.

I gained 40+ pounds. 40+ pounds!

I was silly to believe that I’ll lose 15 pounds in the first few weeks after delivery, for basically just breathing.

Long story, super short – that didn’t work.

I lost 5 pounds. FIVE.

My baby was heavier than 7 pounds. And I lost five. Did I gain 2 pounds while I was giving birth, what was happening?

That was a disgusting slap in the face.

Also, breastfeeding. Oh the joy of breastfeeding! The ease of it. I’m not gonna go into too much detail, but I didn’t lose weight when I was breastfeeding. Then after I had to stop breastfeeding 6 months in – again nothing.

Nobody else seemed to have that problem. I’d meet other moms and they’d have a flat belly 2 hours after delivery. That wasn’t a big confidence booster.

Since then, I had so many breakdowns and times I cried and felt helpless. But somehow, the fact that I was eating candy bars all the time, was stressed, didn’t get much sleep (hello motherhood!) and wasn’t doing any exercise – made me feel like “Oh, it’s okay – I can probably do it, if I change these things”. It meant I hadn’t tried everything yet. It meant there was still hope.

So, sleep was not really an option, you know – new parents. But even when I was eating less and much healthier and was going to the gym 3 times a week, I didn’t see any change. Super frustrating and made me stress even more.

Easiest Way To Lose Weight After Pregnancy

One day, I was driving and telling my sister for the hundredth time how unhappy I was because I couldn’t lose the baby weight. I broke down, cried, and screamed at her when she told me I need to eat better. Can’t she understand I’m doing the best I can?

Well, she yelled back to stop complaining all the time, while eating candy (even though I had cut back at that point) and to eliminate all the sugar in my diet. She put it very straight forward – do a paleo lower-carb diet. Don’t eat any beans, grains, not much fruit and see what happens. She said something about insulin and insulin resistance and I stopped listening.

At that moment, I felt this could work. And so I decided to try it. The result? Well, what I did, did work – I lost 20 pounds altogether and have 20 more to go right now. I just need to get it together and do it all again.

So here are the 5 easy things I did every day that helped me lose the baby weight this far.

1. Lower Carb Diet

The one thing that worked was a diet without sugar, pastries, legumes and grains. So pretty much like a paleo diet, but I’ve also been eating some feta cheese and yogurt. It worked, I lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks and I didn’t gain those back after that. I didn’t eat much fruit, but also didn’t count calories or macros. Mostly my meals would be salad and some fish or some chicken. So really basic, but surprisingly delicious.

2. 30-Minute Walks With The Stroller

I decided to make walking a part of my daily routine. Can I lose weight by walking an hour a day or even 30 minutes a day? Of course I can. Better than staring at my phone for that time, pretending to be relaxing.

3. Yoga & Pilates

I kept going to the gym and doing yoga for weight loss, sometimes Pilates. At times I’d even do it at home in the morning before everybody wakes up. This all made me feel so much better physically and mentally. Exercise really helps me stress less and makes me feel like a brand new person.

4. Count Those Steps

So while I was doing the yoga and my 30 minute walk, I noticed it wasn’t enough after a week or two anymore. So I downloaded an app that counts my steps and it really opened my eyes how sedentary I had become. I barely did 3,000 steps on a normal day. It was even worse if I skipped the stroller walk. So that number, 10,000, really held me accountable to walk more, to move more, even when I’m at home and to not use the car for every move I made.

5. Run After The Baby

Last but not least, that baby started walking, and believe me you can’t be sitting by, watching him. He does not want to stay in one place and the things he does? The way he explores? I’m running after that little guy all the time.

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If I had to choose the most important tips for losing weight – it would be the diet and the 10,000 steps a day. These two really make a difference. So this year, I’ve decided to get it together and to get in the best shape of my life, even better than before becoming pregnant.

I want to lose the weight, but also to tone up – that boy’s getting heavy and I still need to be able to lift him, so I really need it.

Well, I hope my story helps you in some way and encourages you to start with small changes. Even if it’s just walking more and eating a little less carbs – these things really do get results.