After Pregnancy Tips

Posted by: kishor959 on: April 4, 2010

• In: After Baby Birth
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After Pregnancy Tips

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After having a baby, you’re likely anxious to get back to work in getting your old body back. Although some things have changed, including the time you’re able to devote to yourself and the time you have to prepare healthy meals, you still need to make healthy eating after a pregnancy a priority. You shouldn’t be too strict on yourself after having a baby, but instituting easy dieting tips can help you make better food choices and lose weight without depriving yourself of your favorite foods and restricting your self to an unforgiving diet regimen.

• Talk to Your Doctor

Before you start dieting after having a baby, make sure that you visit your doctor for your six-week postpartum check-up. Your body needs ample time to recover after having a baby, notes BabyCenter.com, and it needs enough time to establish a good milk supply if you’re breastfeeding. Eat a sensible but nonrestrictive diet for the first six weeks. After your doctor gives you the go ahead, you can try a more aggressive diet plan.

• Stash Snacks

Keep a myriad of snacks on hand. For the first few months after bringing a new baby home, you’ll likely find yourself unable to do much more than sit on the couch and feed the baby. Prepare all of your snacks once a week while your baby is napping. Then when you need a quick snack, you’ll have cut veggies and fruit, cheese cubes and crackers readily available to grab and go, and you won’t resort to convenient but unhealthy snacks such as chips or cookies.

• Small Meals

New moms are always on the go, making elaborate, sit-down meals nonexistent for the first few months. Do away with three meals a day and instead try five smaller meals a day that you can eat quickly, recommends the Mayo Clinic. You’ll never be hungry, and you’ll stimulate your metabolism to constantly burn fat and calories by constantly eating. By never allowing yourself to get hungry, you do away with a slow metabolism that stores calories and fat in your body.

• Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is nature’s way of getting your pre-baby body back. Fisher Price estimates that breastfeeding burns around 500 calories per day, but it also stimulates your appetite. Load up on fiber-rich foods such as veggies, legumes, nuts and whole grains so you feel full on less calories. Then breastfeed for as long as you can for a healthier baby and a healthier you.

• Exercise with Baby

Don’t forget to add exercise to a healthy diet as you try to lose the baby weight. You may be limited in the activities you can do with a baby on your hip, but you can certainly go for a walk, do some squats and lunges with baby in hand, or look for a mommy and me baby yoga class to keep your physical activity level high as you eat more sensibly to lose weight.

Tags: after pregnancy tips, tips for new mother