By Lisa Monroe
Many women gain weight during their pregnancy. No matter how hard they try the weight just seems to pour on, and so after the birth of the baby you are faced with getting your old body back. Every new mom wants to get the flat tummy back, but sometimes moms are too busy to workout or to fix healthy foods. It doesn’t help when you turn on the TV and you see celebrity moms with their flat tummies just weeks after having a baby. You must realize that they have access to personal trainers and dieticians to help them with their weight loss and exercise. Plus many have help with their babies.
Today three out of four mothers breast feed. Breast milk will meet your baby’s nutritional needs even if you are not eating well, but your nutritional needs will suffer. It is important that you get enough vitamins and nutrients because you will need the energy to care for your new baby. You should eat a diet of whole grains and cereals, fresh fruits and vegetables, and foods that provide plenty of protein, calcium, and iron.
Years ago nursing mothers were encouraged to eat more food while breastfeeding but recent research indicates that this is not necessarily true. Your energy needs will depend on your weight and the amount of activity that you are involved in. Dieting was also discouraged during breastfeeding, but now new moms are given the go ahead to diet while breastfeeding. The important thing is that you combine a healthy, low-fat diet with moderate exercise and that you lose the weight slowly. Rapid weight loss could hurt your baby, so you should not go on a drastic weight loss program.
Also busted is the myth that you have to wean your baby to lose weight. Nursing helps to deplete the fat deposited during pregnancy to prepare you for lactation. This causes some moms to lose weight automatically while breastfeeding. Lucky them! Most experts say you should take ten months to a year to return to your pre-pregnancy weight. Do not limit food intake the first six weeks of breastfeeding, because this could reduce the amount of milk your body produces.
A recommended diet for new mothers who are breastfeeding would include two thousand calories a day incorporating small amounts of fiber. The food she eats should consist of
- Half as carbohydrates,
- Protein should be almost a third of daily intake
- A tenth as fat
This should allow for variety and some of your favorite foods. Taking your baby on strolls will give you the exercise you need, and you can find other ways to do activities that will increase the rate at which your body burns fat. For extra help you may want to check out http://tinyurl.com/llxzp5 Here you will find information that helps the busy mom flatten her tummy, burn fat and get her body back to the pre-pregnancy look.
That website again is: http://tinyurl.com/llxzp5
“Lisa Monroe is a Prolific Writer, Forensic Editor & respected Instructor in Social Sciences & Humanities. She enthusiastically studies past and current behavior & interaction, is a dedicated teacher & married mother of three children living in Sugar Land, Texas.” More of Lisa’s articles can be found here http://www.txrus.com