My little buddy and me at the beach in Michigan last week!
Please don’t throw anything at me when I tell you this, but I weigh less now than I did before I got pregnant with Kaelyn, my first child, and definitely less than I did when I got pregnant with Brenden.
Now that he is a year old and I can officially say that I’ve lost all of my baby weight and then some, I was thinking about what I’ve done over the past year, or changes that I made, that helped me to take the weight off without actually working very hard at it (I’m ducking and covering my face with my hands right about now).
I will say that obviously every person is different and every situation is different, these things may help you to lose weight too, or they may not help at all. I am no doctor, these are just my own personal tips, things that I found worked for me.
Taking Off the Baby Weight
- Breastfeeding. I think this is probably the most important one. Nursing burns a lot of calories (about 500 a day) and requires a lot of energy from your body. But, you don’t have to do anything except sit in a chair, or lay in your bed, with your baby. This is especially great in the early weeks, when you’re supposed to be getting lots of rest and before you can really do much physical exercise, and it’s obviously a great way to bond with your baby too. I still nurse my one year old 3-4 times per day, and sometimes once at night too. It’s actually important that I keep my food intake up to make sure that I have enough calories to feed my body and him too.
- Wear Your Baby. I love babywearing. There are just so many benefits of it, for both the baby and mother. And if you start while your baby is little, as they gradually grow and grow, pretty soon it will be nothing to carry around 20+ pound toddler when they are a year old! I still wear Brenden at least once a day. Sometimes to run errands, sometimes to take a walk, sometimes to put him to sleep, and sometimes just to get a few things done around the house. Wearing your baby often will turn simple things like housework or grocery shopping into something that is more physical exercise for your body.
- Drink Water. This one also goes a long with breastfeeding. You need to make sure that you are taking in lots of liquids when you are nursing your baby. But, since B was born, we pretty much only drink water and milk (and coffee in the mornings!) at our house. We completely stopped buying soda, juice and other types of drinks. This means if I’m thirsty I drink water. And lots of it. Water helps to make you feel full, and is cleansing to your system. There are so many good reasons to drink lots of water – it’s cheap (or free) too!
- Exercise. Now I can’t say that this one played a huge role in me loosing my baby weight because I have not been super consistent with exercising. But, I do try to be kind of regular about getting in some exercise. Lately it’s been running or walking, and my hubby and I just ran a 5K together, which was fun. But, during the winter I would try to do exercise videos in the morning before the kids got up. Doing some kind of exercise is definitely better than doing nothing!
- Eat Whole Foods. I can’t really be sure about the impact that this one has had on my weight loss because I’m not perfect at eating this way all the time. But, I do know that since B was born we have been slowly changing the way that we eat and have cut out so many processed foods from our diet and strive to eat whole foods as much as we can. I cook a lot from scratch, we only use real butter, we drink whole milk and eat full fat dairy products, we use coconut oil and olive oil and other fats without worry, and generally don’t count calories or worry about what we eat except to make sure we are reading ingredient labels and avoiding ingredients that we have decided we don’t want to be a part of our diet. It definitely has not hurt me to eat in this way, I feel healthy and have never had an easier time loosing weight than I have over the past year. I have to attribute at least part of this to the changes in our eating that we have made.
So, those are the things that have helped me lose my baby weight over the past year. I know the toll that having a baby takes on your body, your time and your energy, yet losing their baby weight afterward is something that always seems to be on a new mom’s mind.
I don’t believe that getting back to pre-baby weight is something that we should worry or obsess about too much, if at all, because all that does is take away from the great joy of adding a precious new baby to your family. Most of all, take the time to enjoy your baby, because they always grow up too fast!
——————————————————————————————-
I’d love to see more of you! Please consider subscribing to e-mail updates, or in a reader, to be sure you don’t miss a single post. You can also connect with me on Twitter and Facebook!
Wow – that is awesome that you weigh less now than before your daughter! YAY! 🙂 And great suggestions… I *know* the water one (and exercise) definitely helps me stay on track!! 🙂
That’s great! I’m still working on the baby weight I put on 9 years ago. LOL 🙂
I am also a size smaller than when I got pregnant (Monkey is 18months, but it was all gone by 6). It took me totally by surprise. Out friends suggest that he devoured me (he is a chunk)
I nursed him and pumped for a milk bank which I credit with most of it. Pumping and nursing have got to be the laziest way to get calories out of you.
I walked everywhere (we are carless and love it) pushing my suv stroller. Lots of days we did little errands just to get out of the house.
Water. I got pretty severe headaches if I was dehydrated so I drank and drank.
These are great tips. I also lost a lot of weight after having my little one. My son loved to be in his baby tote while I was vacuuming. 🙂
I also decided to continue eating healthy after my son was born. That has made a big difference!
My baby is 9 months old and I haven’t been losing weight in spite of breastfeeding and healthy eating. I haven’t had enough exercise, that’s for sure. Working on that. I have friends though, who could not lose weight until they weaned. I think I may be one of those…meanwhile…going to try to walk everyday!
Hi Amy,
I definitely had more trouble losing my baby weight after my first baby was born. I don’t know if it has something to do with this being my second? Good for you for trying to keep up with the exercise. I know that is definitely something I need to be better about too!
Thanks for stopping by Live Renewed, I hope to see more of you!
~Emily
Amy I know how you feel. With my first (he is 8 years old now)I didn’t lose a pound until he was weaned and even after that it was extremely hard and took me years. And as far as exercising I was way to exhausted all the time to think about working out. Breast feeding REALLY drained me. But with my second (he is 9 months old now)I feel like it was a lot easier. I certainly am not consistent with working out but I do eat a lot better. Mainly cutting out the sugar, white flour and processed foods. I even tried to eat raw for a bit and after a month of that I lost 20 pounds. I am now attempting a to eat more raw now to lose the last few. I am smaller now than I was before I got pregnant. So it could be just hard but every pregnancy is different too. Keep up the healthy eating!
I totally understand why you want to duck and cover. I worry about writing about postpartum weight loss too. Such a touchy subject. I am so glad you mentioned that you eat REAL food and don’t omit butter or fats! Thank you! I get so annoyed when people have some kind of dessert dish and think that it is healthy because they use fat free cool whip. I don’t when that fat free craze will finally work it’s way out of society. People need more whole foods (myself included).
Hi Natalie!
I definitely agree with you about the fat free craze. It’s something that I used to follow too, but I actually have a theory now that eating more fat was another thing that has helped me to lose weight – not made me fatter. You just have to be sure you’re eating the right kinds of fats – butter, coconut oil, EVOO. We stopped using industrial, processed fats and oils like vegetable oil, crisco, etc, and I really think that has made a difference. Thanks for your thoughts!
~Emily
Great post!! I’m just a few pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight after my second baby (she’s 4 months). I’ve done pretty much exactly what you have. So thankful that my body is recovering so quickly – I expected it to be much harder.
I’m reading this while eating my turtles from E&S…the diet starts tomorrow, right! 🙂 haha
These are great tips! I did all these things after having my baby (now 5) and by the time he was 6 months old I weighed 10 pounds less than before pregnancy.
I had a hard time regaining abdominal muscle tone, though, until I recently discovered this simple, fun exercise!
I think another reason a “whole foods” or “real foods” diet works so well is that you tend to eat more fiber from vegs, fruits, and whole grains, and that improves your digestion. Isn’t it handy how it’s good for the environment and your budget, too?
I love this post! I am definitely doing all the same things, and I am down to fifteen pounds below my HIGH SCHOOL weight! I was drinking green smoothies, and that helped for a while, but truly, just eating a more whole foods diet plus all the exercise from caring for Doodlebug has been the key. I’m a new subscriber and I just wanted to let you know that I love your blog!
@Doodlebug’s Mommy – Welcome! I’m so glad that you enjoy Live Renewed! Green smoothies are great and we love them at our house too! Good for you for losing your baby weight and then some! Thanks for your comment, I hope to hear more from you!
~Emily
I’m one that will not be throwing anything at you, instead I’ll nod my head! 🙂 I also weigh less now than I did pre-baby. I am actually really struggling to keep myself from loosing more. My daughter is 20 months and I am still breastfeeding, I am hoping to slowly and gradually wean her over the next 4 months – I am just so skinny (95 lbs) and feel literally drained! I eat a lot and the only thing I don’t do from your list is exercise for fear of burning too many calories! But we do go outside with my daughter every day and we walk to the playground a few blocks down – I guess that’s exercise. I’ve been devouring whole fat yogurt, butter, cheese, avocados, nuts – I just can’t gain any weight no matter what and how much I eat! I really need it too if we want another baby! 🙂
Im obliged for the article post.Much thanks again. Cool.