After dealing with the symptoms of pregnancy and labor, and the stress of adjusting to the new addition to the family, the next thing you will have to deal with is how to lose baby fat.
In pregnancy, you will gain additional weight in your first, second, and third trimesters. This weight gain is necessary to keep fat reserves for labor and during breastfeeding. But whilst you gain weight, you shouldn’t become overweight.
Many women find it hard to maintain the ideal weight during pregnancy because of overeating, inability to manage pregnancy cravings or not eating the right foods.
As a result, they gain too much weight and need ways to lose the baby fat after delivery and nursing. If you couldn’t stay within the ideal weight during pregnancy, no hope is lost.
This post is all about finding the proper steps to follow and tips to learn how to lose baby fat. So seat with me, let’s explore steps, tips, and tricks on how to lose baby fat.
Quickest Ways To Lose Weight After Having A Baby.
You are going to find a lot of suggestions on ways to lose the baby fat after delivery. While I don’t swear to be a guru, I have some very healthy pointers on how to lose the weight you gained during pregnancy.
So, if you are searching for how to lose baby fat quickly after having a baby, you can try these tips
1. Eat balanced diets
2. Limit your calories
3. Eat-in smaller portions but at frequent intervals
4. Try exercises that strengthen the core
5. Try cardio
6. Set up a weight-loss goal
How To Lose The Baby Fat Naturally After Pregnancy
When it comes to weight loss, the best method is always the natural way and this applies to the additional pregnancy fat.
So, as a new mama that cannot wait to get back to her former weight before pregnancy, you should definitely try these natural ways to lose the baby fat.
1. Eat proteins
2. Limit carbs on the diet
3. Take lots of fluid
4. Practice portion control
5. Eat more but in small quantities
6. Take a diet rich in iron
7. Eat lots of fiber foods
8. Avoid refined carbs and sugars
9. Breastfeed regularly
10. Drink Ajwain water
11. Chew some garlic every other day
12. Take lemon tea
13. Garnish your yogurt with berries
14. Include cayenne pepper in your meals
15. Ginger and cinnamon tea
How To Lose The Baby Fat After A C-section
Some woman opt for a C-section over natural delivery and quite frankly, any method you choose is fine as long as it doesn’t cause you any complications.
Keeping in mind that a C-section is surgery, and that surgical wounds take a long time to heal, a woman that used this method to deliver will have a different care.
Below are great tips to try out when finding how to lose baby fat after a C-section
1. Breastfeed frequently
2. Stay on a healthy diet
3. Avoid processed sugars
4. Avoid alcohol
5. Continue with your prenatal vitamins
6. Plan and prepare your meals ahead
7. Set a reasonable weight loss goal
8. Be patient with yourself
9. Up your fluid intake
10. Focus on exercises that would strengthen your core.
How To Lose The Baby Fat On The Face
While some women don’t mind the baby fat, they mind having an increased face after birth. There are ways to lose the pregnancy fat on your face after delivery and we’ll be highlighting them in this section.
So, if you are looking for how to lose baby fat on the face below are some practical ways to go about it:
1. Puff your cheeks
2. Blowing air in the cheek and holding it for several seconds
3. Hold down your smile for a few seconds before releasing it
4. Try cardio. It helps to cut down fat in all parts of the body, including the cheeks
5. Limit your alcohol intake to avoid bloating the cheeks
6. Reduce intake of refined sugars and carbs
7. Sleep well
8. Avoid excessive sodium intake by reducing too much salt in your diet
9. Eat fiber-rich food
10. Drink water and other fluids
11. Avoid stress
How To Lose The Baby Fat On Your Belly
It goes without saying that you will gain belly fat during pregnancy and that it would remain after birth. There are several ways you go about losing baby fat on the belly.
Below are some of the methods you can try out if you’re trying to lose the belly fat:
1. Do exercises like squats, lunges, planks, etc. that focus on strengthening the core
2. Eat a higher fiber diet
3. Avoid sugary and processed carbs
4. Try bell wraps and waist anchors to support the belly
5. Eat a balanced diet
6. Take only healthy fats
7. Breastfeed frequently
8. Eat smaller portions at frequent intervals
9. Take ajwain water
10. Do Kegel exercises
11. Practice regular deep breathing exercises
12. Walking, running, and jogging.
Easiest Ways To Lose The Baby Fat While Breastfeeding
Some women lose the baby fat naturally when they start breastfeeding and I would like to point out that I am not one of those women.
I felt so jealous when I found out about it but some of us need to take some necessary steps to lose the weight and here are some pointers on tips you can follow to lose the baby fat while breastfeeding.
1. Stay hydrated
2. Eat well but do not overeat
3. Breastfeed often
4. Take healthy snacks throughout the days
5. Take a low carb diet
6. Avoid skipping meals
7. Avoid skipping breastfeeding sessions
8. Rest
9. Take fruit containing fluids
10. Continue taking prenatal vitamins
11. Do appropriate postpartum exercises
12. Apply firm and toning cream on your body to help reduce stretch marks.
How To Lose The Baby Fat After 1 Year
Most mothers I know prioritize their babies after the first year of birth and don’t mind the baby fat on their body. They would rather start their own journey after they have finished nursing their baby for a year.
So, if you are looking for ways to lose your baby fat after one year, the following are some of the tested and trusted tips you can try:
1. Set an exercise goal
2. Keep track of your calorie intake
3. Eat fiber foods
4. Eat-in smaller potions
5. Eat a balanced diet
6. Avoid refined sugar and carbs
7. Avoid junk
8. Take lots of fluid
9. Start an exercise program
10. Join a weight loss community
11. Avoid starving
12. See a doctor when you are not losing weight
In the next section, I’ll break down the examples in 15 simple steps on how to lose baby fat. It promises to be educating and enlightening read.
1. Have A Weight-Loss Goal
A weight loss goal will help you keep on track so that you do not just carry out a weigh-loss program without a purpose. Your goal should help you look at the big picture and know how to plan.
For example, your long term weight loss goal may be “lose 20kg or 30 kg in 6 months” and the short time goal could be to exercise 4 or 5 days a week, meditate at least 1 hour a day, and to drink at least 3 liters of water daily.
With short-term goals, you will be well able to achieve your long-term goals. An important thing to note about setting weight-loss goals is that they should be realistic.
It is easy to get motivated by the pictures and videos of people you see who have transformed and now look so fit after their weight loss program but do not get over-motivated.
Because when you set an unrealistic weight loss goa, it can make you stressed and uncommitted in your exercise schedule since you may not be seeing ideal results.
You can start small gradually. As you build your strength and discipline and see results, you can set higher goals. The best tip for achieving your weight loss goal is to put in your time, effort, and be consistent.
2. Take Protein To Help Build Your Muscles And Burn Out Fat
Protein can prevent you from overeating because it causes a sense of fullness. This is very great for portion control when you are trying to lose the baby fat.
Proteins that you should include in your diet include animal sources like chicken, lamb, lean beef, turkey, fish, eggs, shellfish, etc., plant sources: beans, soya beans, lentils, peas, nut peas, etc.
They would help you with building your muscles and burning the residual baby fat.
3. Eat Smaller Portions At Frequent Intervals
A helpful trick on how to lose baby fat is to eat smaller portions of food at regular intervals. This way, the body’s metabolic rate increases because the digestion rate is fast, so you do not store unnecessary fats or protein.
As you eat small portions, the food is used up; you eat again, the food is used up, so your body will not store up fat. Aim to eat 6-8 times a day instead of the regular 3-4 times a day.
As you eat, you have to make sure you do not become stuffed and overfed. In an hour or 2, take another meal or munch healthy snacks.
This will make your digestion rate faster and prevent you from storing unnecessary fats like your body does when you eat heavy meals.
And because your digestion rate is faster, your body can use up the stored calories, making you lose weight.
4. Watch Your Calorie Intake
Reducing the calories you take is an essential tip on how to lose baby fat. Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy, so carbohydrate foods are used for metabolic activities rather than protein or fats foods.
The more carbohydrates or calories you take, the more protein is stored; which can cause you to gain more weight and muscle mass.
If you reduce your calorie intake, the proteins and fats stores will be used to produce glucose for metabolic activities. So instead of taking the same quantity of protein and calories, reduce the calories intake in your meals.
Track the amounts of calories you take by checking the nutritional facts in things your buy.
Note: reducing the calories you consume does not mean you should entirely skip it out of your diet.
5. Practice Portion Control
This is an excellent tip on how to lose baby fat on the belly. All the vital nutrients, carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals should constitute part of your daily diet. But the amount you take of each matter.
This is where portion control comes into play. Portion control is taking a small amount of food containing the essential nutrients to have a balanced diet.
Using the palm, you can determine the amount of food taken at a meal. The number of vegetables, cereals, fruits, and you take should be about the size of your fist (i.e., about a cup or 226 grams).
Cheese and butter should be about the size of your index finger, about 42 grams. Carbohydrate foods like rice, oats, pasta should be about the size of your palm (about half a cup or 113grams).
Protein should also be about the size of 1 palm. And your fat intake should be only 14.3grams, about the size of your thumbs. (1 tablespoon).
This way, you get all the essential nutrients without taking too much of those your body does not need in large quantities. Portion control helps a lot to remove stubborn body fat.
6. Eat Fibers
Fiber helps a lot to cut down fats. The trick about fiber is the bulk it provides. When you take fiber foods, it helps you feel full quickly, so you do not need to eat too many carbs, fats, etc.
Fibers are indigestible carbs that stimulate the GIT tract and aid the digestion of food. So, incorporate corn veggies into your diet. Eat them slightly cooked or raw to maintain the crisp texture.
Take citrus fruits and eat the roughages along with it; eat carrots, cucumbers, wheat meal, nuts, cabbage, etc.
These are foods rich in fibers that would help you reduce baby fat. True, fibers are carbs but they are indigestible carbs, which do not raise the blood sugar level.
7. Meal Planning
This is an important tip that would help you achieve your weight loss goal and help you to lose baby fat easily. Chances are that on a very hungry or tired day; you will likely want to eat what is readily available.
You may just gulp a can of soft drink or grab some cookies, loading your body with unnecessary calories. But if you can effectively plan and prepare your meals beforehand, it saves you from eating wrongly.
With meal planning, you can carefully select the correct type of food and shop for enough quantities to keep in the refrigerator.
It saves you the stress of always shopping, helps you stick to the right kind of foods to eat, and overall, makes you consistent in eating a balanced diet.
8. Meal Preparation
This is equally a helpful tip as meal planning. Once you have planned the suitable type of food to eat and have them stored, you can prepare your meals beforehand and store them in the refrigerator.
Pre-cut your veggies, store pre-cooked pasta, beef, fish, and chicken, and store. Blend tomatoes and pepper, grind your spices, and prepare anything you have to prepare that keeps fresh in the refrigerator.
This way, when you prepare meals, it won’t take time or become tasking, and you can always eat right.
Always ensure to prepare the meals for a week or two beforehand so that you can avoid eating out, eating unhealthy food and snack, and saving cash.
9. Take A Lot Of Fluid, Especially Water
Water helps increase our satiety level (i.e., the sense of fullness) and if you do not take sufficient water daily, you may be tempted to eat more than necessary, which is not how to lose baby fat.
As part of a healthy diet, water helps a lot, especially when breastfeeding. It helps you stay hydrated, maintain normal body metabolism, remove toxins and waste products, and breast milk production.
Health practitioners have recommended that we take about eight glasses of water a day. This can help you reduce weight.
Your fluid intake can come from drinking plain water, eating water-based fruits like cucumber, watermelon, pineapple, oranges, drinking soups, chocolate drinks, green tea, etc.
Taking sodas, artificial juices, or coffee, are not suitable fluid substitutes as they can increase the calories intake or caffeine intake. Instead, you can spice up your regular water by adding a few wedges of lemon, springs of mint leaves, rosemary, etc.
The best times to drink water every day are: after waking up in the morning, before your meals (so you do not overeat), after your meal (to aid digestion) before bed.
A helpful tip to help you drink water regularly is to use a straw on your glass or water bottle. Carry a water bottle everywhere you go so that you can sip out from it all day.
10. Skip Alcohol
Now that you have finally given birth to your bumpkin, you may want to enjoy one or two glasses of drink as you did before, but it may stop you from cutting down baby fat.
Having one or two glasses of red wine is good for the heart but not more because alcohol can increase calorie intake.
Though not all taste sweet, beer and other alcoholic drinks have high-calorie content, so without you knowing, you add more calories to your diet, which will prevent you from losing weight.
Also, if you are a breastfeeding mother, it is unwise to take alcohol because traces of alcohol can pass through the breast milk to your infant and cause health complications.
11. Breastfeed
Breastfeeding can help you lose some baby fat if you effectively take your meals with portion control. Part of your meals will be used to make breast milk for the baby, and the other part will be used to supply your body with vital nutrients.
While breastfeeding, your body will store little or no protein or carbs as body fat because it completely utilizes the food you are eating.
You impact your baby with vital nutrients needed for survival, supply the baby with necessary antibodies, and lose baby fat.
Also, as the baby sucks the nipple, he stimulates the nipple, which helps the uterus contract and returns to its pre-baby state, reducing the protruding belly that many women have after pregnancy.
As you breastfeed regularly, pick your baby to feed, stand up to position your baby on the breast, wake up to feed the baby at night, it’s all a form of exercise that helps you burn fat; hence breastfeeding is an essential tip on how to lose baby fat.
Note: if you do not eat with portion control and or you consume a lot of calories, I.e., you may not lose baby fat while breastfeeding; instead, you may gain more because your body will store the excess.
12. Exercise
This is another helpful tip on how to lose baby fat. Exercise will keep you fit, cutting out the unnecessary fats you have accumulated during pregnancy.
If you just delivered, you may not have to engage in super strenuous exercises because your body needs to recover after birth. You have a lot to do, from taking care of your baby, taking care of the home, and taking care of yourself.
You can try out a simple exercise like taking a walk every other day a week or jogging. Also, consider other exercises like push-ups to strengthen your core muscles.
You can start with about 2,3 or 4 sets for 30 seconds every day. Gradually you can increase the sets to 8-10 and for a longer time.
Another exercise you can try to help lose baby fat is the transverse hold. It helps to strengthen your abdominal muscles. To do transverse hold, lie on an exercise mat, raise your legs at an angle, and put both hands under your back.
Then tuck in your belly for 5 to 10 seconds, and then release yourself. Repeat this 3-4 times. You will notice how this tightens your abdominal muscles over time.
Next to try are squats and lunges. These are great exercises to help you strengthen your core & your lower body. Other exercises you can try out are bridges, running on a treadmill, swimming, aerobics, cycling, and skipping.
13. Take Only Healthy Fats
While you limit your fat intake, you still need some fat in your diet to provide nutrients to your baby and for your body’s function.
So if you take fat, ensure you take only the good fat that contains omega -3- fatty acids, mono, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, DHA, EHA, etc., which are vital for brain function.
Butter and lard can be replaced by cooking with other healthier fat options like coconut oil, olive oil, soya oil. You can also include in your diet avocado, flax, chia seeds, walnuts, groundnuts, peanut butter, etc.
These are rich in omega-3- fatty acids, which help to help you to mop up the saturated fatty acid (bad fats) out of your body, helping you cut down the unnecessary baby fat and lose weight during pregnancy.
These fats also help you fight against inflammation in the body.
14. Avoid Sugar And Refined Carb In Your Diet
The type of carbs you should take should not be refined carbs or sugars, only natural carbs from food. Limit the refined sugars, sweets, junk, in your diet.
They provide little or no nutritional value and only tend to sweeten meals. They also cause weight gain. Taking too much sugar can increase the risk of diarrhea, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.
They also will not pass any vital nutrients to your baby if you are breastfeeding and can cause diarrhea in the baby. So look for alternative ideas to sweeten your food, cut down on sugary drinks, pastries, cakes, refined sugar, white flour, etc.
Read the label and the nutritional facts before purchasing to know how many calories and refined sugar are present in a product. Eat a balanced diet rather than readily available processed meals.
15. Get Support
As you wonder how to lose baby fat, tons of women around the globe are also doing the same, so you are not alone in this.
Joining a community of women who share the same goal will give you the necessary motivation to keep on pushing to achieve your goal of losing baby fat and keeping fit after pregnancy.
Check around your neighborhood, check Facebook groups, Instagram groups, and other social media groups. There are a lot of postpartum weight loss groups, where you can receive the necessary motivation to achieve group goals. Gain tips and tricks, participate in challenges, and even socialize.
Conclusion
I bet you gained useful insights that will help you on your postpartum weight loss goal. Do try these tips and let us know how they worked for you. Do not also forget to share to other moms you know who need this.
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