How To Lose Weight After Pregnancy Naturally

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Losing weight naturally after pregnancy is possible with the right postpartum diet plan, postpartum workout plan and some supplements to help you combat those pesky cravings that can make losing weight naturally after pregnancy difficult. 

To lose weight after pregnancy naturally, there are a few things you need to focus on: 

1. A nutrient-dense diet 
2. Daily activity calorie burn like walking + breastfeeding
3. Fiber and protein intake
4. Water consumption
5. Quick and easy healthy meals

Notice that I don’t mention an intense workout plan. In my experience as a Pre/Post Natal Fitness Specialist and founder of The Postpartum Cure, mamas need to focus more on nutrition, rather than workouts.

After pregnancy, many mamas believe they can’t lose weight naturally because they don’t have time to workout. This isn’t the case at all. 

Your diet after pregnancy is what is going to have you losing the weight completely naturally, with out a lot of effort on working out. Let’s go over what a nutrient diet is, and how it works to lose weight naturally. 

A nutrient-dense diet is full of foods with a high ratio of nutrients to calories. That means they offer a huge bang in nutrition, with a small bang in calories. Foods like apples, oranges, cucumbers, celery and spinach are basically like eating pure vitamins. Your body expends energy to unpack and sort all the nutrients, fiber, carbohydrates, protein and water in the food, that the caloric impact is smaller than processed foods.

By focusing on nutrient powerhouses, you are doing two things: 

1. providing your body with all the nutrients it needs to repair after birth, heal and produce breast milk
2. eating less calories in total, thus allowing your body to utilize stored fat for the purpose of breastfeeding. 

Losing the weight naturally after pregnancy involves using stored fat as fuel:

Eating less calories is not a bad thing if you have fat stored that needs to be used. This is the only way to get your body to use the stored fat. To eat less calories. If these calories are full of the nutrients your body needs to function, it will happily tap into the extra fat. If you eat foods that have very little nutrients, your body will feel stressed and be less-likely to use fat and more likely to signal cravings. I go over this more in-depth in my program, and also offer recipes, meal plan and grocery lists specifically for postpartum healing and breastfeeding. It all comes in an app as well, so it is super easy to use and navigate! This is your first step to losing weight after pregnancy naturally. Now, let’s get into daily activity. 

Protein shakes are an awesome tool to help you lose weight after pregnancy:

I personally found success after all three of my pregnancies with protein shakes to help me lose weight. I’ve been discussing and reviewing protein shakes for a few years now on the blog, and since then, I created a protein powder that I knew mommies needed. A protein powder that provides lactation support, so you don’t have to worry about milk supply, while also helping with those darn sugar cravings! 

Daily activity for natural weight loss after pregnancy: 

Daily activity likes walks, walking around with baby, going to parks, cooking, cleaning, folding clothes etc. all actually have a big impact on your weight loss.

If you stay sedentary, or have a sitting job, you burn less calories through the day, and your metabolism slows down tremendously. If you walk around all day, stand up, sit down, stand up, fold clothes, do dishes, go on walks and keep yourself naturally active, then this makes losing weight much easier. Sitting for long periods of time also can increase appetite. Moving around can actually decrease appetite. The key with a new baby is to wear them a lot. I fell in love with the Lulle Baby carrier, after using the Baby Bjorn for two years. Both are great, and it helped me stay active, get things done, and keep from sitting too long. Now that I work more on the computer, I take breaks in between writing and working to get up and walk around. The calories add up fast, and you are burning them naturally by living your every day life! This makes losing the baby weight naturally after pregnancy much easier. 

Breastfeeding is also a factor that comes into your natural calorie burn after pregnancy. Breastfeeding burns extra calories and requires extra nutrients for both mama and baby. Burning extra calories is natural and expected, but each person is very unique to their hormones and DNA make up. The number of calories can not be determined from person to person, so going by the guidelines given is only a VERY VERY rough start. I have a very specific way I have my mamas determine how many calories to eat for safe weight loss while breastfeeding that takes into account your NATURAL caloric needs. It doesn’t generalize you with different mamas of different sizes, muscle mass, tissue mass, water mass, metabolism speed and DNA. 

Breastfeeding is a completely natural way to lose weight after pregnancy, but it needs to be paired with a healthy, nutrient-dense diet. 

Let’s go over in more specifics the part of a nutrient-dense diet that is practical to achieve and helps weight fall off effortlessly.

Protein + Fiber consumption for natural weight loss after pregnancy:  

Combining protein and fiber helps you feel full. Both take up room in your stomach, and the protein requires extra work to break down and digest, leaving you feeling totally satisfied. 

Protein is the number one macro nutrient I suggest to my mamas after pregnancy because it is vital to development, healing and functioning. I know getting in enough protein (here’s exactly how much you need while breastfeeding) is difficult, and sometimes meat doesn’t sound good. Sweets tend to sound better, so I am a huge fan of protein shakes. I talk a lot about this protein powder as the best for breastfeeding mamas to lose weight, and this is a new lactation protein powder that offers more of a lactation boost. I came out with my own lactation protein powder that specifically helps with weight loss by curbing sugar cravings called Milk Dust. This is through a special combination of minerals and vitamins that support postpartum nutritional needs. I am so, so excited it will be out in spring 2019, and I highly recommend joining the email list to know when you can pre order!! The key with my protein powder is that it boosts lactation, offers lots of proteins and nutrients and reduces sugar cravings. It is the only protein powder for breastfeeding mamas that helps with weight loss by also boosting energy naturally, no caffeine. 

Combining protein with fiber also means you are adding in lots of nutrients, which is why I preach this for every meal. You want protein and fiber to fill your plate. This is usually turkey slices, nuts or cheese sticks with fruits or veggies. Hummus and veggies, cucumber sandwiches and fruits bowls with nuts and dark chocolate are some of my favorite. Here’s a great post on nursing mama snack ideas you can save for ideas. 

Filling up on fiber and protein is the best idea for losing weight naturally after pregnancy, and adding water to that makes it even easier. 

Water consumption after pregnancy is really important for weight loss: 

I will make this short and sweet because you’ve probably read about drinking lots of water a million times. It is really true. Your body needs water for everything, and it will take it from your cells and tissues if you don’t have enough. Your brain needs water too, and moms need their brains to work the best it can with no sleep and a new baby. If you add a couple glasses of water to every snack or meal of fiber and protein, your stomach will be full, you will have lots of nutrients, and ultimately that weight will just fall right off! You can also make yourself drink a glass or two of water anytime you think you are hungry. Wait a few minutes, or go do something to get your mind off food, and then you will know if you are actually hungry, bored or really thirsty! 

Quick and easy healthy meals are key to natural weight loss once baby arrives: 

The more complicated the meal, the less-likely you will be to eat it or have it on hand because of how crazy things get with a new baby, toddlers, kids and family life. I believe in having on hand quick and easy, healthy foods, that you can whip up fast for yourself, while also enjoying food with your family. You don’t have to create a whole meal plan and shopping list just for yourself, then a separate one for kids and family. In my program, I show exactly what foods I have on hand, how I create meals that are healthy and fast, how I grocery shop and all the foods I like to eat with my family’s meals, so I am not cooking too much. I also go over batch cooking for the whole family and myself, which makes LIFE as a mom much easier. I do not like cleaning after cooking, so I try to cook as much as I can at once. I have a specific video to show you what I make. I also have LARGE recipes in the program that can serve a family, or work for left overs to make less cooking. The key to losing weight naturally is to keep it simple and healthy. Pre-made salad bags, frozen veggies, microwave quinoa, pre-chopped veggies and more can make or break your healthy meals when the days get long and stressful. 

Losing weight naturally after pregnancy is not only possible, it is natural! 

By following these simple steps, your body can do what it was designed to do. Gaining weight during pregnancy is specifically for the purpose of losing it while breastfeeding, so don’t be afraid to let your body do its job. Give your body what it needs through good nutrition, and it will return the favor. 

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