Pregnancy is a wonderful thing for every lady but it leaves your body puffed with fat. To accommodate the baby in your belly and to provide nutrition, your body cells absorb fat and nutrients. The biggest challenge post-pregnancy is to lose this fat.
Months of stored fat doesn’t get burned in days. It takes at least two months for your body to get on the fast track to lose your body fat. Whatever you do, it is highly recommended that you don’t go on a diet. Losing your fat is important but not at the cost of your strength.
While losing belly fat after pregnancy, you must focus on two things, first, to tighten your sagging muscles and skin and second to burn those stored fat cells.
Ways to lose belly fat after pregnancy
1. Breast Feeding
Breastfeeding is as important to the mother as it is to the baby. While it provides the baby with the essential nutrients, it helps the mother to lose that extra fat stored in her body. It takes a lot of calories and energy for the body to make even a drop of breast milk. Also, after pregnancy, your body starts to lose the extra stored nutrients in different ways. It’s best if those nutrients are used efficiently. You will feel energetic after breastfeeding sessions.
2. Brisk Walking
Almost all the doctors will suggest you not to do heavy exercises especially right after pregnancy. Walking or brisk walking for 30 minutes to one hour daily will help you a great deal in losing your fat in the belly region. For brisk walking, take long steps while keeping your body straight but loose. Also, swing your arms as far as you can. Brisk walking should be about all the body muscles and not particularly the leg muscles. See below video for correct way of brisk walking.https://www.youtube.com/embed/hOS1wq7SyyE
3. Yoga
Yoga is the perfect post-pregnancy exercise. It’s not as strenuous as other exercises but delivers even better results. It is also safe for C-section patients. Focus on yoga exercises that target your belly fat. There are some yoga exercises that look more like aerobics but they are quite different. Some yoga positions such as kapalbhati and anlom vilom are excellent to begin with. Remember that you have to engage your belly muscles.https://www.youtube.com/embed/b2v-9LmU7IE
4. Do Ball Exercises
Using a ball in your post-pregnancy workout program is a good way to start with. Your body is still not ready for heavy exercises like the full-body crunches. Use a ball to simulate tough exercises. Lose your fat while protecting your body from extreme forces. Balls also provide balance. Put either your stomach or your back on the ball and roll back and forth. Learn to do crunches using exercise balls.
5. Sit-Ups
Sit-ups are much easier and effective than crunches while exercising after pregnancy. For more comfort, start with bent knee sit-ups. To do bent knee sit-ups, lie down on your back. Fold your knees and place your feet flat on the ground. Now fold your arms around your shoulder. Try to lift your torso by applying force from your lower back. Sit-ups focus on your abdominal muscles. Contracting these muscles will burn your belly fat.https://www.youtube.com/embed/1fbU_MkV7NE
6. Diet Smart
Dieting will definitely help you lose your fat. But dieting after pregnancy should be done with special precautions. While dieting post-pregnancy, remember three things:
- Give your body some time to come back from the effects of pregnancy before going on a diet. Dieting right after pregnancy is dangerous. Start after at least four weeks. This time may sound a bit too much but believe me; you don’t know a thing about what your body has undergone during pregnancy. Diet to help your body, not to torture it.
- Rather than cutting down on the food, cut down on the fat. Include fat loss diets in your daily life. Make some changes in your groceries. Use low-fat dairy products. Switch to low-fat sleek meats. Focus more on proteins and fish. Bring down your carbs and saturated fat.
- Don’t make your post-pregnancy diet plan by yourself. Your body’s vitals change drastically after a pregnancy. Consult a doctor for your nutrient values. Let a dietician make your chart and revise it every two weeks.
7.Maintain Metabolism
Believe it or not but your body is more concerned about losing your fat than you. In fact, your metabolic rate increases automatically after you give birth to your child. More importantly, you must focus on maintaining this metabolic rate. If you don’t, you will do more harm to yourself than good. That’s why; every doctor recommends some basic exercises to recent mothers.
Maintaining your body’s metabolism is easy, especially after pregnancy. Eat small portions of the meal at regular intervals to keep your body in the loop. For better results, increase your protein intake which helps burn more fat and that too very efficiently.
8. Sleep
Dieting and exercising are not the only essentials of fat loss after pregnancy. To efficiently lose your belly fat, keep your stress levels at low and take 2 to 3 hours of more sleep than usual. Your body goes through extreme changes during pregnancy and resting your body properly after pregnancy is the key to a healthy body.
Exercise just increases the fat burning process already started by your body. Like in strength training exercises, you need to give your body proper rest to build itself every day. Also, your body loses a lot of fluids every day which drains your body of energy. Get proper sleep to relinquish this energy.
9. Don’t Overstress Yourself
Losing your fat is important but keeping your stress levels in check is also equally important. Stress levels play an important role in defining your fat loss success especially if you are diabetic. Remember the proverb – a healthy mind and soul is the key to a healthy body.