Do you remember the song ‘Most Girls’ by Hailee Steinfeld? The lyrics say “but it’s okay if you wanna change the body that you came in.” Yes, it’s alright if you don’t feel fit after you stop breastfeeding. Losing weight after stopping breastfeeding knocks as an emergency step in the mother’s life.
When you were pregnant, we used to eat food for two-person, remember? Trimming down the extra pounds to live a healthy life is never easy! The roller-coaster of hormones will let you down every time with one extra pound.
During the breastfeeding period, you might have gone through additional 400-500 nutritious calories for the little one. But now, when you are done, how can you be fit once again?
Don’t lose hope! Let us help you out!
Table of Content
Weight Loss Steps After Breastfeeding
Count your Calories
When the baby begins to have solids then the lesser feeding period starts for the mother. Then she can gradually match up with her weight loss journey.
Sometimes the mother’s weight fell off after weaning because of the milk production process. The main key during this process is the calorie count.
So in the quitting process, she has to cut down some of it and consume fewer calories than what she actually needs.
Knowing your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is really important for you to achieve your agenda. So, how can someone know their BMR? It’s not that hard with the help of a google calculator that can count your basal metabolic rate within a second.
If you know your BMR you can easily understand what amount of calories you need to function according to your body weight. For example, if someone normally needs 1500 calories each day then if she consumes 1500 calories then she won’t lose or gain weight.
On the other hand, if she takes more than 1500 calories per day then she will continue gaining some extra pounds.
Now you can easily understand what you have to do. Cut a few hundred from your needed calorie count.
The United States Department of Agriculture did research and they came up with an idea that most of the mothers need 1600-2400 calories according to their activity. Like if you are comparatively active then your BMR would be high.
Recheck your Diet Plan
A proper diet plan is really important. That’s how losing weight after stopping breastfeeding can be a successful mission for you.
After the delivery, the body of a woman takes about 9 to 18 months to function and behave like the old version of your body.
Losing water weight is not that hard. A mother naturally starts losing a few pounds of the water weight after a point.
But the stubborn fat refuses to go away from her body. So you need to plan a diet chart for yourself according to your age and activities.
But you have to plan it keeping some facts in your head. Because of the effect of post-pregnancy, your body system will not be the same anymore.
Diet Do’s and Don’ts
As we know a mother needs to take fewer calories from her basic requirement but that doesn’t mean she can eat anything that she wants within the calorie limit.
She has to take food that has high nutrition values. Like sitting on a couch eating fried foods is not a good option.
Instead of that, she can eat a handful of nuts or fruits or veggies. Do you take tea or coffee after waking up?
If the answer is yes then you should know the harmful effect of it on your body. After the 6 or 8 hours of sleep, our body’s metabolism rate drops, and our body starts functioning gradually.
If you take strong tea or coffee as your first meal then you are giving a shock to the system. So a person should take a warm glass of water to soothe your body and then some fruits or salads or nuts to give your body a perfect start.
Then after 30 min, you can have your full nutrition meal breakfast. How long does it take to lose weight after weaning? Well, it depends on your diet and body type.
Pro Tips
- Always divide your food into little sections. Like you eat three meals a day then make it 6 or 7 meals with the same amount of food.
- Chewing your food more can really do wonders for you. Because it sends a signal to our brain that we are full when we chew our food more. For that reason, we don’t feel the need to eat more.
- The main goal should be to increase your metabolic rate. Drink more water that helps to boost your metabolism like lemon, Coriander, Almonds, Chia seeds etc..
- Give more attention to your breakfast and less Importance to your dinner. Your dinner should be light. Try to finish your dinner two or three hours before sleep.
- Always find healthier substitutes like if you are craving sugar and eat fruits. Eat whole-grain good carbohydrates instead of white rice and bread and jaggery over sugar, pink salt over normal salt, olive oil instead of sunflower oil.
- Mainly try to know what amount of food our body actually wants.
Ideal Sleeping hours
Being a mother is the toughest job in this world. She can’t even take proper sleep because of her baby.
Irregular or wrong time sleeping is an obstacle for losing weight after stopping breastfeeding. Six to eight hours of sleep helps to keep you fit and energized throughout the whole day.
Therefore the mother should ask for help from her husband or other family members to share some duties and help her to trim some belly fat after stopping breastfeeding.
Eating Clock
The eating clock stands for having your meal within the right time period. You can choose a 16 to 8 hours window where you will try to eat your meals in that 8 hours window.
Like if you wake up early but for all those hectic responsibilities you sometimes get late for your breakfast. Then you will choose 11.00 am to 7.00 pm window for your meal plan.
After 7.00 pm you can’t eat anything except green tea, hot lemon juice, water, and light healthy liquid option.
Additional Information for a New Mother
Are FAD diets good for a mother’s body?
Getting obsessed with the ideal body type myth a woman thinks in her mind ‘’I want to stop breastfeeding so I can lose weight”.
Often we see women try different types of fad or crash diet to use weight faster. Like nowadays Keto or dry fasting, intermittent fasting diet, etc. are more popular than anything else.
Cutting all the carbs, starving for a longer period can really harm your immune system. Even fad diets can increase the time of your recovery process.
These diets can be the cause of nutrition poverty and losing lean muscles which means it harms the ability to burn calories.
Why can’t I lose weight while breastfeeding?
It’s not the same with every woman like with some of them breastfeeding really helps to cut down extra fat but on the other hand for some women, it’s really hard to lose weight while breastfeeding because of hormone components.
Sometimes the mother has weight gain after stopping breastfeeding and some questions come to their mind that how long did it take to lose weight after stopping breastfeeding or they face bloating after stopping breastfeeding.
At the time of lactation, the production of prolactin falls off when the mother quit breastfeeding and she gains weight.
Can a new mother do strength training or heavyweight workouts?
There is an intense connection between losing fat and working out. A new mother has to do some exercise along with the right diet plan.
But the body really takes time to recover after pregnancy and that’s why doctors usually don’t recommend heavyweight or strength training.
Losing weight after stopping breastfeeding can be very quick with a little bit of help from a mild workout at home. Yoga, walking, and an easy workout routine can be very beneficial for a new mother.
The FAQs on After Pregnancy Weight Loss
Q. Do you lose weight after stopping breastfeeding?
Answer: After six months of nursing the mother most of the time needs another six month period to get into her old version.
Some women can lose weight after they stop breastfeeding because of stored fat during the lactation process. That fat only drops when they stop nursing.
Q. How much weight will I lose when I stop breastfeeding?
Answer: Some research shows that nursing can actually be a help for losing weight. After quitting nursing some women can lose 0.6-2kgs more weight compared with those women who don’t breastfeed.
Q. How do I keep from gaining weight after I stop breastfeeding?
Answer: After stopping breastfeeding the production of prolactin hormone decreases and for that, the mom can gain body fat.
To cut down those extra inches she has to decrease her carbohydrate Intec and eat a lot of whole grains and protein-containing food. She should work out also and drink a lot of water to boost her metabolism rate.
Q. What happens to your hormones when you stop breastfeeding?
Answer: A new mother can go through a lot of mood swings because of the hormone components. These hormones can handle your mood swing and it also helps to keep you calm.
As a result when the milk-producing hormone prolactin drops after stopping breastfeeding the mother can feel a certain change in her mind also.
Therefore hormones like oxytocin which creates love and peace in our mind can fall off after quitting nursing and that’s how hormones can trigger your feelings and can be the reason for your anxieties and sad feelings.
Wrap Up
Weight loss journey can be very easy or hard depending on your ideal food chain and activities. But losing weight is not only for the purpose of looking good but also for the betterment of the baby.
Due to being overweight sometimes a mother can’t take proper care of her child and bring the right balance to her body losing weight is extremely crucial.
While nursing the mother can’t do whatever she wants that’s why many of them prefer Losing weight after stopping breastfeeding to get back to the old fit body and confidence.
Related Reading:
- Can You Take Pre workout While Breastfeeding?
- Apple Cider Vinegar While Breastfeeding
- Meal Replacement Shakes While Breastfeeding
