How long to lose the pounds of pregnancy?

After childbirth: when will I be healthy?

When will I regain my pre-pregnancy weight? This is the question that all future and new mothers ask themselves. Amandine was able to put her jeans back on just two months after giving birth. Mathilde, despite an average weight gain of around 12 kilos, struggles to get rid of her last two pounds, yet she was told that you lose weight faster when you breastfeed. When it comes to weight and pregnancy, it’s impossible to set rules as each woman is different from a physical, hormonal and genetic point of view.

On the day of delivery, we do not lose more than 6 kg!

Weight loss begins with birth first, but let’s not expect miracles. Some women will tell us that when they returned home, the scale was ten kilos less. It can happen, but it’s very rare. On average, on the day of delivery, we lost between 5 and 8 kilos, which include: baby’s weight (average 3,2 kg), placenta (between 600 and 800 grams), amniotic fluid (between 800 grams and 1 kg), and water.

Weeks after childbirth, we still eliminate

The whole hormonal system changes during childbirth, especially if we breastfeed: we then go from a state of pregnancy where we made fat reserves to prepare for breastfeeding, to a state of breastfeeding where we eliminate these fats, since now they are used to feed the baby. So there is a natural fat reduction process, even if you are not breastfeeding. In addition, our uterus, greatly enlarged by pregnancy, will gradually retract until it regains the size of an orange. If you had water retention during pregnancy, it’s also a safe bet that all this water will be eliminated easily and quickly.

Breastfeeding only makes you lose weight under certain conditions

A breastfeeding woman burns more calories than a non-breastfeeding woman. It also restores its fat mass in milk, which is very rich in lipids. All of these mechanisms help to promote her weight loss, provided she is breastfeeding over time. Studies have shown that a young mother can lose between 1 and 2 kg per month and that, in general, breastfeeding women tended to regain their original weight a little faster than others. But we cannot say that breastfeeding makes you lose weight. We will not lose weight if our diet is not balanced.

Dieting after pregnancy: it is really not recommended

After a pregnancy, the body is flat, and if we breastfeed, we must rebuild reserves to be able to feed our baby. And if we don’t breastfeed, we are just as tired! In addition, baby does not always sleep through the night … If we start a restrictive diet at this time, we not only risk not transmitting the right nutrients to baby if he is breastfed, but also to further weaken our body. The best way to lose weight is to adopt A balanced diet, that is to say consume vegetables and starches with each meal, protein also in sufficient quantity, and limit sources of saturated fatty acid (cookies, chocolate bars, fried foods) and sugar. When breastfeeding is over, we can eat a little more restrictive, but be careful not to generate deficiencies.

Weight loss after pregnancy: physical activity is essential

Proper nutrition alone is not enough to regain a toned body. It must be associated with a physical activity to increase muscle mass. Otherwise we risk regaining our original weight after a few months, plus a nasty feeling of soft and distended body! As soon as the rehabilitation of the perineum is finished and that we have the agreement of the doctor, we can start to perform adapted exercises in order to strengthen our abdominal strap.

How the stars lose the pounds of pregnancy in a short time …

It is infuriating. Not a week goes by without a new celebrity recently given birth showing off a near-perfect post-pregnancy body! Grrrrr! No, people don’t have a miracle cure for shedding pounds. They are very popular people who are most of the time supervised by a coach during and after their pregnancy. They also have sports habits that allow them to regain a toned body very quickly.

Better not to wait too long to lose pregnancy pounds

Of course, you have to give yourself the time, not to put pressure on yourself, to avoid losing weight too quickly so as not to endanger your health. However, it is well known, the longer we wait, the more we risk letting all these rebellious kilos settle permanently. Especially if we go on to a second pregnancy. An American study published in 2013 showed that one in two women kept an overweight of 4,5 kg one year after giving birth.