How hard is it to lose two stone post baby?

[Lopiun]

For my whole life up until my baby I was a healthy weight - never had to diet or deprive myself. Just maintain without thinking.

I gained 45 pounds during pregnancy but have lost 16 pounds of that naturally.

I literally cannot shift this two stone, it’s been eight months and it’s really getting me down. The number seems huge and unachievable. Experiencing intense body hatred for the first time in my life.

If you have lost two stone, PLEASE share what you did. I struggle with eating meals which don’t feel satisfactory.

Typical day:

Breakfast - fried egg, avocado, salsa, feta maybe
Lunch -chicken, pesto and mozzarella panini with salad and fries or sweet potato
Dinner - chilli with all the trimmings
Snack - fruit, smoothies, cheese board, tortilla chips and guacamole, chocolate bar (one or two of the higher calorie options daily)
Alcohol - glass of wine every other night

Weekends have splurges - meals out, takeaways, bbqs

I can cut the snacks out but when I did I literally only lost 0.5 that week and it felt shit

You HAVE to log the calories and count them. Just a vague 'healthy eating' doesn't cut it. I lost 2 stone after my 3rd baby counting calories. It took about 6 months. You have to be really strict about logging everything and properly calculating it. Once you get into the hang of it, it's not too bad.

I'e also done low carbing which is very effective but you need to be in the right frame of mind to do it. That's a quicker weight loss but hard at the start. I did that after my second baby.

The issue is you want it to happen quickly. Cut snacks, alcohol and calorie count. I'd limit carbs and do weights. Work out your TDEE,
https://tdeecalculator.net/

Are you breastfeeding? This can make you retain body fat.

Otherwise it's just finding a method that fits into your life. Low carb, intermittent fasting, calorie counting. None of us can tell you which is best for you. I keto personally, high fat, high protein, low carb and plenty of vegetables because anything else just leaves me hungry. Buuut it doesn't fit into some lives.

Adherence is the most important trait of any diet.

Also your typical day looks great and very healthy and varied but hugely calorific.

The cheese, wine, chocolate, crisps, chips - you will never lose weight eating that!

After my baby I did weight watchers and that worked perfectly for me and as I’d always kept to a healthy weight pre baby I could go back to how I used to eat without gaining weight again. I liked that weight watchers allowed me little treats. A typical day on weight watchers would be:
breakfast - porridge made with water and banana
lujnch - jacket potato with tuna and salad
dinner - chicken and pesto pasta plus some greens
little treat of hot chocolate and some chocolate or glass of wine
Based on what you’re eating currently you’ll need to reduce the high calorie foods and focus on one treat a day

I think it's a lot harder after a baby but still the same process really. Reduce calories in a way that works for you.

Your meals sound ok but could you cut the fried items down and increase the proportion of each meal/snack that is vegetables? Eg make the chilli with less meat and more veg, have Greek yoghurt instead of sour cream and salad instead of cheese. Two chocolate bars a day is not going to result in weight loss so you might have to bite the bullet and just cut those to once a week or a square of chocolate a day if you can manage that (I can't, I have to just completely stop eating it)

Losing half a pound in a week is a lot, maybe you need to accept this will be a long process with sustainable changes and not get disheartened when it doesn't come off fast

Cut the fries/sweet potato from your lunch, your snacks are also very calorie dense. Do you even need the snacks? Your meals sound quite filling by themselves. Can you limit yourself to just two glasses of wine on the weekend? Do you exercise at all? I find walking everywhere helps to shift weight for me. Good luck x

read "why we eat too much" by andrew jenkinson

Walking a lot with baby in the pram especially uphill helped me lose weight when I was on mat leave and obviously crisps and chocolate doesn't help. Do you eat out for lunch or are you making panini at home? I eat less bread now and find it's made a big difference. Try soups and salads.

I lost 3 stone after baby pretty fast. I don’t ever snack or drink alcohol. Plus breastfeeding constantly. If you have a baby by that won’t be put down then walking loads every day also helps.

I don’t think I ever had time to make long elaborate meals either when Ds was that age.
Breakfast : granola with fruit
lunch: toastie or sandwich
dinner: standard evening meals.

Wow I'm surprised at these responses. Diets are proven not to work reliably.

I gained 20kg in my first pregnancy and did literally nothing about my diet, didn't diet or count calories. It just fell off by itself after about 12-18mo.

I did see a PT and a physio so I was doing strength training and working on repairing my core strength.

Now I'm 6mo postpartum with my second and I'm still 10kg over my pre pregnancy weight, but gradually dropping. It'll probably come off slower as I don't have time for a PT any more. But I know it'll come off if I do strength training and stay active.

I'll never start dieting or counting calories. It's really bad for your relationship with food. I'm just going to strength train, repair my core, and my metabolism and energy levels will rise, and work on my posture. Looking overweight around the tummy is often just about posture and core strength

I tend to eat out 3 lunches per week. Just because I can’t be at home all day and that’s how I tend to socialise with friends who have kids ie after playgroup.

You might also be forgetting about hidden calories...

You didn't actually mention drinks! Have you taken those into account?
The drinks themselves.
Full fat vs semi milk
Sugar in your coffee/tea
Condiments
That odd biscuit
That handful of office jelly beans
The odd bite of kids leftovers (many do this!)

I can see you’ve edited your post - the weekend splurges won’t help either!! It sounds like you need a complete lifestyle change as even if you crash dieted to lose a lot of weight quickly, you will soon pile it back on if you are having regular splurges on the weekend alongside quite a high calorie diet as standard. Sorry to seem harsh but this will be why you’re not losing weight x

I went from 12 stone to 10 stone after my fourth baby by intermittent fasting. It's the best thing ever for weight loss, I started with 16:8 then gradually went to 18:6 and now I can do 20:4 with ease. It takes away the pressure of what and when to eat and you can literally eat what you want within your eating window.

You’re just not going to lose any weight with that diet. Does it suck? Yes. What sucks more? Not eating what you want or not being the weight you want? You have to find meals that you find satiating but are less calorifically dense.

The paninis, cheese, chocolate, tortilla chips, wine and takeaways have to go – at least with the frequency you’re eating them.

I’m slowly losing weight PP, and my day has to look like this or I won’t lose anything:

B: yoghurt, fruit, small handful of granola
L: veggies, cottage cheese + protein
D: veggies + protein – small portion of carbs

No snacking, no wine, no weekend splurge.

Breastfeeding and had babies who wouldn't nap unless they were in a sling so I spent my mat leaves walking miles and miles.

Your example menu looks like it has potential to be tweaked to make big differences.

Breakfast - fried egg, avocado, salsa, feta maybe
This looks pretty good, be mindful of the egg is fried in oil as this can add a lot of calories. Maybe switch it up for boiled/scrambled eggs some days

Lunch -chicken, pesto and mozzarella panini with salad and fries or sweet potato
Double carbs here... take out the bread or the fries. Sweet potato is preferable over bread. Pesto and mozzarella both high calories so although beneficial can add up.

Dinner - chilli with all the trimmings
Again can end up quite high carb, some days switch it up to a big chilli bulk it with veg and skip rice (if that's what you have)

Snack - fruit, smoothies, cheese board, tortilla chips and guacamole, chocolate bar (one or two of the higher calorie options daily)
Alcohol - glass of wine every other night
Reduce these, unnecessary everyday, a treat a couple of times a week, any other snacks should be if you're hungry make them high protein snacks.

Generally I aim for one meal of my day to be "high carb" to include either rice, pasta, sweet potato or sourdough

My other 2 meals are reduced carbs. Focus on high protein and healthy fats

Snacks are when hungry and aim to be protein based

I don’t exercise. I used to pre baby. Used to see a personal trainer once a week and was probably in gym 3/4 times a week. Honestly I just feel too self conscious.

Do a decent amount of walking as we are in London. Elderly dog also gets two 20 min walks a day. I’ll usually do at least one of those.

Yes, should’ve added that I do regularly drink iced coffees, lattes and Coke Zero. I always a fizzy water on me also.

I’ll have black coffee at home (I like my beans and machine) but milky coffees with no sugar 3 times a week on average outside the house.

Your diet does look to me to be very high calories - Fried egg could easily be boiled taking your calories down. The cheese at every meal will be challenging as the portions can be very misleading looking. Glass of wine every second night also will really add calories.

Can I just ask, did you always eat similar food? Because maybe it's your metabolism has changed? Before I had my first son I could eat anything, and I did. I was a size 10/12. After I had him I was a size 14/16 and had to absolutely turn my diet around to get back to the size I was comfortable with.

I’ve had the same philosophy with food ie don’t have a McDonald’s burger and fries for every meal but equally just eat what is home cooked and enjoyable.

I have to admit I probably didn’t eat breakfast when I went to the office pre baby. I would most likely have had a coffee and maybe a bowl of granola if I felt hungry.

Personally I do intermittent fasting and low carb, works very well for me. But whatever you choose, my strongest recommendation is to log everything on an app like https://cronometer.com

P.s. I'd also cut out all drinks apart from water and black coffee

That's loads of calories.

The ONLY way to lose weight is to be in a calories deficit which means you need to log every single thing you eat. I'm fat and this is the only thing that has worked. I also have to weigh all my carbs like rice/pasta. I have to stick to around 1500 calories a day to see weight loss.