postnatal weight loss

[Bo]

Any ideas how to safely shift all that post natal weight? 7 months on after having 2 very close together I am getting fed up with all my bulk, but I'm still breast feeding, so feel I need to be careful, especially as I am very low in iron (at least).

I know I could loose some weight when I stop breastfeeding, but that doesn't help me now! I hate cooking and preparing food, so I can't do anything too complicated. my husband had a fit when I even suggested something along the lines of slimfast. Any words of wisdom gratefully received. (Ireckon I need to shift about 15 Kilos)

well done Lizzer 2lbs is really good - and that late brunch sounds really lovely too. Hope you enjoyed it with no guilt

Well done Lizzer. I dont have any scales so I dont know how much I weigh but I have tried to be careful and have been doing a little bit more and I was able to fit into a pair of jeans that I havnt been able to wear since becoming pregnant. I have decided to carry on watching what I eat and go on a diet for the last bit when I have finished breastfeeding.

New to mumsnet - trying but usually fail to remember I'm supposed to be watching what I eat like last night eldest off at 9.30pm then 1 year old off at 11.15pm just like bro used to be. So far lost 2lbs put on 4lbs! depressed tired and weighing more than I did when I gave birth!!! Being careful as breastfeeding so should not diet, but should not eat so much fattening foods either! Well done Lizzer and thanks for pointing out this section. I'll think of mumsnet when I next go for the cake :-)

Well done Lizzer, good for you! I am still waiting for those nogoodniks at the gym to ring me back with my "nautilus Expressway" induction time.
At this rate I will have three goes at this 24 minute total body workout and then I will be going to France, home of the crepe, the tarte au citron and the steak frites for two weeks. I think I will date my proper regime from AFTER my holiday. Don't want to spend it sipping tisane and snapping at my husband.

Oh you guys are great, thanks!

Marina, sounds like you'd be in a better frame of mind to start after your hols, I reckon it's best to start when you either have a goal in mind or nothing to spoil your plans...

Joe, well done, wish my pre-jeans would get round my behind soon!

Hello Chippy and welcome, there's loads of advice on this thread if you need it, I'm just cutting down in general on fat, wheat and dairy and so far it's working - what I'm not doing is cutting out everything, so still have choc and biscuits so don't really feel on diet, it's great! It honestly helps to post on here, so join us!

Bo, I'll mail you in the week and we can catch up.

My weigh in is tomorrow, and after I wrote all that inspirational stuff I have had one hell of a bad week diet wise. I weighed in last Wednesday and was so happy about the latest weight loss, but for some reason I went off the rails this week. I managed to avoid putting on weight I think, and I may have lost a lb. But it took me 4 days of eating crap to get things under control. However, and I am proud of this, I decided on Sunday that I wouldn't let it bother me and had chip shop chips and a huge ice-cream (we were at the seaside) and made yesterday and today count. So even though my eating was a bit erratic I managed to get my head around the guilt trip after 3 days of eating cr*p, and had one day of eating yummy stuff without the guilt in the knowledge that I could be good for the next few days/weeks.

This was the first time I really 'fell of the wagon', but I have proved to myself I could get excited again about this diet. I went to Slimming World website and looked at the recipe boards which really inspired me.

So once again I am looking forward to tomorrows weigh in and if I haven't lost weight I have gained self-belief. (god that sounds smug, but I hope you know what I mean)

OK I can't believe this, but according to her pesky digital scales, andother 2lbs has been lost!!!! I am sooooo lucky and I was sure that this week was really bad. I don't want to risk it again, so I will be good this week.

Weight loss and self-belief (and chips). Well done Crunchie!

Chrunchie and Lizzer (and anyone else I have forgotten) well done! I got weighed last night and have lost another 1 and 1/2 lb - and I thought I'd had a bad week too. Lots of vodka and a plate full of party food on Saturday night which I was sure would equal out having being good during the week. It's weird how some times you have what you think is a bad week but the weight still comes off. I think sometimes it helps to have a bad day or two as then the body doesn't think it's being starved and doesn't decide to hang on to those extra pounds just in case you forget to feed it again (as if).

Well done everyone! Just to let you all know that it is all going well. The food diary is a great help. I am not weighing myself (although I did when I started this... I may go into Boots and weigh myself once a month ...not sure yet)but my clothes definately feel different on me already. I am exercising to a video every other day this involves cardio exercises and specific toning exercises with weights. It is bizarre how my love of exercise has been rekindled!!! The thought of exercising had been horrid for sometime! Also continuing with the speed walking in between days (am having Sundays off). Fingers crossed! Keep up the good work everyone!

Hi everyone, just managed to read all the messages I've missed in this section as my daughter was asleep.

Just quickly, it's great to read so many messages about breastfeeding and dieting/sensible eating and so I feel more inspired to try while breastfeeding. Suew's tip re walking instead of waiting 30 mins for the slimming club pep/advice talk will help if I ever make it through the club doors as I feel I keep trying and getting nowhere fast so I must venture to WW or Slimming World prefered SW in past but WW only local club that has a time that might suit us.

Loved reading the bit by Lizzer about the extra help you get from breastfeeding so I'm going to print that bit out and keep a copy in my bag, by my bed, in the kitchen etc etc!

Since my first message - usual story of doing okay til can't get time to eat/evening when child no 2 (!) will not go to sleep before 10.30pm.

Good luck to everyone... hoping not to let the side down!! Or I guess more to the point me down - isn't that what I should be thinking?!

Cooo It's nearly a week since people have posted here. Is that a good or a bad sign?? Either people are doing so great they don't need the support, or they are too embarrased to post with abject failure.

Well surely that's what this is here for, so I am posting another sucess!!!

OK I'm doing great, but I can tell you it is a real fight each day at the moment. I have lost another 2lbs this week, but I am finding things really tough. Each time I go to the supermarket those cream cakes are calling my name! (I mean surely it doesn't count if you eat them before you get home, it's like calories you eat when you are standing up, they don't count either, do they!)

Anyway after 12 weeks of dieting I am having to force myself each day, in fact each hour of the day to stick to the plan. I bought a new pair of jeans yesterday, size 12!! for the first time in a couple of years I can get these over the bum. I need to lose 8lbs more (to reach my goal) and then they will fit better, but I couln't resist half price jeans that fit properly onto the waist, and not leave that gaping hole at the back!!

So these jeans are not to be worn until I have lost another 4lbs, that is my next goal, and hopefully in 2 weeks they will be gracing my nearly pert bum.

Keep going guys, and keep posting, it is a real help to know others are having these internal battles all day long too.

Crunchie, well done you. Keep at it. It is tough but it is worth it! I haven't yet given in an d weighed myself but I am eager to. I don't have to squeeze myself into my jeans anymore which is a good sign and I am certainly not feeling deprived. How is everyone else doing?

Lost a paltry half a pound this week - but suppose better than putting it on. Not surprising really, was doing great until last Saturday when a girlfriend had a girlie dinner for her hen night. Vast quantities of alcohol, sausages and mash, brie, and pavlova (not all on same plate) consumed. Got to bed at 4.30am, son Joe woke at 6am. Aaaagh. The only way to get through the following day was to binge on carbohydrates and coca cola. So I suppose half a pound isn't too bad all things considered!

Sorry folks, have been busy decorating and then went away for a wedding at the weekend so have not posted my weight loss for last week, which was another 2lbs. Felt really good being 8lbs lighter at wedding, nice to feel better about getting my arms and cleavage out now they are more toned and you can see my collarbone again - yay (suit trousers were actually bagging around my bum a bit though and kept having to pull them up!) but as all eyes were on the bride no-one said anything! I dread to think how much weight I put on there with all the free food, think I ate my own weight in canapes! I'll leave it til later in the week to weigh in as I have been so tired and snacking on sugary stuff to keep me going since Saturday - must try harder! Hope you are all doing better than me....!

Oh bummer!! An early weigh-in this week and no weight loss. However this is the first week that I aven't lost weight and I know why. Firstly the weigh-in was Monday, not Wednesday, and it was in the evening, not at 9.30am. Now we all know we weigh heavier in the evening, and miraculously lose about 2lbs in our sleep (perhaps I should sleep more, chance would be a fine thing!). So I'm not to worried, I'll do my own weigh-in at home tomorrow to cheer me up.

Anyhow, I hope everyone else is doing OK. In this hot weather it is easier to lose weight, just drink loads and loads of water, and who can be bothered to cook.

Good luck and well done Lizzer, Willow2, Suew and Winnie keep up the ggod work

OK I forgot! To dispell the myth once and for all that you cannot diet whilst breast-feeding I spoke to my brother, a Doctor, who told me about new studies that show dieting when breastfeeding is absolutely fine. A moderate diet is what it is all about, and that's what will change your long term eating habits anyway. In his opinion a healthy balanced diet when you are breastfeeding is much better than a diet full of fat and rubbish food that we all shovel down out necks 'because I'm breastfeeding, I'm not allowed to diet'.

I did ask him before I started on the Slimming World plan and he said it was fine, but there has actually been some new researched published to that effect.

Also in my opinion dieting straight after having a baby has been really positive for me. Firstly the weight has dropped off (average 2 - 3 lbs a week), secondly I am happier when I am thinner so there has been no chance of baby blues. Thirdly I feel sexier, and not like a lumpy, dumpy whale that I felt for the last 9 months. And lastly I am using my diet and this period of maternity leave to indulge myself, ie eating fantastic fruit, going for saunas and to the gym (I njoy this so it is a pleasure not a chore), and pampering myself with pedicures, facials etc when I lose a certain amount. I wanted to do this before I went back to work, otherwise none of my suits would fit ad I would have felt uncomfortable.

So for me it's been good, and now there is research that backs this up, so no more excuse that I can't diet whilst breastfeeding. It's not about going mad, just eating healthily.

That's good to hear Crunchie. I have been a stone and a half overweight since my first baby. I am now 26 weeks pregnant with No. 2 and am very pleased that I have (as yet) put on very little weight above and beyond the baby and associated bits. I am determined to shift my excess weight after the birth and will also be breastfeeding. Shall certainly be thinking of you during my maternity leave. Keep up the good work!.

Hi everyone. Keep at it! 1/2 lb or no weight loss is much more preferable to a gain... well done everyone! It isn't easy though is it?

I've added swimming (without the children) to my activities. Getting out early in the morning on a Saturday on my own to swim in a relatively empty pool has been bliss... and means that the weekly swim with the children is all about the children and I don't feel like I should be trying to get a few lengths in whilst my partner keeps them entertained!

Finally gave in to the temptation of weighing my self (threw own scales out several weeks ago)... I got on the scales at the leisure centre and horror of horrors (I know I've lost weight by how my clothes fit me) but I was 7lbs heavier than when I started this!!! Tried not to be too despondant as I realise my own scales were obviously not working properly and have decided to weigh on the leisure centre scales once a month. Onwards and upwards everyone...

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missed my weigh in last night as old friend I hadn't seen for months came over. Shame as I think I had quite a good week...went shopping yesterday and found that I am now a size 14 (and a 12 in some places!) actually bought clothes that I wouldn't have felt comfortable wearing the year before I got pregnant, from shops that I wouldn't have even thought of going in to, so regardless of what the scales might say at next week's weigh in I feel pretty good!. (Not least because this time last year I was a size 20). Re dieting while breastfeeding, slimmers world actually allows for this by letting you have a bit more of certain foods - and I totally agree that a healthy diet is far better for you when breatfeeding than non stop vanilla slices , although possibly not quite as much fun at times.