How many of you are thinking about post-pregnancy diets? NOTE: If you are not interested in diets, please stay off this thread and don't come in with negative comments!

[milk]

As title says :)

After the baby is born I know I want to lose weight, I just don't know yet how I am going to do this in a healthy manner. Any tips?

Instead of cutting out foods, I'm thinking of changing the ratio, such as if before my plate consisted of 1/3 carb, 1/3 veg, 1/3 protein, I'd change it to 1/4 carb, 1/2 veg, 1/2 protein. Would that work?

Will you be BFing? If so, you can still diet but there are ways of doing it as you'll need extra calories.

I'm on DC3 and I've been far more active this pregnancy (2 toddlers does the trick!) as a preventative measure as I've kept a dress size from each pregnancy (size 8 - large 10/small 12) and really don't want to do that this time!
The thing is, I have no willpower at all so my tricks are mostly going to be things like not having crap in the house, getting out as much as possible and only eating out a couple of times a week. Oh and I'll be putting everyone else on a healthy diet too! No snacks!
When are you due? Have you thought about meal planning etc? That's the other way I can keep my weight down.

There are dieting sections on here so maybe take a look. I did ww's after DD but couldn't be arsed with all the faffing! Just wanted to eat but lose weight!
Good luck!

The ratio thing sounds like a good idea; you know your current diet best so you are best placed to decide what you need to do.

I'm starting from Monday (I refuse to start a diet in August or on a weekend!). I'm basically planning to stick to a fairy rigid timetable of when I eat (bored snacking is a bit of a problem for me); portion control at mealtimes and only drinking on Friday/Saturday nights (and then only one glass).

I'm also going to dig out my Davina DVDs as they worked wonders before my wedding.

When is your baby due? Don't even attempt to do anything but eat cake in the first few weeks! Is this your first?

I'm currently 12st 4; would like to be under 11st.

Slimming world worked for me and they have an adapted plan for bf mums and mums to be....I lost 2 1/2 stone by the time my son was 6 months old and even ended up nearly 1 1/2 stone lighter than I was b4 the pg by the time he had just turned 1 xxx

I'm going to do Weight Watchers, which I've found really good in the past (I had no joy with Slimming World). I can't join til I'm 6 weeks, but then you get extra points to allow for breastfeeding so I figure there's no better time to do it :)

til the baby's 6 weeks, rather!! I should hope I'm a bit more than 6 weeks old....

Pochemuchka - I'm due 2nd October :) Meal planning sounds like a good idea. I will be breastfeeding. This is my second baby.

Coops79 - Exercise DVDs would not be an option as DS1 hogs the TV with Cbeebies :P

Why does everyone like Weight Watchers?

Interested to hear that both ww and slimming world have plams for bfing mums. I've got my brother's wedding 6 weeks after my due date so want to try and get some weight off before then but am a bit concerned about dieting too aggressively when feeding. I do know i don't want to make the same mistake i did with my first, where i used bfing as ano excuse to eat anything and everything for months and put on more weight post-birth rather than losing it!
Do slimming world let you join before 6 weeks?

kaymondo

"I do know i don't want to make the same mistake i did with my first, where i used bfing as ano excuse to eat anything and everything for months and put on more weight post-birth rather than losing it!"

I did the same thing I lived off chocolate éclairs :(

I plan on cutting out the treats I've been allowing myself and cutting portion sizes down or snacking. Depends as I will be breastfeeding (hopefully) so not sure if I will be hungry more often in which case I will make sure I'm eating healthy snacks and smaller meals, if I'm not stupidly hungry I'll cut out snacks and reduce portion sizes by a little bit.

I like Weight Watchers because they give you really easy-to-follow guidance on what/how much you should be eating, and I found if I followed it the weight fell off easily. On WW I can still eat crap and drink wine eat full fat yoghurt, cheese, etc, but they make it easy to understand how much I should be having in a day if I still want to lose weight. They also have a points slush fund that you can use on a night out once a week, so I find it's like dieting but without the misery

I think you can join Slimming World whenever, though I could be wrong - you might need a note from your GP though.

Just to add - I found SW to be a lot more rigid in what you're "allowed" to eat; the plan concentrates on "free foods" which means you have to cook largely from a set list of ingredients, which takes time. Things like wine and chocolate and ready meals have an eyewateringly high points value on SW so you can't have as much as with WW, which I found to be far more flexible. Anticipating that I'm going to be time strapped and probably eating the odd ready meal and takeaway a week, WW is going to be far easier to follow I think.

Breastfeeding is the best diet ever. Seriously!

I was size 16-18 before my first. After a few months of BFing I was a happy size 14 - the slimest I've been in nearly a decade. And this was while while eating loads of cake and custard - I was craving energy!

I called it my BF-and-eat-cake diet

The trick is to cut out the extra cake etc as your DC weans. Sadly I didn't and back up to size 18 again but pregnant again now.

I'm hoping to lose weight again this time purely by BFing! (and eating sensibly throughout my pregnancy).

Trust me, this is not me being negative, but diets do not work long term.

Healthy eating, normal eating and slowly increasing exercise ( pop baby in pram or sling and go for a walk each day) are much more effective.

Well, that was what worked for me, and a much nicer way to lose al the extra weight than putting myself on a diet! I lost 2 stone in a year just doing this. And it stayed off.

Good luck. Walking is amazing, it really is, it boosts your metabolism wonderfully.

Chandon- What do you consider healthy eating?

I think Patrick Holford low GL diet makes the most sense. It is heathy and not so restrictive. www.holforddiet.com/ If I do SW or WW, I know I try to cheat -me- the system so I can have treats! I am 34 weeks pregnant and I have not weight myself once since the mw did mooooonths ago, I am way too scared now.

Chandon I agree with you for the large part, and personally I can maintain easily doing that (I gained the extra weight in the first place because of hypothyroidism, not dodgy eating habits) - but losing the weight to begin with is a challenge for lots of people and so I do definitely think "diets" have their place.

I agree with fluffy I think diets do have their place, it depends on your personality really, willpower etc. I like the structure of them. I do eat healthily but then would sneak in snacks that I think don't count. A diet stops me doing that. I normally do a low carb type thing. Then when the diets over, transfer gradually to healthy eating.
Like your quota above. I found last time It took a while to reduce the food intake after the last trimester (bad habits can stick) but I got there and breastfed forever but I ate normally eventually.

I'm due in October, plan to give myself a couple of weeks and then go to slimming world. Currently a size 20 and aiming for a 14 for now. Also hoping to increase exercise when baby gets here, pregnancy stole my get up and go. I was half way through couch to 5k when I got pregnant and was so ill I just stopped. Now I can't go upstairs without panting. I'm sure there's a healthier me in there somewhere.

I think the 'eat healthy, exercise more' approach is absolutely right in the long term but when you've got into bad habits during pregnancy sometimes you need something a bit more structured just to kick start you back into thinking about healthy foods and sensible portion sizes. That is where i think diets come in. Also, before i had my first, i was super fit and ate pretty much what i wanted as did so much exercise. That wasn't possible for a long time after having my ds due to having a emcs and getting infected afterwards and generally being more time restricted. Whilst i'm hoping for a vbac this time, if i do have another section then i know that for the first few months weight loss can only really come from diet and very gentle exeercise as won't be able to hit the gym/get out on my bike in the way i used to.

got to say best way of losing the wight is exercise more. best exercise i did after dc1 was walking that little bit faster than normal with your pram went from size 16 to 12 doing this in about 3 months, also bfing is brilliant too as your body uses exes fats to produce milk for dc. and eat healthily. ie avoid fatty snacks ie choc, crisps, swap for fruit and low fat yogs also chose healthier options of main meals ie boiled potatoes and veg instead of chips, and one of the best diet tips i ever had was instead of eating 3 big meals a day have 5 or 6 smaller ones this helps speed up your metabolism, speeding up weight loss.

But if you're breastfeeding your body may be crying out for more energy!

I would suggest that perhaps for those who will be breastfeeding, the first months when you're exclusively breastfeeding might not really be the best time to start dieting?

Your body will still be making all the food and energy your baby needs - exactly like when you were pregnant. Only difference is the baby's on the outside!

If you're starving yourself of food at that time, couldn't it be bad for your health?

So for example when you're pregnant you need to make sure you're getting enough calcium as your body prioritises the baby's needs. Is the same true when BFing I wonder? At the very least you need to keep your energy levels up to avoid feeling really drained I would think.

Seriously, if you want to slim, don't deny yourself food when you're a new mum, much healthier to try exclusively BFing and going for walks!

And more effective too I imagine!

I am not really pro slimming clubs. I don't see why you should give money for something you can educate yourself about. For me, healthy eating and exercise when I can. To me, this involves knowing my calories because after all, calories in versus calories out is all you really need to be aware of.

Eat less than you burn & results will be seen!

I was 8 stone pre preg and now at 34 weeks I've gained 3! I am panicking about it, but know it can be sorted. X