Hints for losing weight quickly (but healthily) after pregnancy?

[bananapeanutbutter]

Hi all

I've just found out I'm supposed to be attending a big socialite-type wedding about 8 weeks after giving birth (I'm due very soon), so I'm trying to plan the best way I can lose as much of my baby weight as possible in this time.

I think I've put on around 18-20 kilos so I need some help please! Does anyone have any motivational/anecdotal advice or tips? How much weight do you all think is possible to lose in this time? (I know it will vary from person to person, just getting some idea!). I'm planning to breast-feed.

bf will help definitely, but weight loss must be done carefully, especially when bf.

After having DS, I found a diet called south beach to help massively - it's split into 3 stages, but stage 1 (which is over 2 weeks) is very severe. I lost a stone and a bit with S1, but they do say not to do it whilst bf as you cut out all carbs, and it's pure low fat meat, veg and dairy. It basically cuts your body's dependence on sugar and wheat for filling you up, retraining you to reach for salad, cheese and meat. Stage 2 is quite good, as you re-introduce "good carbs", brown rice & pasta, wholemeal/granary bread, sweet potatoes etc. So no "white" carbs.

So far, I've lost over 4 stones with this, and you can pretty much pick up and put down as you want.

But I did this, with regular exercise, a good couple of years after having DS

I honestly couldn't say whether there's a good diet to follow that soon after child birth.

Maybe talk to your doc??

AFAIK Slimming World is ok to do whilst pregnant and breastfeeding. But I don't think it's about quick weight loss, to be honest. I think trying to lose weight in the 8 weeks post-partum is a bit ill-advised... I wouldn't start trying to lose weight until 3 months. Sorry.

Just to warn you from my experience, trying to lose weight when bf especially in the early weeks is mega hard. I found myself constantly with low blood sugar and needing to feed myself to stop from keeling over. There is no way that I would have been able to do a strict diet, you also have to remember that your body probably won't want to do too much exercise either,perhaps some sucky in pants and a new haircut? Sorry to not have great tips!

(Although lentil soup is a good bf snack, low in fat, high in proteins and nutrition and filling!)

I would add that the Weight Watchers advice was that you could start losing weight gently after 6 weeks when bfing was well established. You get quite a few extra points to account for the bfing (e.g I usually get 18pts for my allowance, plus 6 more), but the recommended loss is only 1-2 lbs per week.

The crash diet required for your wedding probably isn't a good idea. In any case after the baby is here, unless you're the Iron Willed Lady or something, you're going to need to feel well-fed to keep the energy levels up to the point where you can function whilst surviving on almost no sleep. I had every intention of being very careful with food afterwards, but it all went straight out of the window once reality hit, and it was months later before I felt able to tackle the issue properly.

Perhaps being a bit kinder to yourself, and worrying less about what shallow skinny other people will think/ say at the wedding, would be the way forward here?

HTH (although probably not, sorry)

Buy yourself a fabulous dress, some giant pants and get a new haircut and some lovely makeup. If you are taking the little one with you everyone will be looking at them anyway