Post natal weight loss?

[Camelbak]

What are your best post natal weight loss tips? I want to lose 14lbs by July. I'm breastfeeding and running after a toddler but so far haven't shifted much excess baggage. Was never any good at mathematical weight loss methods like counting cals or weird ones like drinking vitamin shakes. And I like wine too much to give it up... Any ideas?

Move more, eat less, in a nutshell!

Low gi diet so food shoukd take longer to burn. Cutting out bad snacks for good (but keep wine as a treat ) . If possible cut out snacks but I think this is not the best idea if bf so maybe eat healthier stuff. Rid the house of anything likely to tempt you (chocolate Biscuits being my downfall). Walk or use a sling wherever you can .

This probably sounds daft but I find it hard to work out how much less I should actually eat, milkmoustache. Today for example I had porridge, a waffle from cafe Nero mid morning; 2 slices toast, pea soup & hot cross bun for lunch and tonight I'll have mushroom risotto with salad. Is that too much? I'll have walked about 60 mins briskly and done a load of chores. Just interested to know what you guys eat to keep the pounds at bay.

I did weightwatchers. You get points for everything (but rarely have to add up to more than 30 and it tells you all the calories and portion sizes online). You get lots extra for breastfeeding. I lost 2 stone in 4 months after DS was born so works quickly too.

Do you have a smart phone? The My Fitness Pal app is bloody brilliant - you put in your details and it tells you how many calories to eat. You log everything you eat using its big database, and so keep track of how much you're eating. You can also log exercise.

I have just caved and started weight watchers, as I too am useless at adjusting my diet enough to lose weight.

Your sample day above does sound quite a lot to be honest, and there's not much fruit or veg. Porridge is great, but with milk it's quite rich so should see you through to lunch. That waffle was probably at least 200 cal, hot cross buns are more calorific than you might imagine (and is additional bread on top of the toast) and risotto tends to be high fat.

If you changed the snacks to an apple, or cracker or something, you'd probably see a difference.

Good luck, it's a bugger when it doesn't drop off with breastfeeding isn't it!

Just looked up that wafer - was it caramel? 177 calories and 8 grammes of fat . They look so little and innocent!

Yeah I;m doing Weight Watchers too. Lost 21lb since the beginning of January. Gone from a 14-16 to a 12-14 with no exercise other than looking after two young children. It's the Pro Points one now and I like it much more than the old one as most fruit and veg nil points so makes you eat more healthily.

I'd cut down on the carbs and eat more protein, have wholegrain bread and no waffle or bun. I have fruit and nuts or ryvita with houmous as a snack or dark chocolate. Maybe add some dried fruit and seeds or nuts to your porridge.

God I had just about worked out your daily calories from yesterday and then deleted the post!

I'm loosing my baby weight at the moment and yesterday i ate
panni with flora and jam
apple
2 toasts with cottage cheese tuna and salad
lamb pasta stew thingy!
champagne
yoghurt
several pieces of fruit

To loose 1 pound a week you need to consume 500 calories a day less then need.

toast for example is between 70-140 calories a slice a hot cross bun is 150.

My one piece of advice is to exersize as much as you like but do not take this into account when you are eating.

for example to burn of the hot cross bun you's need to walk briskly for 35 minutes

Good luck ! baby weight sucks doesn't it

Swap the wine for spritzers and walk more. That's how I lost mine .

try drinking water as sometimes you're actually thirsty worked for me not craving as much chocs :-)

Walk for an hour a day without stopping, preferably with the buggy. If you can supplement that with a pilates or yoga DVD once or twice a week, you will definitely shape up by the summer.

Lay off fatty/sugary snacks, but don't scrimp on proper dinners ...and Christ yes, you must have some wine

Look at your portion sizes and maybe make smaller. You may feel hungry initially but you'll get used to it and feel fine. Lots of healthy snacks eg raisins, dried fruit, nuts. Drink lots of water. Make stews, soups salads with beans and lentils as very filling. Don't finish off the toddlers leftovers despite hating to throw food away (my big downfall!). Don't deny yourself anything but be careful! Try and add in more exercise if you can. I always find swimming good as it also help tone up everything.

I've always found when brestfeeding that the weight clings to me and only when I stop does it start coming . Good luck x

I walked to loose my baby weight, first baby 4.5 stone second about 2 stone.
I pushed and carried the children and did pushchair workouts, over 1 hour each day. ( making it harder each week) i lost almost all of the weight this way. Whilst still having a drink and eating plenty ( bf also)
I am just getting rid of the last few pounds, the really tough last bit. To be honest its more the sculpting of the body i want. im doing callantics workouts amd digging my garden. My waist has reappeared in only two weeks. Google callanetics esp waist excercises they do work i used them in my twenties.

As someone else said eat less, drink more water, workout more.

I think some people never loose weight whilst bfing, sadly.

I am a natural size 8-10 and have been all my life until I moved to Asia. The lifestyle and no home cooked food sent my weight up, then daily sickness in first pregnancy made me eat loads of stodgy and sweeter things (plus we lived above Singapore's best pizza restaurant) and I ballooned. My mother came out for the birth (she was early and 5 lbs, I put on 40 pounds ) and was genuinely shocked--and she didn't hide her relish in telling me....

I lost a lot quickly, but fed for ages and I felt that I couldn't lose the last bit as I was too hungry.

A few years later, breastfeeding, another (sick) pregnancy and tandeming a bit and still feeding I am a 6-8. I can't find clothes to fit in M&S.

I eat, but not to excess. I never, ever snack unless it's fruit or sticks of veg (or an oatcake. I drink minimally (with the odd night off) and then only red wine/champagne.

I eat a smaller amount of carbs than I used to. Scrambled eggs and one slice of toast, half the amount of rice I used to have.

Half the plate of any food I have is vegetables. I eat my own body weight in broccoli ("sadly" my husband says)

I drink a tall glass of water before eating any meal

Lots of soups.

All the food I cook is home cooked (breakfast, lunch and dinner) so I can see what goes into it. I don't use any low fat anything. I bake cakes once a week but give them away to neighbours (now am DO sound like someone with a disorder!)

I do no exercise at all, but my NEAT is high because I've never had a pram and use just a sling ad feed and nap the baby in it. I walk locally and rarely use the car and am moving throughout the day all the time.

Small changes, nothing drastic. There is no food I won't eat, but I do keep an eye on what goes in.

Learn to live with being peckish. You're probably more thirsty than hungry and it's worth having a drink first. And no one died from not having a large lunch, or a few veg crudités and some hummous (mine today)

For example, this is what I had today

2 scrambled eggs and one half of bagel. Hoovered up the remains of children's fruit plate (grapes, banana, apple, pineapple)

Lunch was a small pitta and crudites and homemade hummous and one of a friend's

Half one of my eldest daughter's rice crispie chocolate cake we made

An apple and a pear

Dinner was gong bao chicken and small bowl of rice and loads of green veg -- about four time what I'd have in my previous existence

It's Friday and I'm having some red wine.

There's a thread on exactly this in Big/slim/whatever - no idea how to do an internal link, sorry!

I agree with low GI - no counting stuff and no being hungry! I do South Beach, which is basically just a version of low GI - lost 4 stone with it before I got pregnant and am now 2 pounds above pre-pregnancy weight (DS is 8 months).

Afraid I didn't loose weight while BF - with either of them. I think some do and some don't. I was however consuming a lot of green & blacks!
When I stopped BF, I started running. I was truly CRAP at the beginning but got up to 5k within a few months and really enjoyed it (and still do). Concessions to my diet - stopped eating cakes, chocolate, biscuits etc, only drank at weekends (hard bit). I lost about 3 stone in 3 months and it's stayed off.
Much better for me than diet regimes! It's just less food in, more exercise.

Thanks for ALL the great tips! In my heart of hearts I know it's all about more veg on the plate, water, low carbs, low GI and giving up fatty treats (though I always convince myself I deserve them after a hard day with two babies...). But isn't it hard to get organised with the healthy stuff when it's easiest to grab a couple of slices of toast and some cheese to keep you going? I guess I'll have to overcome my arch enemy: my pathetically weak self-discipline. Otchayaniye interesting about the Asian diet making you pile on the pounds. When I was in Vietnam where the food is superb I did not see a single obese person. Lots of healthy rice and pho broth was the key there.
QueenCadbury (great name) what's your favourite lentil / bean recipe? I might give it a go.

Good luck.

Go to Malaysia and you'll see lots of fat people! I used to gorge on dimsum on Sundays, Kway teo, Vietnamese (rice noodles are quite calorific, surprisingly so) and stuff cooked in pork fat. Lots of deep fried gong bao chicken in my staff canteen And pizza when I was sick of Asian food

People in Vietnam or cambodia aren't fat ... Yet

Hopefully just downloaded the Myfitness Pal ap and your'e right it's fantastic. Makes you think about each and every crumb you put in your mouth and saves you having to count cals yourself. Great tip!