Just had a baby and need help with weight loss!

[Felix90]

So my baby girl is 11 days old and I finally mustered up the courage to get on the scales a couple of days ago. I was in the process of trying to lose weight when I got my positive test and was 13 and a half stone and I've gained another 2 stones during pregnancy

I am a bit of a serial dieter and have tried almost everything previously but not sure what sort of plan would be best to follow whilst BF? Can anyone help? I have done well before with intermittent fasting and I'm a bit gutted that I can't do it due to bf

Any ideas welcome!

Exercise, not diet, is the key.

Going on a 'diet' isn't beneficial in the long run. You will want to up your activity and increase your protein, adjust your carbs intake and reduce your fat intake accordingly, i.e. The more exercise you do, the more protein and carbs you should have. And cut out trans fats as much as possible.

Fasting isn't a good idea, at any time but especially not when bf.

If you want to kick start your healthy eating plan, try a 30 day paleo diet or similar. Then, just eat healthy from there on, and exercise is key!

11 days old is very soon to be dieting. It will still come off bit by bit. Look after yourself and drink plenty of water.

While bf don't do anything drastic or you could upset your supply.

Google 'calories while bf' and there's a calculator to work out the calories you should be having each day to maintain. Then log on to my fitness pal and log EVERYTHING that goes in!

I've lost 1/2 stone without dieting and my bf lg is 15 weeks now. I'm now logging and making an effort to diet while being sensible. I'm having my calories but trying to make healthier choices.

Good luck

Thank you, I will look in to paleo. I think in general I just need to eat healthy but not sure if its wise to try and reduce carbs/increase protein to help? I don't really know how I should be eating whilst bf.

I'm rubbish at exercise but I'm going to try going on

I think the main thing with pregnancy weight is just eating healthily and exercise. Bf makes you hungry but try and reach for banana/ nuts etc instead of cake.

Join a buggy exercise group. Look online for closest, but generally most large parks will have at least once a week. Where you basically speed walk with others with babies. Good way to meet people with similar age children also. But in general having a baby made me fitter. I wanted to walk everywhere so they got some fresh air and they slept, going in the car made them scream!

In a few weeks once you have recovered a bit more try and fit in at least one daily walk. Relatively fast waking rather than a stroll. 9-10am is usually good as allows baby to have first nap of the day in pram also, and gets you motivated

Baby swimming if you like. Not really exercise for you but gets baby loving the water so as the grow you can go more often. If you go at weekends with partner you can take turns who actually swims and who plays with baby in pool. We have done this since tiny and now have 2 and 4 year olds. We swim 2 nights a week with each adult doing 20 lengths before swapping. Eldest is a confident swimmer now and youngest can swim a few metres. We swim in eve and they sleep great!

Sorry pressed send too soon! Will try going on long walks with the pram.

I have myfitnesspal so will use that!

Artandco that's great advice, thank you. I have just moved house close to a massive leisure centre so I'll have to go and use the pool. Will also look out for buggy fit classes!

Christmas probably didn't help either!

Until about 6 weeks have passed, don't try to 'diet' but do eat healthily - going for the basic 5 a day (and perhaps making it 7 or 10) plus avoiding highly processed food is OK though (perhaps read up on the principles of GI type diet and do a gentle version).

Walk everywhere! Look at upping your exercise after 6 weeks, but don't begin anything new/vigorous until a bit after that - you need to ensure your core stomach muscles are back in place . Some physio practices do post-natal exercise classes, and that might be a good way to start.