Weight loss after a baby includes 3 things: nutrition, exercise, and a lot of patience.
Aside from feeling great and having more energy, there are many motivators to consistently strive to lose weight after pregnancy. If you carry extra pounds, you have a higher risk of diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Losing weight will improve your health not only now, but it can also influence your weight for years to come.

Stop making these big mistakes

Diets, especially quick weight loss diets or plans, often lead to failure because:

1. You feel deprived.

Diets that don’t allow certain types of foods (carbohydrates, fats, sugar) in moderation are simply not practical, not to mention unhealthy: eliminating entire food groups does not allow for a healthy and complete diet.

2. You “plateau” after losing a few pounds.

There’s actually a second component to healthy weight loss: exercise. Often your body adjusts to your new way of eating, and it’s only with increased physical activity that the pounds will continue to come off.

3. You lose weight, but you can’t keep it off.

Diets that severely cut calories, restrict certain foods, or rely on ready meals can work in the short term. However, once you reach your weight loss goal, you have no way of maintaining a healthy diet for life, and the pounds quickly come back.

4. After your diet, you seem to gain weight more quickly.

Restricting caloric intake slows metabolism, another reason why fasting or starvation diets are counterproductive.

5. The person in the commercial lost 30 pounds in 2 months, and you haven’t.

Diet companies make a lot of grandiose promises, and most of them are just not realistic. Unfortunately, losing weight isn’t easy, and anyone who makes it seem that way is doing you a disservice. Don’t be discouraged by setting unrealistic goals!

6. You will never burn abdominal fat with ABS exercises.

You can build your abdominal muscles with some of these machines, but it won’t do anything for the fat that covers your abs.

How to make permanent weight loss a reality

There is only one sure way to lose weight permanently:

1. No rush. Be patient. Set realistic goals.

Trying to lose weight too quickly can often backfire on you. Most of the weight you lose on rapid loss diets comes back the first day you start eating “normal” again. They give you a false sense of hope and are highly unhealthy and toxic to your body. Set realistic goals. Don’t try to lose more than 1 to 2 pounds a week.

2. Choose exercises that you enjoy and that you can incorporate into your daily life.

Don’t have time for a long workout? Research shows that three 10-minute bouts of exercise per day is as good as one 30-minute workout.

3. Focus on healthy foods.

* Avoid temptation: buy healthy food in the supermarket and do not keep junk food in the house

* Eat smaller portions – don’t try to starve yourself or skip meals. Just reduce the portions.

* Eat only when you’re hungry – Distract yourself with an activity if you’re constantly hungry.

* Drink water before meals.

How long it takes you to return to your pre-pregnancy weight and shape largely depends on how much weight you gained during pregnancy.

Remember! Starvation is not a solution for permanent weight loss after baby.