Okay how many of you are struggling with losing postpartum weight, put your hands up in the aiiirrrr (putting both my hands up).

This is a touchy subject for some. Some women bounce back right away & some don’t. It depends on so many factors such as the weight you were before pregnancy, your diet and exercise habits during pregnancy, your hormone levels, and even genetics.

The biggest problem I had after my son was bored was accepting myself and my new body. I had also lost 15 pounds right before I found out I was pregnant, so it was hard to accept gaining more weight than I had previously lost and then some.

It’s so easy for people to say “Don’t be hard on yourself you just birthed a baby.” Or Your body isn’t ruined; you’re a goddamn tiger who earned her stripes.” (rolling my eyes).

I don’t know how many freaking times I’ve heard this but if I hear it one more time…

Losing the postpartum weight is WAYYY harder than losing weight before you had a baby.

Your hormones are out of whack, If you’re breastfeeding you find yourself hungrier than usual, and face it, and some of us don’t have the time or energy to cook ourselves healthy and nourishing meals.

If you want to get fit and lose weight, then it’s up to YOU to change your habits. No one is going to do it for you.

I started working out 6 weeks postpartum but I never really gave it my all until my son was around 10 months old.

Sure I worked out during his first year and tried to be as healthy as I could. But there were so many distractions. Sunday brunch, birthday parties, baby showers, the list goes on.

I’m also a foodie. I love all types of food and I love cooking, I love trying out new restaurants, so the moment someone invites me out for dinner, lunch, or happy hour, I’m there.

Now that we are social distancing I am finding it so much easier to focus on myself because we have zero obligations. Even when social distancing is over and we can resume back to our normal lives, I want to keep my new habits going.

If you’re struggling to lose your postpartum weight keep reading for my tips and tricks that have helped me lose 15 pounds in the last few months and how I am continuing to lose the weight.

PURCHASE AN APPLE WATCH/FITNESS TRACKER

 

 

I didn’t start taking my fitness journey seriously until I got an Apple Watch. I was always so skeptic on purchasing one because I thought it was just another gadget that I’d be wasting my money on. ( I’m notorious for buying things and then getting sick of it a week later).

Holy crap, I was wrong. My Apple Watch is everything! It’s my motivation every single day. The moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep my Apple Watch is on tracking my every move, steps, and all of the workouts that I do daily.

You’re probably wondering how the heck can an Apple Watch be motivation? Just listen up.

You can set goals for yourself. There are three rings on your Apple Watch which are Move, Stand, and Exercise. I aim to close all three rings daily.

Every exercise that you do whether it is HITT, running, hiking, swimming, it is recorded in your app and you can use that as motivation for your next workout.  I always try to beat my timings or calories burnt every session.

You also get virtual rewards based on many different factors such as a 7-week workout, longest move streak, a perfect week of moving/standing/and exercise, new move record and the list goes on.  I get so excited when I get an award because I feel accomplished.

You can also add friends and see their daily progress which is a lot of fun and helps me to stay on track. If I’ve been sedentary all day and I see that my friends have been working out and moving all day, it gives me that extra push.

So do yourself a favor and buy yourself an Apple Watch or any other fitness tracker. I promise you won’t be disappointed. It’s been such a big help for me in losing my postpartum weight.

LEMON WATER

 

This is a must. The benefits of Lemon Water are far too many, and I make myself a nice hot cup of lemon water every morning.

Lemon water has so many benefits especially if you drink it on an empty stomach.

Some of those benefits include:

 

• Helps in decreasing inflammation and acidity from your body
• It contains antioxidants that reduce blemishes for clear and glowing skin (this is true, ever since I started drinking lemon water, my skin has become almost perfect).
• Flushes out toxins, encourages healthy digestion and boosts energy (I can attest to this as well, with anyone who has bowel problems, lemon water has truly helped with that).
• Helps shed pounds

I usually cut the lemon in half and save the other half for the next day.  It’s so refreshing and has helped me in losing my postpartum weight and dealing with bloat.

INTERMITTENT FASTING

 

This has been SUCH a big help for me to help lose my postpartum weight. It takes some willpower, in the beginning, to get used to, especially if you eat breakfast first thing in the morning.

If you don’t already know, intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you have periods of eating and fasting. There are many different methods, and I’ll explain below.

The 16/8 Method (this is the one I do) – You skip breakfast and restrict your daily eating period to 8 hours. I usually eat my first meal around 1 PM and have my last meal by 8 PM.

Eat-Stop-Eat Method – Fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week. I honestly wouldn’t be able to do this, but try it out if you’re interested.

The 5:2 Diet – You’re only consuming 500-600 calories on two non-consecutive days but eat normally the other days of the week.

I’ve only tried the 16/8 method, and it’s been working well for me. I used to be the type of person who woke up wanting breakfast right away, and intermittent fasting has helped me lose my postpartum weight.

for more information on intermittent fasting, you can click here, which explains intermittent fasting more in-depth.

**I also try to exercise before I eat my first meal. This is a personal preference for many reasons, but because I haven’t consumed any food before I exercise my body burns fat instead of carbs, which leads to faster weight loss**

 

DIET

 

One of the most important things to help lose postpartum weight is controlling your diet.

Diet is the most important thing in helping you lose weight. You can exercise as much as you want but if you don’t have your diet in check then there’s no point in exercising.

I Intermittent fast so I have two meals a day, plus a snack within an 8-hour window. I choose to follow a low carb diet because that’s what has worked for me in the past.

Now I don’t do low carb EVERY SINGLE DAY, cuz come on a girl loves her pizza, roti, sandwiches and all that good stuff.

On the weekend I choose to cheat a little but I’ll choose one day where I’m allowed to have a bit more carbs than I usually do.

A sample daily eating plan goes somewhat like this:

9:30 AM – Hot water with Lemon

10:30 AM – Coffee with almond milk

1 PM – Spinach Omelet with turkey bacon and half an avocado

3 PM – Power Balls with Lemon and Ginger Tea

7 PM – Salad with a Protein

Salads don’t have to be boring. My favorite is Greek with extra Feta (I eat Feta with everything)

I usually do fish, chicken, or kale and quinoa bites (from Costco) with a salad during the week. I add a tablespoon of Tzatziki on the side for some flavor.

I’ve also been trying out some new keto desserts. I say Keto because they are all sugar and wheat-free.  So if you have a sweet tooth like me, there are so many sugar-free dessert options you can choose from to satisfy your sugar craving.

EXERCISE

 

I mean this is a no brainer. Some of us love to exercise some of us hate it. I’ve grown to love it and I can’t function if I don’t get some type of physical activity daily.

Now I used to be that person who hated going to the gym and exercising but as I got older, my metabolism started catching up to me (yay genes!). I need to exercise to stay in shape, so I’ve come to terms with this and made it a lifestyle change.

Once I got my Apple Watch, exercising became a daily habit.

Now that we are are social distancing and all of the gyms and studios are closed I’ve come up with my exercise routines.

Don’t be afraid to mix up your routine, it gets boring doing the same damn thing every day.

My favorite workouts are HIIT, weights, and YouTube videos by Jeanette Jenkins. I mentioned her in another post of mine as well, she’s awesome and there are so many different variations on YouTube so you can pick which one works best for you.

On days that I do HIIT I do 30 min of cardio on the treadmill and breaking down the half-hour into different intervals of walking, jogging, and running.

Once I’m done my cardio then I finish it off with 30 min of weight training. One day I’ll focus on the upper body such as arms, chest, and back & the next time I’ll focus on the lower body such as legs and butt.

YouTube is the BOMB. Before social distancing, I was a regular at Orange Theory. Once all of the studios closed I was desperate to keep active and came across YouTube workout videos.

I always aim to burn around 500-600 calories a session, so If I am under in the hour then I just keep going until I hit 500-600. That has been a big help for me because it gets me to lose my postpartum weight faster.

Oh yeah…

don’t forget to make a playlist with your favorite songs. That’s what get’s me going on days when I’m feeling lazy. I love listening to a lot of old school and new hip-hop and R&B music to get my body more energized.

 

DRINK WATER

 

I know you’ve probably heard this a MILLION times, but drink your water people. I’m one of those people who find it hard to keep up with the 8 glasses a day.

I make sure my water bottle is always filled up and that it’s with me all the time. I also have a reminder on my phone every two hours to drink more. So if you find yourself having trouble remembering just set a reminder.

Water is so important in helping you to lose the postpartum weight. It flushes out all of the toxins out of your body, helps with bloating, and also helps boost performance during exercise.

If you find it hard to drink water, you can always add some cucumber and mint to give it a better taste. Also, buy yourself a cute water bottle, I always find that when I have a nice looking water bottle I tend to drink more water. This one is my favorite because of the sleek look and my water stays cold for hours.

The good thing about social distancing is that if you have to go pee at least you’re in the comfort of your own home. So pee away folks.

TAKE THE STAIRS INSTEAD OF THE ELEVATOR/ESCALATOR

 

You may not think that this is even going to help but it makes a big difference if you do this any time you run into an elevator or escalator.

Your heart rate increases, therefore more calories are lost when you decide to take the stairs.  It’s small choices like this that helps in your postpartum weight loss.

So my advice is to take the stairs whenever you can and give yourself a mini little workout when you’re out and about.

 

CUT DOWN ON EATING OUT

 

This is a big one for me. I found that my husband and I would eat out at least twice a week after my son was born. Now we barely eat out and have home-cooked meals every day.

We give ourselves one day a week to eat out, but we make healthy choices. Instead of burgers and fries, we’ll choose chicken souvlaki, poke bowls, or something less carby and more healthy.

Cooking at home has also helped us to save money as well. You can buy so much produce for next to nothing and create simple, delicious, and healthy meals at home.

I also try to recreate our favorite restaurant dishes. Be creative in the kitchen. Now that we’re social distancing cooking has become such a therapeutic thing for me and I’ve made a lot of yummy dishes.

 

CUT OUT POP

 

My family LOVES pop. We’re Indian, so pop and Indian food go together like tuna and mayo (at least in my opinion).

But…Pop is so bad for you. The amount of sugar and other harmful ingredients scares me and I’ve promised myself that I will stay clear of pop until I get to my goal weight.

If you find yourself craving pop you can always have a club soda with a little bit of lemon in it (not the same as coke, but you can just pretend that it is).

I’m not saying cut out pop completely, but limit yourself to maybe a can a week instead of having pop every day.

CUT OUT BOOZE

 

Cut out the sugary drinks and beer. I’ve never been a sugary drink type of lady, but I do love my vodka soda. Stick to low-calorie drinks, and try to have a glass of water after each drink.

I’ve tried that technique and it really helps with decreasing the amount of drinks I’m drinking and also helps with my hangovers.

When you’re hungover your body craves junk. I always want to eat something greasy and wonderful the next day. So if you want to enjoy a cocktail or three, try having some water in between, and stick to the less sugary drinks (trust me you’ll thank me later).

 

STOP BUYING JUNK FOOD

 

My husband and I eat fairly healthy but he has a sweet tooth and I LOVE chips.  I also HATE chips because I can eat an entire bag of them and instantly feel guilty.

We’ve tried to cut back on the junk food that we bring into our house since I started my weight loss journey, and we only buy things like chips and candy if we know were going to have guests over (we also try to make sure they eat it all so we don’t have any leftover when they leave, sorry not sorry).

My husband is awesome in keeping me in check. If I ask him to get my favorite Mrs. Vickies Jalapeno chips from the store, he says he will, but comes home empty-handed. For a second I wanna yell at him and give him the silent treatment for at least 24 hours, but then another part of me feels happy that he didn’t buy it.

It’s great when your partner encourages you and motivates you on your weight loss journey. I’m lucky that my husband motivates me daily and is on this journey with me.

At the end of the day, It’s all about portion control as well. If you can stop yourself from eating a whole bag of chips or a whole row of Oreo’s, then kudos to you.

 

STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF EVERYDAY

 

I got into the habit of weighing myself every day at different times of the day which is not very smart.

Our body tends to hold onto water weight so when we weight ourselves after a meal or midday, the scale is going to be higher than what it was in the morning.

Opt to weigh yourself every week or every two weeks.

But don’t just rely on the scale. I would suggest measuring your body with a tape measurer and compare every month. To me, that is more accurate than the scale.

My favorite weight scales are ones that not only measure your weight but also your body fat and water weight.  TekSky Smart Body Fat Scale is a great scale because not only does it measure body fat, water weight, and BMI.

But it also connects through a blue tooth on your phone so you can track your data properly (and the price is pretty awesome too, ain’t nobody looking to spend an arm and a leg on a scale).

 

BE PATIENT

 

Like I mentioned earlier in my post, losing postpartum weight is harder than losing weight pre-baby.

Two words – BE PATIENT!

I wasn’t patient in the beginning and it took a toll on my mental health.  I wanted to lose my postpartum weight so bad, especially since summer was coming so soon.  Get into some good habits, and stick to them. But remember that nothing comes without hard work and sacrifice.

Once my habits became consistent and I was moving and exercising daily, I started to see the pounds fall off.

—

To all the mamas out there struggling with their weight. I feel you.

It’s a struggle to look at yourself in the mirror and not be happy with what you see. But remember that it’s something that can be fixed if you’re willing to put the time and energy into it. I hope that by reading my blog post, that it gives you the will power to help lose your postpartum weight.

It takes a lot of willpower to stay focused, eat healthy, and keep moving. Once you get into the routine you don’t want to stop. It becomes who you are and becomes a part of your lifestyle.

Don’t just eat and exercise to lose weight, do it to nourish your body and be strong and healthy.

I want to be healthy and strong for my son and my future kids. I want to show them the importance of taking care of your body and nourishing it.

Staying fit and healthy gives me more clarity and energy throughout the day to be able to tackle being a mother to my one-year-old son, and be mentally and physically present day in and day out.

What is something that has worked for you to help with losing your postpartum weight? Comment below.