When you are trying to lose pregnancy weight it can be common to have a few weeks full of motivation followed by a period where you might decide that it’s all too hard and give up.
If this sounds familiar you may have fallen into a bit of a stop and start cycle, which can be both frustrating as well as ineffective in losing pregnancy weight.
There are a few reasons why this may be happening to you. Here we explore six of the common themes and give you some advice so that you can lose your baby weight for good.
You may not have been 100% ready to begin losing weight
The decision of when to begin losing weight after having a baby is different for everyone. For some of us, it may be 4 months after baby, for others it may be 12 or 24 months.
Have a read of our article here which outlines how to know when you are ready to begin.
If you begin your new healthy eating plan without being fully emotionally ready to do so, you most likely won’t see the results.
You need to have your mind committed to the cause so that you can overcome any bumps on the road.
A great way to begin is to use the 28 Day Diet and Exercise Challenge as it offers very specific advice about what to eat and what exercise to do in order to see results – which you do with 1000’s of other mums
You may have not had enough support
Support is vital when you are changing the way you eat and exercise, as it can feel like a serious shock to the system for many women. It’s not realistic to think that you can change the way you eat and incorporate exercise into your day without anything else changing too.
So it is imperative that you speak to your partner or a close friend about your goals, and get them on board with your weight loss.
Jump onto the Lose Baby Weight website and private Facebook group for regular updates, support, motivating articles, recipes and weight loss tips from real mums just like you.
By working as a team rather than on your own you are more likely to achieve your goals.
You could have been too strict on yourself
Often when people begin trying to lose weight, they find themselves being very strict about ‘the rules’ for weight loss. For instance they might say ‘that’s it, I will never eat chocolate again’.
Willpower might be enough for the first few days, but often as the cravings come and hit you it can see you going to the opposite extreme and gorging yourself on so much chocolate that you make yourself feel sick.
A much more realistic approach is to be honest with yourself about what’s negotiable and what’s not. For instance you might be able to comfortably give up things like donuts and croissants, but chocolate could be your weakness.
So you could say to yourself that on Fridays you will enjoy some good quality dark chocolate after eating a healthy home cooked dinner. This is a much more realistic approach to treats, as it means that nothing has to be off limits.
You may need to remove distractions and triggers
If you have committed to losing weight, one of the first things you should do is get rid of anything that can hinder your progress.
If you still have cupboards full of chips and biscuits, and soft drink and cake in the fridge it’s going to be nearly impossible to resist eating them when a craving hits.
All too often we do well with our healthy eating, then have a junk food binge and feel as though there is no point continuing.
Having a bad day doesn’t mean that you can’t start over again tomorrow – the secret is to treat each day as a new opportunity and not let yesterday’s mistakes dictate your success. Read our tips for getting over a bad day here.
You may see weight loss as a temporary thing
For many people, the idea of a diet is something that you do for a short time in order to see a result.
But the Lose Baby Weight plans encourage you to see this as a complete lifestyle change, rather than a 6 week crash diet or 24 hour slim down.
When you decide that this is forever, you can focus less on the diet side of things and just focus on being healthy. The weight loss will follow on from here, as you will be eating things that make you feel good and are beneficial to your health.
So if you only feel as though you can commit to eating healthy food for a short period of time, perhaps you aren’t 100% ready to lose your pregnancy weight just yet.
You might not be realistic with your goals
Many people give up on weight loss after a short period as they become frustrated at not seeing fast results.
So it could be that after 2 weeks of eating well and exercising you haven’t lost the 10kg you want to lose, so you figure that it’s just not worth bothering with.
Setting yourself such unrealistic goals will inevitably lead to disappointment as it’s just not feasible to think that this can be obtained in a safe and healthy way.
Click here to read our advice on goal setting and how you can ensure that you are setting the types of goals that are achievable.
Plus get back to basics
And here are some really useful links and resources to help you refocus and get back to basics
- Work out your BMR so you know how many calories your own individual body needs. As you lose weight your calorie needs decrease so it is important to re-calculate and adjust accordingly. Use our BMR calculator here
- If you haven’t yet joined up to our 28 Day Challenge join here so you have your own private dashboard to log your weight, measurements, exercise and BMI so you can visually see your progress.
- Snacking is essential for energy levels and for boosting your metabolism – see our healthy snacking category here
- Are the scales not giving you the results you want – see what could be happening here
- Read here about why you shouldn’t always trust the scales
- Get some tips on staying motivated here
- See more common weight loss issues here and how to over come them
- Join our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges here
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Join here to secure 64% off for the lifetime of your membership.
You can also get a FREE day of recipes and exercises on the Challenge here
And scroll below to see some incredible results from mums on the 28 Day Challenges.
Results from mums
Jo Hart has lost 38kg
I’m excited I’m almost at a 40kg loss.
I am proud of the change I have made for not only me but for my family too.
If you are not already a 28 Day Challenge member I highly recommend joining you won’t regret it!”
Tamara has lost 35kg
Joining the 28 Day Challenge was literally the best decision I ever made.
Gone forever is the frumpy, sad, unhappy and unhealthy Tamara.
I’ve lost 35kgs and my life and my sons life is forever changed for the better.
Therese has lost 30kg
I’ve been following the Healthy Mummy plans & 28 Day Challenges for 18 months in total & have lost 30kg’s.
Leashaa has lost 15kg
I’ve Lost 15kgs thanks to the 28 Day Challenge & Lose Baby Weight and over 150Cm of fat!!
I started my journey last year and thanks to the plans I’ve been able to lose weight, create a healthy lifestyle and maintain my breastmilk supply allowing me to continue nursing my daughter into our 3rd year!
Join the Challenge here