Deciding to lose pregnancy weight is a personal decision and for each mum the decision comes at a different time.
For some mums it is a few months after the birth of their baby and for others it is more than 12 months (you can see some information on when you can start to lose your baby weight here).
But for every mum it is really important not to start until you feel 100% physically and emotionally ready as if you are not ready then you will find that motivation fades very quickly and you will find it hard to stay focused on your weight loss goals.
To help you stay motivated you can read about mums who have lost their baby weight already on our Lose Baby Weight and Healthy Mummy Plans here and see their before and after pictures to help inspire you and for you to see how they overcame hurdles along the way.
Plus the Lose Baby Weight support on our weight loss plans give you daily email support as well as as constant motivation through our blog and Facebook page
Weight loss help and tips to lose your baby weight
- Weight loss motivation is all about desire rather than will power. How much do you want to lose weight? How much more do you want to lose weight than you want to eat unhealthy foods and not make yourself move? List all your reasons for wanting to lose weight, or stay healthy and slim. Add more reasons to your list as you think of them. Make reading your list the first thing you do in the morning
- Drink less calories from your beverages, by choosing to drink mostly water. This can make a really big difference, because what is holding many people back from creating the body of their dreams, is that they are simply consuming too many calories from beverages and not taking them into account in their total daily energy intake.
- Learn the difference between the different kinds of carbohydrates. This will help you to choose the beneficial carbohydrates and avoid the harmful carbohydrates. Avoid simple carbs like white rice/pasta/bread/sugar and fill up on complex carbs like wholegrain bread/pasta/rice and vegetables. This will stabilise your blood sugar and make you feel fuller for longer – as well as giving your body great nutrition!
- Drink a glass of water before a meal. If you tend to overeat at certain meal times, try drinking a medium to large glass of water 10 to 15 minutes before you sit down to that meal.
- Drinking water before your meal will partially fill your stomach and may reduce your hunger levels, because often when we think we are feeling hunger, our body is actually telling us that it is getting dehydrated and needs some water.
- Sustain weight loss motivation by making getting to your target weight believable. Visualize success. How will you look when you lose weight? How will you feel? What will you be wearing? How will your clothes feel on you? What will people be saying to you? What will you be saying? What will you be doing? Spend 5 minutes a day imagining and enjoying your future success. A great way to while away the time waiting in a line or commuting, not so great for driving though!
- Boost your weight loss motivation by promising yourself a treat when you reach your goals. Build in some non-food rewards for every little step you take as well as for major milestones. How about a beauty treatment for each half a kilo lost? Or buy a book by your favorite author and allow yourself time to read in peace (and without guilt) each time you do your full workout. And each time you make a healthy choice rather than an available unhealthy choice (walking instead of taking the car, fresh fruit instead of ice-cream) pat yourself on the back. Tell yourself that you’re doing great, because you are!Success builds on success. Don’t get so fanatical from day 1 that you fail on day 10 swearing never to follow a diet and exercise program again. Instead make a few small healthy changes at a time, see the effects, add a few more. This is the way lifestyle habits are changed, not superhuman willpower and gritting of teeth
- Don’t Keep Goodies You Can’t Resist In The Cupboard. Keeping chocolates, lollies, soft drink and other tempting goodies in your cupboards makes eating them inevitable. Even people with very strong willpower have moments of weakness from time to time and if we’ve got a lot of weight to lose, will power is not likely to be one of our strong points. Clean your cupboards out (including those nooks and crannies where you’ve got an emergency stash of chocolate hidden!).
- When you do well on exercise don’t be tempted to treat yourself with over eating. Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise so you will only set your self back if you have a great couple of days of exercise and then eat too much. Keep on track after exercise by filling up on protein and fresh veggies which will accelerate your weight loss and stay away from simple carbs like sugar, cakes, white bread, white pasta and processed foods
- Keep Going – Plateaus will happen! Our bodies don’t like dramatic change. Thousands of years of evolution have taught our bodies that dramatic weight loss is a bad thing and it has automatic responses designed to minimise the damage.
- Weight fluctuation is quite normal and sometimes our body just needs to get used to the idea of being at a new weight, even if it is a healthier one.
- Dancing is a GREAT way to get your heart pumping and burning some calories – so when you are at home and get 5 – 10 minutes put on your favourite tune and dance away. This will make you feel good and speed up your metabolism If you’re a weekend food binger, plan ahead to make sure you have plenty of healthy snack options in the house.
- For example, pre-prepare some air-popped popcorn, mix up a blend of your favourite unsalted nuts, have some low fat yoghurts ready to go in the fridge and try adding a dash of fresh lemon and lime to carbonated mineral water instead of drinking soft drinks and juices.
- Find a weight loss plan that works for you. The Lose Baby Weight Plans have been designed for mums and by mums and fit into a mums busy life. See our plans here
And don’t forget to check out our current promotions and discounts page to see what specials we have on this week on our Healthy Mummy product range
