You had a wonderful figure that was the cynosure of all eyes before you got pregnant; and now after pregnancy, it’s like the odds are stacked against you. You look into the mirror and you so hate the size of who you see, because you have gone 3 or even 4 sizes bigger than you were. Then you begin to ask yourself if you will ever look attractive to your husband again.
While some women might have no issues with going back to their pre pregnancy shape in a few months, for others it is a herculean task that could take even years to achieve. Pregnancy changes women a lot. From the expansion of the uterus, to the increase in breast, light headedness, constipation, changes in hormones, hemorrhoid, stretch marks and the list is endless.
For the nine months you carried your baby, you probably heard loads of advice by your care givers. One of which was the advice to eat well so that your baby wouldn’t be malnourished. In a bid to eat, you perhaps overdid it. No thanks to the rich varieties of Nigerian delicacies; hence, you couldn’t resist them as they came your way. Perhaps what you didn’t know was that 70 percent of Nigerian women never get back to their pre pregnancy shape, let alone losing the flabby and big belly fat.
Now that you have your new baby, there’s quite a lot to worry about- when to feed him/her, what to do when your baby is crying and added to all these is the anxiety of how to get rid of the extra pounds you picked up during pregnancy. These 4 sure-fire steps to losing weight after pregnancy, if well practiced should help you bounce back again soon.
1. Watch Your Diet
As a typical Nigerian, you should be conversant with the tins of evaporated milk and pounded yam that women who put to bed are flooded with. During the omugwo period, most new mothers, depending on which part fo the country they come from, are usually treated to some of these delicacies. This in fact has made most women to drastically add more weight than they did whilst pregnant. Post pregnancy state doesn’t give you the license to over eat.Infact it is a time for you to eat healthy so that you will burn those calories you amassed during pregnancy. If you stick with eating healthy and eating to satisfy hunger rather than dieting, you will discover that weight loss would come naturally with time. Therefore, it is expedient that you eat lots of vegetables, fruits, and protein meals that will help you lose weight rather than add.
2. Breast Feeding
One of the easiest and most effective ways you lose lots of weight after child birth is feeding your baby with breast milk. Breast feeding helps your body to burn calories. It thus helps you lose weight naturally. If your choice of career cannot permit you to go on an exclusive feeding regime (which is the best recommended by the WHO) for your baby, you can extend feeding your baby for a year or more. Whilst your baby gets the adequate nutrients, you also lose weight. The longer you breast feed, the more weight you lose. This has worked for an avalanche of women and will work for you too.
3. Start Exercising
According Obstetrics and gynecology experts, if you had a normal delivery with no complication, you can start walking and doing minor strengthening exercises for your abdominal walls, as soon as you feel strong enough. However if you had a caesarean section, it is expedient that you wait till 5-6 weeks before starting to exercise. This is so that you do not strain your womb that needs to heal from the inside. Once you are comfortable enough with the strengthening exercises, you can move on to the cycling, belly crunches, sit up and leg up exercises.
Most new moms are eager to go back to their pre pregnancy figure. You need to be patient with yourself. Rome wasn’t built in a day and so you must be patient enough to see the result. With constant practicing of these steps, you can be sure that in months to come you would be back to being the cynosure of all eyes.
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Ifeanyi Egede is an experienced and prolific freelance writer with several years of writing for both online and print media. I’m the Editor-in-Chief for Quality Content Writers. When I’m not writing, I help speakers, organizations and entrepreneurs fulfill their goals. I consider myself a scientist by profession, a writer by calling and a change agent by purpose. Contact me here.

Nice write up Ifeanyi. The exercise part is not easy, true. It requires a lot of discipline. And the bossom feeding, so true, I noticed it with my first baby, plus I wasn't into the omugwo stuff, so it helped. Nice, once again.

Thanks Mayblossom. I was just quoting experts. The exercise part works for some people.

Dermelastic serum works! I gained 60 pounds while pregnant with my first child, and then had a another baby 2 years later adding MORE stretch marks to my stomach. I have noticed they aren't as dark or as deep. They are disappearing before my eyes. I have been using dermelastic serum everyday- twice a day, morning & night. I'm almost done with my first bottle and just put myself on the auto ship. It does say you do see results within 4 weeks and dramatic results in 12 weeks. I'm excited to see my stomach in 2 more months.