Posted by shavina

First of all, who am I to talk about pregnancy weight loss . OK, I was just a few months shy of my 40th birthday when I completed my first and only pregnancy by delivering healthy twin boys. And 7 weeks after this blessed event I can honestly say I had lost all of the weight I gained during pregnancy and was actually in better shape than before I became pregnant. Was it easy? Not entirely, but it wasn’t all that difficult either. I will say that I had one advantage. Shortly after learning of my pregnancy, I found a program of diet and exercise that I followed. My primary reason for finding and following this program was for the health of my baby. But, of course any program designed to promote a healthy baby, would also promote a healthy mommy. Because of this I probably had less pregnancy weight to lose than if I followed no program while pregnant.

Regardless of how much weight you’re trying to lose, however, there really are a couple of key things to do that will make it easier and speed up the process. The first is nursing. It always surprises me to find out just how many women don’t realize the weight loss advantages that come with nursing. In fact a lot of the weight gain women experience during pregnancy is to prepare our bodies for nursing. When women choose not to nurse their babies, then they miss out on one of the main avenues to losing the weight. A woman who follows a normal schedule of nursing their baby is, on average, burning 500 calories per day. The equivalent of a pretty decent workout. So, if you were planning on nursing–great, if you weren’t, you may want to reconsider.

Now after nursing gives you your jump-start into losing your excess poundage, the next step is to start an exercise program. Let’s face it, after delivering your baby, your daily routine is going to be completely different than you were used to, so why not throw an exercise program into the mix right from the start. I mean what’s one more thing, right. It doesn’t have to be anything strenuous at first. Start off slow and work up to something a little more demanding. The key for me was to involve my babies in my routine. I started off by strolling them. Then after a few days, I would start to take longer and longer strolls.

I would then increase from two or three strolls a day to four or five. Of course, I picked up the pace a bit also. I never got up to a jog, but I was making pretty good time. This routine really worked two fold for me. First, I got all the benefits from the exercising, and second it kept me from sitting around and eating all day. And, after initially starting the program, it wasn’t difficult at all. In fact it got to the point where I really looked forward to it.

So, as if there aren’t enough things to do after having your baby, losing those pregnancy pounds does not have to be that hard of one. The keys are to start right away by nursing, and then as soon after as possible work into a daily routine of exercise. At 39 years of age with twins, if I can do it–you can do it.

By Joyce Graham