How to Lose My Weight After My Second Child

The very best book out there to help you is called The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. It's got great suggestions and tips and it's not really a diet, it's a lifestyle choice. I have 2kids, 23 months apart and I know about wanting to get in shape. Her view is that a beautiful body is 80% nutrition, 10% exercise and 10% genetics. So, give it a shot. I have started on it and I prepare foods and meals and so far, even hubby likes it!

If you read South Beach Diet, you can lose a pound a day! I swear it's the best diet. No sugars, no carbs the first two weeks. It's really healthy and you will feel great. What's good for you is good for baby. Then, on the second level of the diet you can eat unrefined carbs in moderation. You will lose a lot of weight that won't come back on on this diet.

Breast-feed like mad!! That will really help! You can also go to a mommy and me work out class, go for walks, etc.... Eat lots of fruits and veggies too!

I am the mother of three boys - my 2 oldest are in college and the youngest is a middle schooler - they were all huge babies (largest was 10 lbs. 1 oz.) and are still quite large (tallest is 6'6") - so I am familiar with having to lose some extra weight after creating such giants - my best suggestions are to exercise at least 45 minutes to an hour a day, eat raw nutritious foods (fruits, veggies, nuts and herbs) and to support and cleanse your system with a safe product line - check out my website shootingstarherbs.amazonherb.net for a completely all natural, safe and effective cleansing program.

I second Kendra's advice: plenty of meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, but go easy on the other carbs. Have very moderate servings of pasta, rice, bread, etc., and cut out all the sweets if you can. If you can't, then have a very small piece of something sweet, eaten in small bites chased down by a big glass of lowfat milk to help fill you up.

As for exercise, pushing two kids in a double stroller around town is about as good as you can get. The baby weight came off pretty fast that way after my second and third children were born. Exercise really cuts your appetite too.

Abdominal exercises will help with your stomach, but you won't see much in the way of results until you've taken off some of the fat first. It's really important to do them properly for them to work, so get a couple of abs workout books from the library and read up a bit.

Good luck!

Taking sugar completely out of your diet makes a huge difference. Try to stick to whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, small amounts of meat and dairy, and lots and lots of water. Cut our any refined white flour and junk food and you should start to see a difference. It's really not dieting because that is a healthier way of eating and makes for good habits. Make sure you cut our soda too. If you at least cut out sugar, it really does make a huge difference. It will be a slow process, so don't excpect any immediate results. Also, if you decide to exercise then that will drastically reduce your weight along with your new healthy way of eating. 30 minutes 3-5 times a week is perfect. Brisk walking is good enough if you want to start slow and then move to your exercise of choice. Good luck. Like I said it is a slow process but it is the right way to do it.

I've had four kids now and 40. It gets harder to loose with each kid AND the increasing age. What I did this last time worked so well, I could kick myself for not doing it with the others. I started following Paul Bragg (he saved Jack LaLanne) and altered my diet, started with the ACV drink (THAT was magic!) and some tai-chi every morning. I now weigh what I did in high school!!! You can get your toes wet at bragg.com, and/or buy their Healty Lifestyle book at any healthfood store for $10. GOOD LUCK! Love to hear how it goes for you!!!

Go walking ! It helps about 3o mintues I did it after i had my 3rd child. Your young enough that it will al just come off .. lol Im 39 I weigh enough but ive been sieting off and on since october ive lost 30lbs so far. I hope this helps. L.

try the south beach diet, it targets belly fat and is relatively easy to follow. You can find the diet book at target or barns and noble.
Good luck,

Wow, we have alot in common. I just had my second baby about six weeks ago and I weight almost 200 lbs. I have been strugling with the same thing. I am mostly self concious about my stomach. I have never had the challenge of loosing weight before, because I was always in good shape. What I have found is that the easiest thing to do is make sure you move. It is almost impossible to eat perfectly and loose weight. Watch what you eat, be careful with sugar and white flours. I have found that I am really hungry while breast feeding, so I eat small meals and healthy snacks all day long. As long as you are out walking, or working out at a gym or just chasing your 3 year old at the park you should see results. You are young and as long as you are somwhat careful about what you eat and you are moving more in one way or another you should have nothing to worry about. Also, as I keep reminding myself. It took nine months to put this weight on, it wont come off in a week. Good Luck!
W.

You'll get a ton of advice on this but I'll put in my two cents anyway. A knowledgeable person told me it takes a woman 24 months to return completely normal following childbirth. On hearing that I decided that I would lose weight slowly with my first one and I also nursed. I ate primarily fresh and steamed veggies and whole grain bread. Cutting out sugars except fruit made a huge difference and also cutting out most dairy. I would occasionally have cheese on my steamed veggies. For exercise, I walked and did a number of things so I wouldn't get bored. I tried to keep my daily exercise 30 min to an hour and I incorporated ALOT of stretching. Keeping limber lengthens and slims your muscles and increases the effectiveness of your exercise by at least 20%. I'm not a very disciplined person but this was just easy for me. I ended up losing all my baby weight and then some in just over a year. I'm going to do the same thing with this baby. Good luck.

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Hi M., first of all let me congradulate you on your new baby. Bless God! Listen you have to realize that it took you 9 months to gain the weight so its going to take some time to loose it. Don't worry so much about how you will loose it, when the weather is nice go for a walk even a five minute one if you have a stroller. When your baby is sleeping try some excersices that are not too strenous because you have to remember you are still fresh inside and you don't want to pull or hurt yourself. you are still healing. Eat food with fiber like greens and oats. Learn to love yourself first, having babies will make your body look different, and like i said it takes time.

Geez, give yourself a break! You are amazing, you just gave birth, you're breast feeding and you have a 3 year old son (I will be in the same boat in only a few weeks).

Breast feeding will help take the weight off. If you breast feed exclusively, your baby will almost literally suck it off of you. Give it time. Do not cut out all kinds of fat while breast feeding!! If you buy and eat ALL low fat, your body will think it is starving for fat and will STORE it, not use what you have like one would think. Eat GOOD fat, avocados, olives (oils from both), full fat (whole milk) yogurts (if you and baby can handle the dairy at this time). When the body gets the fat it needs (on a cellular level), it SHEDS the fat it doesn't need. Watch the sugar and carbohydrates instead. Whole grains, fruit, veggies, protein, etc. There's no miracle pill, just eat sensibly. Most of us do best with 6 small meals a day rather than 3 big ones. When I was breast feeding last time, I often ate a yogurt in the middle of the night because I was starving!

In the mean time, if you have time, just try to do some "repair" type abdominal exercises. Take it easy and work your way up.

Get on your back on the floor and do pelvic tilts, gluteus (butt) raises, and mini sit ups (only let your shoulder blades lift off of the ground). Before beginning these exercises, take several deep breaths in and on the exhale, pull your belly button down toward your spine. This will teach you to engage your core and will begin strengthening your stomach. Much later (a few months at least) you can seek out a pilates class (YMCA?). Great for core work (stomach). There are more exercises that would be easier to explain over the phone if you choose. The exercises I know were given to me by a pediatric chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy, post pregnancy and child care.

Email me if you want to talk and we'll exchange numbers. Don't wait too long, I may be in labor myself!
B.
____@____.com

Of course when I had my children arobics was big and I still think dancing is a great way to loose weight and have fun. At 48 I still workout, I run (although not as much as I did)hike and walk with my girls, do yoga daily, lift weights (only to maintain muscle mass), and Bellydance. Cruches of course are good for the stomach, but so is bellydancing and yoga many of the moves and asanas (Poses) use the core muscles and isolate them better then just your plain old crunches. The key is to loose the extra weight then concentrate on toning that particular area if you want to sculpt it otherwise find some friends, take a class or two, buy a video (Rodney Yee is best for yoga I think) or just dance with you little ones depening upon your finances and you will find that that area will also improve greatly. If you were in my area I teach yoga and dance, but I know in AZ there are plenty of yoga and dance instructors. I do not advise any fad diets the only diet that I know of that has a proven record of weight loss and maintaining it afterwards is Weight Watchers, which is all about proper eating (not cutting something needed out of your diet) and portion control (biggest problem in America today besides drinking sodas, if you cut something out Sodas are the best things to stop drinking not even the diet ones) As a fit woman of my age I can honestly say I have never tried any of those diets I just increase my activity level to my intake and I am not a tall skinny woman I am only 4'10" so I have always had to watch my weight. What ever you do the important thing is to have fun.

J.

Hi M.! You may not have heard of a site called BabyFit (www.babyfit.com). It's got tons of advice and info on nutrition, exercise and weight for expecting and new mums, and you can even chart your daily intake of major nutrient groups to make sure you stay on target (if you can possibly find the time with a six-week-old). Also, if you had an untraumatic vaginal birth, you might like to carry your baby in a sling or wrap (I really recommend the Moby-wrap or a similar thing for the littlies) - either around the house or going out for walks. Most babies love it and it's a good way of getting fit! Finally, I have a lunchtime recipe that I've found a lifesaver: microwave a fist-sized piece of orange sweet potato (yam) for 3 mins, lay a nice chunk of cheddar or similar cheese on top and microwave another minute, and serve with six cherry tomatoes and a big handful of dark-green salad leaves (baby spinach, mache/lamb's lettuce, whatever). I also sprinkle dried mixed herbs on top. That's 3 serves of veggies and a serve of dairy in one meal, quick, easy and yummy! Oh, and healthy. Good luck!

The first thing you need to do is realize that you must lose weight slowly. I am sure you didn't gain 25 lbs in two weeks, so do not expect to lose it that way. It's better to lose it slowly so your skin has time to readjust. Breastfeeding will help you lose too. Personally I loved my body after my second child. I've always been skinny but after having him, I loved having some curves. Those dissappeared after a few months. Comes to prove that your body stores fat and nutrients that it will later use to make up nutrient-rich milk. I would recommend eating good protein, switching to whole grain breads, unrefined sugar (Zulca is great) and eating some good soups and stews that are loaded with vegetables and meat, without much fat, and will leave you satisfied. Exercise is also good and will increase your stamina. But also start slow and increase it a little bit at the time. Play with your baby, use him as a weight. Hold him in front ofyou at a distance, with your abs tight. Or you can also purchase an exercise dvd from Prevention magazine. They have great work out programs that include beginners and low impact exercises.
good luck!

Hi M.,

Start slowly, don't do too many things at the same time because you're going to get discouraged quickly (like staying away from sugars, cutting out soda, staying away from junk food, increasing intake of fruits and vegetables in your diet, etc. But I have to tell you about this group I joined. If you live in Peoria or nearby (there is a same group in east valley and north valley so you just have to check on line, but the group is called Stroller Strides and it's great. We meet (all moms and kids) every Mon Wed Fri for a great workout. We meet at 9:30 those days and have a lot of fun. I have been going for 3 months now and I have a lot more energy. Before that I didn't feel like getting out of bed, getting out of the house, etc. Now, I'm switching my days at work so I can go to this class. We have a great workout, can bring the kids, and the kids have fun. We have playgroups usually on wed after class, at least once a month we have a mom's night out. It's really great. So if you live in the area come and join us. We meet at the Rio Vista Community Park in Peoria just off of Loop 101 and Thunderbird. You can't miss us. It's a group of mom with strollers.

Hope this helped.
T..

I had been having a hard time loosing the weight I put on then a friend told me about sparkpeople.com. It helps you make a plan, log your food, log your changes and is completely free. There are message boards where you could talk to others about your struggles. I have lost 13 pounds since joining. Dont get me wrong it has been a struggle but with the encouragement from others I have over come many obstacles. I take it one day at a time now and dont beat myself up when I slip. I work at maintaining where I am when I get stuck then all of a sudden it starts coming off again. Be of good cheer if you are ready you will be willing to make some tough choices to get yourself started.

Start by eliminating one thing. I started with soda. I was very hooked on drinking coke cola. I would drink about 4 a day. I quit, drank again, quit,etc. Now I have found a correlation between my endometrosis and drinking the coke cola. So that made the choice easier. I have cut back on sweets in my house and started buying better snacks.

Have faith you can do it. One day at a time one week at a time.

I recommend looking up the program "6 week body makeover" (www.sixweekbody.com). I started this program in January and I have lost 35+ pounds and over 35" and I haven't done much more than walking (although you can do as much as you want). It is all about eating healthy for YOUR particular body type. They also give you exercises for toning up YOUR specific problem areas. Basically it is like having your own personal trainer without the huge costs (although the program costs about $100--but you get a TON of stuff for that). Because you are eating healthy, you tend to lose weight quickly in your stomach area. I've lost 8 inches off my waist alone and I haven't done a single sit up. But what I like about this program is that it is not a "lose weight quick scheme", but it actually teaches you how to eat correctly for the rest of your life...and you don't want to go back. It's called "6 week" body makeover because it takes about 6 weeks for you to establish the habit of eating correctly. I HIGHLY recommend it.

It is not a starvation plan, however you might want to talk to your doctor before starting ANY plan to make sure you get the calories you need. I was breastfeeding when I started it and didn't have any problems, but it is always recommended to check with your doctor....

Hi M., First, congratulations on your baby girl! Second, you need to give your body time to heal. Don't be in a rush, especially if you are nursing. You need to eat what is healthy and right for you and your baby and stop worrying about your body image. I have 2 children and since it took 9 months to produce a child, I gave myself 9 months to get back into pre-pregnancy clothes. Don't be so hard on yourself. Eat what is healthy. I know I ate more when I was nursing, but it was the RIGHT foods. (protein, veggies, fruit, dairy, etc) I am not a fitness expert, so if you are able, do you have a gym membership or someone that could work out with you and get into an exercise routine? I have heard it takes 6 weeks to make something a habit, so if you start an exercise routine, don't give up! Good Luck!

I weighed 210 and the 10 pds have come on the past 2mnths, I have been to the gym dieted done various different exercises and have learned a hypothyroid can really keep weight on, anyway I was told by my Dr. to remove all white products like sugar white bread and white rice except long grain of course that isn't white, it amazes me how many white foods there are we eat everyday, they are supposedly packed with bad carbs, also I have stopped eating box cereals no matter how healthy some of them claim to be the serving size is not reasonable and their loaded with bad carbs, I switched to maltomeal and oatmeal, just by doing these few things along with drinking cranberry juice in my water alternatining with vinagar I have lost 9pds in the last 3wks, I know it don't sound like much, but I am getting some of my energy back along with motivation which has been gone for a long time, I am also doing side squats doing side stepping 8 steps at a time and bending slightly to a high squat and coming up lifting one leg touching with bent elbow, and streches, sound confusing, I am getting more mobile getting to squat a little further each time I do these several times a day and it is good cardio along with intensity.
Hope something one of us said helps you in anyway.