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Article There Is No Such Thing As The Post-Birth ‘Bounce Back’

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If you’re waiting for your body to return to its pre-pregnancy state, you could be waiting a while.

The pressure to lose baby weight after giving birth can be overwhelming. Suddenly, you feel like you no longer have a good enough excuse for carrying a few extra kilograms, but you’re so exhausted that you can’t even imagine exercising. Thankfully, it turns out that trying to bounce back to your pre-pregnancy body immediately after giving birth isn’t the best idea for you or your baby.

Lose The Mum Tum

Mum tums don’t just vanish, plain and simple. Anyone who tells you that breastfeeding alone will transform your body in a matter of weeks and return it to its former glory is lying. Most women retain approximately 1kg to 5.5 kg for around six months to a year after giving birth MamaMia reports, but like most things in life, every woman’s experience is different.

The female body is incredible when you think about it. It can grow an entire human being – and the job doesn’t end there. The body stores extra fat tissue at the end of pregnancy to ensure mothers have enough energy to sustain breastfeeding. Those few extra kilos might be doing some good after all…

Ensuring Future Health

During pregnancy, it’s important to monitor weight gain to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes and complications. Even though new mums shouldn’t be a rush to sign up to an intense spin class or start a low-calorie diet after giving birth, it is important for future health to try to lose the baby weight within the first year. This reduces the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and ensures good health should you wish to have more children in the future.

So if you’re a new mum, don’t feel guilty for having a lazy sofa day or eating a generous bowl of pasta. You deserve it – you’ve just done something pretty amazing.

Did you feel pressure to lose the baby weight? Let us know in the comments.

 

 

 

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Comments

  • I found it an easy bounce back for baby 1 & 2. However #3 has been a much longer process to bounce back from

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  • I put on 13kg with each pregnancy and I was back to pre pregnancy weight within 2 weeks of each birth. In the first year of my son’s life I stacked on 12kg because I had the implanon in and I also snacked too much. I had the Implanon removed and got pregnant our first month of trying, but that meant I was already 12kgs heavier with my second pregnancy. My baby girl is now 5.5 months and I have lost 15kg since she was born. I work very hard to lose that weight and I still have 13kg I need to lose. I recommend to other people to lose the weight from the first child before getting pregnant again.

    Reply

  • I think us mums put more pressure on ourselves, as we think that we should be back to pre pregnancy straight away, when in all honesty it takes time and effort, enjoy our babies they are not babies for long.

    Reply

  • No pressure, but my weight is pretty much the same as before children. However my waist is wider as before pregnancy, but doesn’t matter to me.

    Reply

  • I was so lucky to shed all my weight plus more!

    Reply

  • I’ve been waiting 17 and a half years for my bounce back, the only time i have managed to lose weight was with gestational diabetes but never fear I found it all again

    Reply

  • I wasn’t at all stressed, especially as I knew I planned to have a couple more. I focused more after the last one.

    Reply

  • I lost alot of weight quickly, but that was because I retained so much fluid in my pregnancy, so once I had my son, I instantly shrank alot. But, I do still carry more weight than I want to, but am slowly getting there back to my pre pregnancy weight…only about 3 more kilos to go! I think with so much celebrity news around and magazine covers of new mums now days, I think there is so much pressure on new mums to feel like they should just bounce back! Life is way too important than that in my opinion. Those first few weeks and months should be spent soaking up the wonderful little person you have created not worrying about how much weight you need to lose

    Reply

  • I’m still up 15kg 5 years later. But donuts and potato cakes bring me too much joy to care.

    Reply
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