Help with postnatal weight loss

Post-pregnancy weight loss is difficult. Many women encounter the same problems as you have. Not only do they have extra weight to deal with, but it is not easy to exercise or eat the right things with the new baby to look after. That just seems to compound the problem.

Losing the weight will take time. In fact, the slower the weight loss, the healthier you will be — and the more likely the weight is to stay off. So, think positive. Be aware that you may have to adapt to a different body image, even when your weight does come back down.

The main battle you are fighting is metabolism. In times of calorie deprivation, the body will slow down its metabolic rate in order to conserve energy. By reducing your calorie intake to as low as 1,000, you have sent your body into this mode. Exercise should help counter that effect to a certain extent. You did not mention how much or what type of exercise you are doing, but it is my guess that it is not intensive enough to offset the ‘starvation mode’ you have gone into.

What you need to do is to increase your calorie consumption (to at least 1,500 calories, if not more) while simultaneously increasing the intensity and duration of your exercise. You also need to add some weight-training to your programme in order to build muscle. Muscle operates at a much higher metabolic rate than fat and so burns calories all day long. Not only that, it makes you feel terrific and helps to firm up those body parts that may have become a little flabby during the past few months. Your exercise should consist of 30 to 60 minutes of sweat;producing, heart-pounding, deep-breathing aerobic activity as many days a week as possible (but at least four) and should include weight-lifting exercises for all major muscle groups at least three times a week.

I realise that finding that amount of time can be very difficult. Perhaps there are other mothers with whom you can swap some babysitting. Of course, if you are at work full time, you are even under more constraints. Whatever efforts you make will be worth it. Expect change to be gradual, but it will probably be permanent. I'll bet that after a few months of an invigorating exercise programme you will wonder how you ever did without it, both physically and mentally.

Increasing your calories will not only help to lift your metabolism, it will ensure that you are getting all the nutrients you need. If this is your first baby and you are planning to have another, it is important that you have a good diet.

Taking vitamin pills is generally a good idea, to augment the diet of a woman who is in her active, child-bearing years. A one-per-day multiple vitamin supplement that meets 100 per cent of your daily requirements would be a good addition to your weight-loss programme.