How To Take Off The Baby Weight

So you've had a baby and you're ready to get your body back. Don't beat yourself up for not fitting into your skinny jeans six weeks after baby; it can take a lot longer to take weight off than it can to put it on! Start slow and follow some common sense rules to help your body get back in shape slowly. Here are some facts and tips to help:

-Many women hold onto some reserve weight for six months to ensure they have fuel to make milk for the baby. A lot of women feel like the weight starts to melt off at around the point baby begins the transition to solid food

-Breastfeeding burns about 500 calories a day. Many women find that if they breastfeed past the six month mark, they accelerate their weight loss. Do you know how much exercise you'd have to do to burn 500 calories a day? Another reason to breastfeed!

-Count your calories. Use a calorie counter and after you've stopped lactating, try to scale back to 1500 calories a day. Try something to jump start you like the special K diet or the sacred heart that can help you accelerate weight loss (these are quick fix diets though and shouldn't be used long term!)

-Pilates and Yoga. These are low impact sculpting exercises. They can really help you tighten your abs again and get rid of the junk in your trunk.

-Baby exercise classes. Many gyms are now doing strollercize and exercises where you use your baby's weight for resistance training. it's bonding, it's an outing and can help you get tone and trim again.

-drink water! Stay away from the soda pop, switch to skim milk or 1% and drink lots of water. You might be surprised at how many empty calories come from what you are drinking!

Most of all, persevere. Little changes like reducing your meat and potatoes and increasing your vegetables on the plate will give the illusion of loads of food but cut your caloric intake while increasing your nutrient intake. Many vegetables and fruits are actually negative calorie foods that can help you lose weight. Taking off the baby weight can be a lengthy process but you can do it for your health and your body image.

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Fire It Up!

How do you rev up your metabolism so you shed more weight?

Here are some tips:

-Exercise. Your body is used to needing a certain number of calories per day and if you do very little each day, your body will not burn much. Exercise can keep your metabolism increased for several hours even after you finish your workout.

-Break the fast. Eating breakfast tells your body to start using energy and gets it moving.

-Water. Drink lots of water. It helps everything move through your digestive track.

-Green tea. Green tea is said to increase your metabolism. Even if it doesn't do much, it's chocked full of antioxidants as well. Coconut oil, grapefruit and apple cider vinegar are also said to increase your metabolism.

-Smaller, more frequent meals will tell your body to use the energy instead of hoarding it. Many overweight people eat only one or two big meals a day.

-Do something after you eat like take a walk to get your body using the calories.

-Eat well with lots of roughage and fiber. These will move through your system faster than unhealthy food which our colons struggle to process. Many of these types of foods are actually known as negative calorie foods and they cause you to burn more than you take in. Visit my blog archives for more information on negative calorie foods.

Cheers,

Gaining Weight The Healthy Way

Not everyone wants to shed body weight. Some people look for healthy ways to gain weight for various reasons, namely for body building efforts or because they’ve always been just too skinny. Here are some ideas to help you gain weight a healthy way. By simply over eating or eating really fattening foods, you could find yourself with more than you bargained for. Not only will you gain excess weight but you could affect your cholesterol levels, your blood pressure or have a negative impact on your digestive system.

Here are some good ideas to help you gain weight with healthy, high caloric foods.

-Gradually increase your caloric intake. Use a calorie counter like the free one at fitday.com and track what you eat. Adding an extra 500 calories a day will require a bit of effort but can result in a pound or so per week of weight gain.

-Eat nuts! Peanut butter, almonds, trail mixes with lots of nuts are high calorie but also filled with healthy fats and protein which are great for muscle building

-Heavy breads and bagels. Pumpernickel and rye have whole grain wheat and are dense, heavy, tasty breads. Having a slice of bread with each meal can add plenty of calories to your diet.

-Flax seeds. Flax is not only good for you but are high in calories. Adding ground flax to your oatmeal or a smoothie can add lots of good calories and be good for your overall health

-Shakes! Shakes or smoothies can be filled with lots of extra calories with flax, whole milk, peanut butter, protein powder and even by adding skim milk powder to thicken it and give yourself extra calcium

-Milk powder can go into your cereal, shakes, mashed potatoes and other dishes for extra health and calories

-Avocados. Avocados contain lots of calories and lots of healthy fat so are a great vegetable choice

-Cheese. Shred it on stuff, eat it plain, eat lots of it!! Your bones and teeth will thank you too.

-Boost or ensure shakes. These are like the opposite of Slim Fast but used the same way. High calorie shakes can be filled with vitamins, minerals and calories

Lots of good healthy foods can be added to your diet instead of fried foods and can result in a healthier, heavier you.