As much joy as a baby brings into your life, there’s just that wee bit gloom that you experience following childbirth. The kilos have piled up all through your pregnancy and now you have to struggle to fit back into your old clothes. However, no matter how much you hate what you see in the mirror, there are two things to remember:

1. Recovery first: Your body needs to recover from labour and delivery, to ensure that the uterus has retracted back into the pelvis, bleeding has ceased and stitches have healed. Wait until yoursix-week postpartum checkup before you embark upon a weight loss quest.
2. Breastfeeding Dos & Don’ts: Breastfeeding has a natural weight loss effect on the body as it burns calories, but it happens gradually. You do not want to take drastic weight losing measures during this while because it could result in producing less milk. It is also important to eat sensibly to get vital nutrients into the body post-childbirth.

Nevertheless, losing the post-pregnancy pounds is not as difficult as it seems when in the situation. The best time to start, especially if you are breastfeeding, is after your baby is at least 2 months old. Also, losing about a pound and a half a week does not affect either the milk supply or your health. A well-balanced diet and proper formulated exercises are the best way to achieve your desired weight goals. The idea is to burn off the extra fat gradually, and not look at getting thin overnight.

And finally, the how-to-look-like-those-celebrity-moms crash guide:

• Understand the importance of timely meals and never skip meals. It’s easy to get busy with the baby and neglect your own health, but irregular eating habits will make your weight loss goals that much difficult to achieve.
• Start with a hearty breakfast. You need to first and foremost keep your energy up so that you can look after the baby and also put in added efforts at losing weight.
• Eat smaller and more meals, like about 5-6 small meals instead of 2-3 large ones, and munch on snacks whenever hungry to get your metabolic action running better.
• Make healthy substitutes wherever necessary. For example, eat broiled or baked food instead of fried. Limit foods with extra sugar or high sodium content. And choose non-fat milk and dairy products. It’s a myth that you need to have whole milk to produce good breast milk.
• Make fruits and vegetables your best friends for meals as well as snacks. They are low in fat and high in vitamins and fiber and aid digestion. Whole grains and beans also help keep the bowel moving.
• Drink lots and lots of water and fluids. Not only do they improve digestion, they cleanse the body off fats. However, make sure they are neither aerated nor loaded with extra sugar or preservatives. Stay as natural as possible.
• To reduce any inflammation, increase intake of essential fats found in nuts and oily fish.
• Deficiency of folic acid could result in feeling weak and fatigued, so get them in plenty from green leafy vegetables, beans and pulses.
• Keep your blood sugar level balanced with low Glycaemic Load (GL) foods, avoiding refined and sugary carbohydrates.
• Strengthen your immune system with prebiotics like onions and garlic.
• Keep your hormonal imbalances in check with zinc and vitamin B6 rich food.
• To speed up the process, detoxify your body from chemicals by not smoking, limiting alcohol and caffeine intake and eating organic.
• When the time is right, start off with light exercises like brisk walking with your baby. Eventually, you could move up to light jogs and yoga.

Above all, stay stress-free. In hours of despair, resort to yogasanas, meditation and or even a relaxing hot bath. In a bid to get back into shape, don’t take yourself away from the joy of motherhood. Know and remember every moment of what you have been blessed with and let your weight loss regime be just another motivated addition to your new life, not a punishment.