I have been asking this question for a while now. Freya is 21 months old and I am still carrying some baby weight especially around my waist. It looks like it takes a while if you’re trying to stay healthy and energised at the same time.

I learnt how to appreciate and love my body. I am fascinated by its ability to adapt and change. Being able to create new life is absolutely incredible.

For me losing my baby weight isn’t only about the look, even though I haven’t gotten used to how I look now.

I am officially overweight, my waist-hip ratio is too high and I get tired faster when I do any physical activity. I want to be fit and healthy so I can keep up with Freya for as long as possible.

But no matter how badly I want to get back to my old clothes, I would never try or advise any new mum crash diets or extreme workout regimes.

They hardly ever work and are very stressful to our body. More stress is the last thing our body needs now.

There is no doubt that nutrition plays a huge role here.

Eating nutritious foods, just enough, not too much, not too little, is necessary. A treat every now and then may be ok, but that also depends. Before I had Freya, I could eat almost anything. As long as I exercised, I burnt all these calories and my body fat. Today it isn’t the case anymore and I have to be more careful.

Restorative nutrition and rest are the main elements for a new mum to focus on for as long as possible, especially for as long as you’re breastfeeding.

When you focus on these two elements, add walking and some gentle exercises when you’re ready. If you are still not losing your baby belly, this might be the reason.

Hormones.

Hormones are the key to everything. Understanding what is happening in your body after pregnancy may help you navigate this confusing time. Hopefully it will stop you from trying any radical approaches and give yourself more time.

Every woman is unique. Age, your hormonal baseline from before you were pregnant, your pregnancy, and whether you’re breastfeeding or not will impact how well you’re recovering after your pregnancy. We have different genes, different lifestyles, different history of sickness, dieting and different response to stress. All that matters.

Progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, insulin and thyroid hormones all have an impact on your weight loss.

After pregnancy our hormones change. There is a significant drop in progesterone and estrogen which may make you feel less resilient to all changes postpartum.

Progesterone stays low until ovulation begins (which can be before menstruation). Estrogen stays low for as long as a new mum is breastfeeding.

Progesterone stabilises the mood and blocks the action of stress hormones. It works with estrogen on keeping the fat from accumulating around female waist. As your progesterone stays low until your ovulation starts (and estrogen for as long as you’re breastfeeding) you may notice that there is still some fat around your waist difficult to get rid of.

Estrogen is sometimes called a female version of testosterone. It is a growth hormone responsible for the female hourglass shape. When it is balanced, it makes female metabolism more insulin sensitive and less stress reactive. That means we can eat more, tolerate more stress and get better workout results. This hormone sculps female lean and sexy body, reduces stress related fat gain and improves fat burning. If you’re frustrated that you still carry some baby weight, but you decided to breastfeed your baby for longer (I did over 18 months) you have to stay patient.

For as long as you breastfeed, your body won’t be so keen on burning the extra fat it stored to ensure milk production

(if you want to stop breastfeeding give yourself 2-3 months to avoid quick hormonal changes and mood shifts).

As I wrote above, estrogen makes our body more insulin sensitive. When estrogen is low we become more insulin resistant and accumulate more fat when we overeat carbs or eat too much overall.

Therefore, eating nutritious, balanced meals and just enough, is so important for our waist size.

For as long as you’re breastfeeding you need about 300-500kcal more each day. Make sure you eat these additional calories in the form of nutritious foods (I ate 4 biscuits a day for the first couple of months and would not do it again). Don’t undereat to create a calorie deficit. If you don’t eat enough and nourish your body after having a baby you will deplete yourselves from both nutrients and calories your body needs to recover after birth and to keep on feeding the baby.

New mums are often micronutrient deficient.

Making a tiny person extracts as many nutrients from your body as physically possible. If you have a history of dieting, restriction of calories or food groups, then you may already start your pregnancy state with a deficiency – leading to higher levels of deficiency postpartum. This is not good for the baby or you. Low levels of micronutrients contribute to low hormone levels too .

Nutrient deficiency will keep your stress hormones up, further draining your adrenal glands.

That will make you more tired and reduce your vitality. With increased stress levels you will struggle to burn fat and keep on overusing your adrenals. As a result, it will take even longer for the body to recover and finally lose baby weight.

Another important fact that must be mentioned here is the sleep deficiency.

Lack of rest often results in imbalanced adrenal gland and thyroid hormone levels.

It will not only make it difficult to lose weight but contributes to anxiety and stress. It can block oxytocin circuitry that makes the milk letdown of breastfeeding feel relaxing and pleasurable. If you notice that breastfeeding isn’t so blissful anymore, try to rest a bit more. I know it is easier said than done, but if like me you’re watching a bit of telly before going to bed, try to skip it (at least every second day) to get a bit more rest instead.

If you had a stressful pregnancy or birth, experienced birth trauma or deal with any birth injuries or health problems, you may be living under extreme stress, which may lead to adrenal fatigue. If you do, make sure you take supplements to support your adrenal glands and prioritise rest whenever possible. It will make it more challenging to lose body fat until your adrenals recover. Don’t think about your weight for now, think about healing. There are two books (audiobooks) I would like to recommend you to help you heal: “The fourth trimester” by Kimberly Ann Johnson and “Adrenal Fatigue” by James L. Wilson. Adrenal fatigue is a real medical problem, similar to diabetics but there seems to be not much doctors’ attention to this issue. Extreme and/or prolonged stress always impacts our adrenal glands so pay attention to that.

To sum up, for as long as you’re breastfeeding, not sleeping enough or living under a lot of stress, you may struggle to lose baby weight.

During that time, I highly recommend you focus on resting. That includes gentle, easy walks, healthy nutrition and taking any chance possible to sleep. Exercise and eat in sync with your menstrual cycle to balance your hormones faster and easier (check out “Woman Code” by Alisa Vitti or go to her website www.floliving.com for more info).

To avoid any pains and aches do gentle exercises and stretches. That can be as little as 5 minutes a day (if you need help check out my Facebook Group “5-min workouts for tired mums” where I post daily short, 5-minute workouts for different menstrual phase). The gentler you are to your body the faster you will recover and say goodbye to your baby belly. It may take longer than 3 months, but it will happen. Restoring your health and vitality, keeping you as energised as possible and pain-free is all that matters for now. Your body will let go of that fat as soon as it is ready, just hand on in there.

Bibliography:

1. The Fourth Trimester: A Postpartum Guide to Healing Your Body, Balancing Your Emotions, and Restoring Your Vitality, by Kimberly Ann Johnson

2. WomanCode: Perfect Your Cycle, Amplify Your Fertility, Supercharge Your Sex Drive, and Become a Power Source, by Alisa Vitti

3. Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome, James L. Wilson

4. Metabolic Renewal, by Dr. Jade Teta