Impossible to get rid of a few kilos in pregnancy and, although not many, after pregnancy you want to feel good and comfortable with your body getting rid of them.
It is likely that your partner has also gained weight during 'your pregnancy', we will say that by solidarity. Have you considered getting fit both at the same time? Experts say that this option has many advantages and that commissioning is much simpler. We tell you why losing weight as a couple is easier and the best tricks to achieve it.
Marisa Burgos, nutritionist in Barcelona of the Alimmenta Clinic, gives us the keys to get it right and explains the advantages of following a healthy lifestyle after delivery.
Advantages of following a joint diet
1. More efficient food. When making the purchase for both of you, you know the needs of each one. In this way, you better plan the common weekly menus.
2. Motivation It is easier to achieve a goal (in this case lose weight) if you have someone's support. And if you are both embarked on the same goal, you feed back.
3. Fewer meals away from home. Following a healthy diet is easier if you prepare the dishes yourself. Another point on which you will agree: avoid restaurants during a time.
In Trendencias Slimming as a couple: The formula for love and diet to be definitive?4. More rest. Sleeping well is essential to lose weight. As you both know, you will try to organize the sleeping hours better, and as with a baby sleeping is a 'luxury', you can take turns at night to attend to it.
Few hours of sleep causes more insulin resistance and higher cortisol levels, slowing down the metabolism. This translates into a reduction in caloric expenditure.
5. Exercise as a couple. To lose weight does not only serve to improve nutrition, you also have to do some exercise.
From the zero minute, you can go for a walk together with the baby, take turns climbing the stairs at home while the other takes the baby in the elevator, hiking with the baby in a backpack, go swimming (the most complete sport) at at least twice a week while a relative takes care of the little one ...
And when you feel more rested, you can even run with your child: the running chairs are designed to do it on any terrain. It will be leisure time shared with the family.
6. Encourage when forces decay. It is a good idea to weigh together once a week and write it down on a joint chart. And if any of you go down in your mood or think about cheating “or abandoning”, you have your other self to remind you that you cannot let yourself be defeated.
7. Good example of healthy habits in family. Adopting a healthy diet and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle is the best example that can be given to children, so the sooner you start, the better.
Tricks that work
Marisa Burgos wants to make it very clear that the main thing to lose weight is to follow a diet and healthy lifestyle habits. It is not about eating less, but about eating better. Therefore, if it has not been a custom during pregnancy, you can start with them as soon as you give birth. Sorry, you can.
Why it is common for dad to also gain weight during pregnancy: stress, the most sedentary life of mom, maternal cravings that end up being shared ... So, that, it's time to eat well, as a couple. How to do it?
1. Advice from a professional. To know where you are from. It's not just about controlling the scale, but especially the percentage of fat. Therefore, it is important to take some measurements (waist, hip) to know your fat percentage. The first thing that is usually lost is volume, and losing pants size encourages moving forward.
2. Take 'tune-up' as a long distance race. It is not good to pretend to lose weight fast, because these diets imply poor nutritional values. So patience will be essential.
In Babies and more Slimming after pregnancy: seven things you need to know to lose weight after childbirth3. Drink water as the main source of liquids and increase your consumption. Also, if you breastfeed, your body will ask for it, which is very wise.
4. Try to eat at the same time, together and sitting at the table, chewing well and using cutlery whenever possible. The goal is to eat more slowly.
5. Don't skip any food, Especially breakfast. Not eating does not lose weight and can be very counterproductive to lose kilos. It is best to make five meals a day.
6. Buy and cook with the greatest number of fresh and seasonal ingredients. Avoid highly processed foods such as pizza and frozen hamburgers, ready-to-heat dishes or the like.
7. Change the fried foods for the baked preparation, steam cooking or good quality stews.
8. The basic recommendation: 70% of foods of plant origin. This includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds. The other 30%, quality animal foods, which are rich, for example, in iron and calcium.
Calorie restriction, no restrictive diet
The nutritionist explains that it is essential to understand this difference. Opting for a restrictive diet is never advisable, because that implies that they are going to leave out foods that we need to be healthy, or to abuse others that are not so beneficial.
In Babies and more Slimming after pregnancy: a very healthy biweekly menu while breastfeeding (or not)In addition, although the diet will be followed as a couple, it should be understood that:
Men lose weight faster than women, since we have more fat than muscle in the body and on top of that we depend on our hormones. They, however, have more muscle mass and spend more calories.
Calorie needs are different in men and women and also among us, whether or not we breastfeed our baby. Although the nutritionist ensures that it is difficult to establish the amount of calories that each one's diet should contain, it gives us an approximate idea:
A man of 1.80, and with a normal pace of life, not too much not too sedentary athlete, who consumes about 3,000 calories daily, can reduce his diet to 2,200 calories.
The mother can reduce her caloric intake to 1,800 Kcal if she breastfeeds her baby, and a little less, if she does not. Breastfeeding implies higher calorie intake, as long as you do not 'compensate' for the intake of unhealthy foods.
Ideally, follow the same diet, to prepare the same weekly menu between the two. The only thing that varies is the quantity.
Can also be customized depending on the tastes or allergies of each of you; that is to say, to replace in a punctual way a food with another one of similar nutritional content, for example at lunch.
What do you think? Do you dare to lose weight and persuade your partner to embark with you? The advantages of considering this option are numerous and also, according to the expert, you will be laying the foundations to create healthy habits for the whole family (These are the five habits that you must follow to prevent your children from suffering from obesity) and forever. And on top you will feel much better. It is time to start, now.
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