I recently looked at the re-birth clinic. Many women who came to the clinic to consult on a second child will mention a phenomenon, that is, since giving birth to the first child, their weight has not dropped. However, they are already married and have children anyway, and they don’t care so much about their figure.
However, there are still many women who need to regain their weight. Therefore, let’s talk about the problem of weight recovery after delivery.
How important is it to regain weight after delivery?
First of all, we should remind everyone that the recovery of postpartum weight is not as soon as possible.
Some studies believe that it is more appropriate to restore to the pre-pregnancy level at least 6 months after delivery. Here, the so-called restoration to the pre-pregnancy level refers to the weight gap within 3 kg. The advice given by the American Medical Research Institute (IOM) is to reduce 1 kg per week or is relatively safe. Therefore, it is not urgent to restore weight after delivery, but to proceed step by step.
However, more women are not too anxious about the recovery of postpartum weight, but do not attach importance to it at all.
Many women have the idea that they want to be fat after having children. Having children is an excuse for losing control of their weight. But in fact, even if it is not for the sake of perfect figure, but only for the sake of their own health, weight recovery after childbirth is very important.
A 15-year follow-up study shows that pregnant women have a more than 60% chance of developing obesity if they do not return to their pre-pregnancy weight level one year after delivery. The impact of obesity on health will not be discussed here.
Therefore, it is necessary to recover the weight after delivery.
In fact, regaining weight after delivery, It should start during pregnancy. The less weight gain during pregnancy, the easier it will be to regain weight after childbirth. That is to say, weight gain should be consciously controlled during pregnancy. However, due to the influence of some backward ideas, many pregnant women still feel that after pregnancy, it is “one person eats two people’s food” and “the older the child, the better to raise it”.
Common Problems in Postpartum Weight Recovery
Poor weight management during pregnancy not only brings problems during delivery, but also increases difficulties in postpartum recovery.
So if you have given birth now, what good ways can what help you regain your weight?
Although the specific suggestions are nothing more than [diet control] and [moderate exercise], there are also some problems to be explained here.
1. Will exercise or diet control affect breast feeding?
The reason why many people refuse to control their weight after giving birth is: [still feeding milk, reducing what’s weight? ]
Therefore, the weight gain after delivery is attributed to the children.
Although some studies have suggested that the taste of milk after exercise will become sour, which may affect the infant’s acceptance of breast milk. However, the comparison of baby’s height and weight does not affect the infant’s development. And calorie restriction has no obvious effect on the secretion of milk.
Therefore, the current research believes that neither diet control nor moderate exercise will affect breastfeeding.
2. When did what begin to intervene in weight recovery?
The vast majority of related studies and interventions are conducted 6 weeks after delivery, that is, after the end of the puerperium. The popular saying is [after sitting on the confinement]. Although there are also a few studies that start 1-3 weeks after delivery, these studies are basically investigative and retrospective, with little deliberate intervention.
Therefore, if you want to start to regain weight, you can start 6 weeks after delivery.
3. Which is better, diet control or moderate exercise?
In 2013, Cochrane Library, the most authoritative evidence-based medicine library, included an article summarizing the two methods in detail and reached the following conclusions:
1. Simple exercise has no obvious effect on weight recovery, but it can be beneficial to women’s cardiovascular system.
2. Simple diet control, or diet control + exercise, both methods are helpful to weight recovery, and the effect is similar.
3. Simple diet control may also affect non-adipose tissues while reducing fat.
4. Diet control + exercise, weight loss can only be aimed at fat, but also can be good for cardiovascular system.
Therefore, the most recommended method is diet control + exercise.
What can sports do?
I have compiled a dozen sports-related articles to examine the exercise methods they provide. Formally, moderate aerobic exercise methods, such as jogging and walking, are recommended. One of the studies provides exercise methods, which is to push a baby carriage to walk.
In terms of exercise intensity, most suggestions are 30-45 minutes a day and 4-5 times a week. Or a total of two and a half hours of corresponding exercise per week.
There is a more classic saying that one should gradually adapt oneself to walking 3 kilometers at a time and 5 days a week.
5. Weight recovery interventions need to be monitored
Facing delicious food, how to resist the temptation? How to persist in the fatigue caused by exercise?
These are all problems to be faced in the intervention process.
Therefore, whether it is diet control or moderate exercise, it needs certain self-control. If there is no super-strong self-control ability and no corresponding supervision, it is easy to find out all kinds of excuses mentioned above. In medical research, the supervision effect of such methods as meeting and sharing meetings and telephone follow-up is also emphasized.
Therefore, if you want to regain weight, you may as well mobilize your family to supervise or urge each other with other sisters.
Editor: Zhang Jingyuan
Author: Tian Jishun