How to Speed Up Weight Loss With Breastfeeding

There are a consummate number of reasons breastfeeding is an excellent choice for your new baby. In addition to providing your baby with essential nutrients and disease fighting abilities, breastfeeding your baby helps you speed up the weight loss process. When you breastfeed, your body burns hundreds of extra calories each day without any sort of exercise or dieting. Lose that baby weight faster by breastfeeding and adding additional practices into your daily life.

Instructions

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Eat a healthy diet, advises professor of nutrition and food science at Auburn University, Barbara Struempler. Breastfeeding your new baby will not benefit your own weight loss or your babys health if you are not filling up with foods that are rich in protein, vitamins, minerals and healthy fat. Your milk supply will drop and the nutrients your baby needs to thrive will not be present in your breast milk. Speed up your weight loss by eating approximately 500 calories per day more than your daily recommended intake. This is not an excuse to fill up on junk or unhealthy foods, however. Try a diet filled with fruits, vegetables, dairy and lean proteins.

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Weigh yourself once a week and aim to lose between a half and one pound of weight each week, advises Struempler. Any more than that is considered unhealthy for both you and your milk supply. The important thing to remember is that if you are losing too much weight, your baby is not gaining the adequate amount of nutrition from your breast milk, which means she is not growing, gaining weight or taking in the nutrients she needs to be as healthy as possible.

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Exercise, advises James M. Pivarnik, Ph.D. and professor of kinesiology and epidemiology at Michigan State University. According to Pivarnik, you should aim for approximately 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week to maintain the maximum health benefits that go along with breastfeeding. This doesnt mean you have to join the gym, it means taking a walk with the baby every day, doing yoga, jogging or cardio. If time is an issues as it frequently is with a new baby in the house limit your exercise to 10-minute intervals three times a day.