Can you massage to lose weight during breastfeeding? Four tips to help

I believe that losing weight is the wish of many postpartum mothers. There are many ways to lose weight, such as aerobic exercise, proper diet, etc. In fact, massage is also quite effective. It mainly uses physical massage methods and will not affect the quality of breast milk during lactation.

1. Start your weight loss plan 6 weeks after your baby is born

The first 6 weeks after your baby is born is an important period for your body to recover. It is also a period when your baby grows very rapidly. You need adequate nutrition to ensure your body recovers and provide the best care for your baby. During this period, your diet should be nutritious and easy to digest, with a combination of meat and vegetables, sufficient staple food, and enough soup and water. Learning correct breastfeeding techniques, increasing the number of sucking times, and breastfeeding on demand can help you avoid insufficient milk.

Six weeks after your baby is born, your body has basically recovered and you and your baby have established a relatively stable breastfeeding pattern. You can then slowly adjust your weight through healthy eating habits. This process sometimes takes 10 months to 1 year, and the best speed is to lose 0.5-1 kg per week. Because rapid weight changes in a short period of time will not only make your body overwhelmed, but may also affect the quality of your breast milk, thus affecting your baby's growth. In fact, you should know that insisting on breastfeeding will consume a lot of your energy, so when you wean your baby, you will often find that you have regained your slim figure.

2. Control energy balance and develop correct eating habits

You may have heard that people gain weight because energy intake is greater than energy consumption, causing the excess energy to be stored as fat. The basic way to control energy is to develop correct eating habits. Since breastfeeding your baby uses up a lot of energy, it in itself can help you lose weight.

Whether you plan to lose weight or not, it is beneficial to develop the eating habits of "eating well in the morning, eating enough at noon, and eating moderately at night". Breakfast is essential in a day, and skipping breakfast will make you gain weight more easily. After a night of consumption, your body has not been replenished with energy for more than 10 hours, especially since you probably have to get up 2-3 times at night to feed the baby. In the morning, you really need a breakfast rich in carbohydrates to replenish and store energy. Skipping breakfast or eating too little breakfast will make you feel obviously hungry at lunch, and if you eat too much food at noon, the excess energy will be converted into fat in the body; at the same time, your breakfast is also an important guarantee for sufficient milk in the morning.

Make sure to eat a full lunch. If you don’t eat enough at noon, you will be hungry at night, and it will be difficult to eat the right amount at night.

Dinner should be moderate, and do not eat sweets or fried foods for dinner. It is best to ensure enough soup, which does not have to be meat soup, it can be porridge or vegetable soup. If the baby still cannot sleep through the night, the mother can also drink another glass of milk before going to bed. However, due to reduced exercise at night, if you do not eat well for breakfast and lunch, resulting in eating too much for dinner, too much energy will be stored and converted into fat, which is not conducive to your weight loss plan.

3. Proper exercise is important

Moderate exercise is important for maintaining good health. If you are taking care of your baby alone, you already exercise a lot every day. If someone helps you, it is best to spend at least half an hour exercising on the basis of ensuring sleep. It is generally more appropriate to exercise in the evening, such as brisk walking half an hour after dinner. Continuous brisk walking consumes more energy than short-term sprinting, which helps to lose weight. In addition, exercising after dinner can burn excess calories in the body. You can also refer to our postpartum exercise video.

4. Don’t eat sweets

Sugar is one of the main sources of energy, but it is mostly provided by starch in staple foods (rice and flour) in the diet, while sweets are mostly monosaccharides and disaccharides, which can easily and quickly increase blood sugar concentrations. If you eat too much sweets, it may induce the pancreas to release a large amount of insulin, prompting the conversion of glucose into fat. This is definitely something you don't want to encounter during your weight loss journey.