How to start a weight loss journey when you have just had a baby
Thousands of new mums use The Healthy Mummy to help them get back into shape after having a baby! After all, your body has changed, you are now time poor and making meals isn’t as easy as it used to be.
So having a guide and helping hand is really beneficial to new mums, as Gemma Corey and Fi Redding can both vouch for. Both are members of the 28 Weight Loss Challenge and have had some amazing weight loss success with the program. They also just had babies!
Gemma lost 23 kilos in 12 months and has a baby boy who is 16 weeks, plus Miss 8 and Mr 7.
Fi has lost 34 kilos using The Healthy Mummy App and has 2 kiddies, a 2 year old boy and a little baby girl just 6 weeks!
Here is a simple run down on how these incredible mums are using The Healthy Mummy app , to lose the baby weight.
How Gemma began her weight loss journey with The Healthy Mummy after just having a baby
“Given my maternal age, pre-pregnancy weight and medical conditions, I had to be very careful with my weight gain during this pregnancy,” she says.
“Following the pregnancy meal plans and workouts in the app, I managed to limit my weight gain to 8kg (as recommended by my doctor).
“This was my first Healthy Mummy pregnancy and was my healthiest and lowest risk pregnancy yet! It was so simple to stay on track with the help of the app and supportive community!”
“Post pregnancy I have already lost 10kg at 16 weeks postpartum. This makes me 2kg lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight!”
This was Gemma’s third c-section and she started by doing some gentle walking two weeks postpartum.
“Just getting out in the fresh air stopped me from feeling overwhelmed and gave me perspective. It helped to alleviate those post-baby blues and feeling like I wasn’t ‘enough’,” she says.
“My advice for those first few weeks is to prioritise your rest/sleep. When I am sleep deprived I find I am more likely to overeat sugary snacks and drink too much coffee! Being tired also makes it really hard for my body to lose weight.”
What a typical day on a plate look like for Gemma
A typical day on a plate is between 1800-1900 calories.
- Breakfast: It always includes a Healthy Mummy meal replacement smoothie for breakfast.
- Lunch: Is usually dinner with leftovers or a smoothie.
- Dinner: I cook dinner fresh most nights and prep what I can during the day.
- Snacks: These are essential – including pre-breakfast snacks for those early morning feeds.
- Dessert: It is a MUST have! It’s my favourite time after all the chores and bedtime routines are done to chill out and enjoy a sweet treat.
“A few of my favourite quick recipes are the Dairy Free Scrambled Eggs, Bacon Cheese and Corn Loaf, Bacon and Mushroom Ravioli, Healthier Hot Dogs, Beef Burgers and Snickers Mousse. But I like to use the “5 and under” filter in the app for meal planning inspiration!
Meal Plans
New meal plans are released weekly in the App every Wednesday.
You can choose from different plans (which change occasionally) when you set up your profile info – they are all customisable and generate a shopping list for you:
- Blank
- Variety
- Budget/Timesaver
- Higher Calories
- Hormone Balancing
- Vegan
- Keto
- Pantry Basics
- Pregnancy
- Vegetarian
Gemma’s Workouts
Before starting her workouts, Gemma waited until she had the all-clear from my doctor at 8 weeks.
“I started with the postnatal workouts in The Healthy Mummy app. These are a series of short workouts which show plenty of safe options to deal with ab separation and pelvic floor but help to rebuild your fitness and strength,” she says.
“As I got fitter, I tried the Beginner Boxing Workouts with Laura and Fi! These are amazing and so much fun! They also offer plenty of options from beginners to advanced!
“I focused on looking for little windows of time when I could fit in a workout. I picked app workouts that could be done during the shortest of naps (10-15mins). Shoes and sports crop became optional!!! As a new mum I have no time to procrastinate!”
Healthy Mummy Smoothies
Healthy Mummy smoothies are a great way of making sure you always have a healthy breakfast or quick snack!
“I love the Premium or Tummy smoothies for a quick shake-and-go option when I can’t put bub down. These can be made and enjoyed one handed! I also prep my dry ingredients and frozen fruits for smoothies so I can just add milk before blitzing,” she says.
Gemma’s Top tips for new mums
Gemma says “Don’t compare the development of your baby to others – don’t compare your journey to others. Everyone’s body is different and the rate at which you lose weight or tone up is different.
Whether it takes you six months, 2 years (like me!!!) or longer just know that along the way you are becoming a healthier and happier version of yourself!”
How New Mum Fi is using the Healthy Mummy App to lose her baby weight
Fi Redding from Melbourne has 2 small children, a 2-year-old boy and a 6-week-old baby girl.
Following the birth of her first baby, Fi was able to lose a whopping 34 kilos by following the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenging and using the at-home workouts in the Healthy Mummy App.
Fi says: “Following the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges I lost 34kg and never felt better. There are so many amazing reasons I love the Healthy Mummy one of them is that they concentrate not just on weight loss but also on how you feel and NSV (non-scale victories).
“Having The Healthy Mummy while I was pregnant was amazing. I ended up having Gestational Diabetes and using the recipes from the app, I was able to control my diabetes with diet. I was able to use the app exercises to stay active my whole pregnancy. I was using the exercises until I was 38wks. I used weights, pregnancy workouts and step were my favourites.”
Fi gave birth to her beautiful baby girl just six weeks ago and was keen to start using the Healthy Mummy App straight away.
“I started early and started following the meal plan 2 days after giving birth. I eat an extra 500 calories as I am breastfeeding. Following the meal plans 2 days after giving birth really helped me to be organised with a new born and a super active toddler and all his activities. I also found this a great way to save money and keep me and the family on track.”
In the six weeks since her pregnancy Fi has already lost a kilo and dropped about 20cm from her body.
“When looking at the meal plan I look at how long the meals and snacks take to prep. To help me, I modify the plan to make easy and quick meals and snacks. Also to save time during the day when I am cooking dinner I make extra for lunch the following day, this is also a great way to save money as well as time.”
The Healthy Mummy App has heaps of amazing quick snacks and meals which you can easily find using one of the handy filter features.
Fi’s Favourite QUICK recipes
- Chocolate Brownie Bites
- Chocolate Pretzel snacks
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Apple and peanut butter snack
- Beef burritos
- Nacho hotdogs
- Spinach rice with choritzo
- Mushroom and bacon ravioli
- Chicken Fajitas
By following the meal plans and using the Healthy Mummy App, Fi has found it benefits the entire family.
“Having the meal plan is also great for hubby to know what we are having if I am feeding the baby and unable to cook he can quickly open the app and cook dinner for us all.”
Fi’s Typical Day
“I start all my days with a smoothie, either from the app or if I’m making it one handed they are awesome to have with milk or water. I use almond milk with my smoothies. The Healthy Mummy Meal Replacement Smoothies have been a massive help for me. They are awesome to help me in the mornings trying to get us all going, they are fantastic to have and drink one-handed while feeding the baby or have on run or running out the door and easy to make one handed.”
Morning snack is a snack from the Healthy mummy app, at the moment I am loving the Chocolate Brownie bites as they are really quick to prep, make, taste amazing and low in calories so I can have a few if I need a few more calories or hungry.
Lunch is usually left overs from the night before reheated or a chicken and salad wrap or egg and lettuce sandwich from the app.
Afternoon tea at the moment is a smoothie mixed with Almond Milk and shaken. It’s a great way to not skip a snack and budget friendly and I am having a nutritious snack with everything I need.”
What Fi’s Exercise look like
“I started walking within 4 days of having my baby, we went walking as a family short walks at first and slowly building them up.
I started slowly exercising using the postnatal app exercises at 4 weeks after getting a clearance from my physio.”
“At 5 weeks I am now increasing my exercises using the app, I’m doing weights, Tabata, boxing, dance, and HITT. I’m doing the low intensity and modifying to what my physio has recommended that I can do and what they recommend I do not do.”
Workouts in the Healthy Mummy App
There are over 500 workouts in The Healthy Mummy app.
A daily workout will pop up for you BUT you are free to pick and choose. You can do the daily workouts, or you can do a selection of your own e.g butt and thigh workout followed by a core workout. There is a range of lengths when it comes to the exercise sessions so if you wish to workout for longer you can either repeat or choose multiple workouts to do one after the other.
Fi’s Top Tips for New Mums
- Make it as easy as possible for yourself, pick easy-to-prep snacks and meals when cooking your dinner cook in bulk for lunch and dinner through the week.
- Head outside and get some fresh air even just up and down your street it will do wonders for your mental health.,
- See a Dr and Physio before wanting to start exercise so you do not do any damage.
- Look after you… there are amazing meditations on the app that I have found so helpful when the baby is having a clingy day and I need to take 5 mins to myself I can just take time for me. Mental health for new mums is so important we are sleep-deprived an have hormones going crazy in our body and it is so easy to forget about ourselves.
Articles to help get the most out of The Healthy Mummy 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge.
Firstly jump into the app and find your way.
Calculate your: BMR
What is it? – The number of calories required to keep your body functioning at rest. Taking into account your height, age, current weight, goal weight and activity level provides and accurate reading of how many calories you need daily to lose weight. If you want to maintain then make your current and goal weight the same.
Why is BMR important? To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit so its important to find out a rough calorie intake to follow. Recalculate for every birthday, every 5kgs you lose or if your activity level changes.
My BMR seems high – Do I have to eat that much?
You can calculate your BMR directly within your profile section in The Healthy Mummy App.
It can be daunting but Healthy Mummy is a longterm approach. This will not hinder your results, in fact I got better results when I ate more and consistently during the days – e.g brekky, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, dessert. Think maintainable enjoyable LIFESTYLE. If you fuel your body properly, it will function more efficiently and in return release weight and toxins.
What activity level do I choose?
- Sedentary – No one is sedentary unless they are bedridden so you should at least choose lightly active even if you don’t do any structured exercise.
- Moderate – If you workout 3+ times a week
- Highly – If you work out 4+ times a week
Calories
Your daily calorie intake is also calculated within The Healthy Mummy App profile section.
You will also notice that each recipe has full nutritional and calorie info which makes things super easy and straight forward; no extra thinking.
Do you eat back the calories you burn? No, to lose weight the key is the remain in a calorie deficit.
Do you have to count calories to lose weight? The short answer is no, you don’t have to count your calories precisely to lose weight, I didn’t and lost over 30kgs in 9 months.
At the beginning, however it is a good way to learn the calorie value of the foods you most commonly eat. As the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge has all recipe info its easy to roughly add up the foods you’re eating. My best bit of advice is don’t stress about the minor details.
Do you have to follow them exactly? No!
They are there to make your OWN. The only right way to do the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge is the way that works for YOU, thats the beauty of it.
The best features when it comes to this is BULK SWAPS – you can repeat a lot of meals to save time and money so bulk swapping it brilliant.
Meal Prep
It is optional. Every bit of prep counts and what works for you is what’s best. You don’t have to cook in bulk to be successful. I tend to do a bulk cook every 6-8 weeks to stock the freezer. Other than that I prep my dry smoothie ingredients weekly, cook double of dinners and any leftovers or extras go in the freezer.
When making anything, a hot tip is DOUBLE it and store it.
Are you ready to become a Healthy Mummy?
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