The Truth About Post-Pregnancy Weight Loss

This post first appeared on WebMD, I hope you learn a little about weight loss. Personally, I learned the hard way that the battle with your weight is really about losing body fat. Don’t obsess about the numbers on the scale. The real battle is about the inches around your waist.

By Alia Hoyt

I admit it: I was once one of “those women” for whom post-pregnancy weight loss was relatively quick and painless. I’ve never been model-skinny, but after the birth of my first two children my previous waistline was recovered with little to no effort. Yeah, I know what you want to call me, and I don’t blame you. So kick back and laugh when I tell you that the pounds decided they wanted to take up permanent residence after my third son was born. No amount of calorie counting or exercise did the trick, which threw me for a tailspin worse than those teacups at Disney World.

One morning, by way of The Dr. Oz Show, I discovered Shaun T, fitness trainer and creator of INSANITY workout (of infomercial fame). His program intrigued me, but what really kept my attention was the way he harped on nutrition. Most exercise programs promise extreme results just by going through the motions. But he was adamant that great results can only be achieved by also overhauling your eating habits. Since exercising like a maniac had scarcely made a dent in my dimples, I decided to give his way a shot. Sayonara, fried and processed food. I was in for a nutritional overhaul.

Rumor: Nutrition and exercise are equally important when trying to lose weight

Diet and exercise. Depending who you talk to, these words are either dirty or sacred. There’s no doubt that they’re both vitally important to good health, but do they carry equal weight when it comes to losing weight?

The Verdict: All the exercise in the world won’t help you lose weight if your nutrition is out of whack

You know when you’re out spending money and a few dollars here or there seems like no big deal? Then you get your credit card statement and the sum total of your big-spender ways is painfully apparent? That’s how it is with calories, fat, sodium and other nutritional information, but this stuff is far more difficult to itemize and track than dollars and cents. The end result is that we eat way more than we need to… even when dieting.

I picked this post to reblog because diet is something I harp on almost every post I write. Two-thirds of American are overweight and it’s because we eat twice as many calories everyday than what our body needs. Losing body fat is about eating food that helps you burn fat.

I know the author said that losing weight is half diet and half exercise, but for me it was more like 70% diet and 30% exercise. I wasn't able to just cut back on some of my favorite foods, I had to totally start over. I had to start eating foods I had never eaten before. I learned the hard way that the only foods you should be eating are the ones that burn fat. Exercise won't turn fat into muscle. Your body has to burn that body fat. Your body wants to burn fat, it burns fat everyday. The problem we have and why we are overweight is that the body only burns a few grams of fat a day and we eat several ounces of fat in our diet everyday. So the body will store all the fat you eat that it can't burn up.

Because ounces can't be measured on your scale, you don't know you're adding body fat. Sometimes it might take a week before the scale will increase one pound and sometimes it doesn't show up at all. Your digestive track holds several pounds of food and the amount of food will vary from day to day so it makes no sense to use a scale to tell whether you are adding body fat.

If you real want to succeed in weight loss you want to be a student of weight loss. Learn all you can about nutrition and the right amount of calories to consume everyday and "How many calories does your body really burn?"

Look for my podcasts on anchor.fm, or the podcast app on your cell phone. Search “howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight".

If you really want to lose your body fat then look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.
There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.
My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.