Pregnancy takes a major toll on your metabolic rate, mostly due to the weight gain, less physical activity, and of course the roller coaster of hormones throughout the 9 months. Actually, during pregnancy your metabolic rate is faster, but then postpartum, your hormones change and slow your metabolic rate down. Of course most mamas would agree that a faster the metabolism the better because a fast metabolism means you can eat more and gain less. Gaining the baby weight is of course normal, and most new moms gain around 20-30lbs during pregnancy. The difficult part is to figure out how to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight, when there are extra road blocks like lack of sleep, milk production, and a slow metabolism. Increasing your metabolism is possible after pregnancy through your diet, exercise routine and extra supplements to help!
Why is my metabolism slow after having a baby?
Studies have found that metabolism is connected to insulin resistance, which changes as hormonal levels change. One study looked specifically at the metabolic rate during pregnancy, compared to postpartum, and found that metabolic rate is higher during pregnancy. "Absolute resting metabolic rate (RMR) was significantly higher during pregnancy than at 4-6 months postpartum and 12-13 months postpartum (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Accounting for body weight, relative RMR was significantly higher during pregnancy than at 4-6 months postpartum." There are many factors that affect metabolism, but overall metabolism slows down, and another study found that the slower metabolism may be connected to insulin resistance. "Metabolic rate is lower during postpartum compared to pregnancy, and may be connected to insulin resistance. Maternal insulin resistance, inflammation, blood lipids, and substrate metabolism are all related to postpartum weight retention."
Hormones play a major role in insulin resistance, as well as diet, cortisol levels, activity level and the amount of weight you gained during pregnancy. The good news is that more studies have found your metabolism can be changed, but sometimes just a healthy diet won't do it.
Does your metabolism go back to normal after pregnancy?
Your metabolism, as mentioned above, is actually slower after pregnancy and through lactation, which is why it can be so challenging to lose weight after pregnancy. You can help your metabolism postpartum through a few effective diet changes, exercise routines, and supplements. Supplements are really powerful to support your body as it attempts to function through all the different changes during pregnancy and postpartum. Keep reading for which supplements, foods and exercises are best to help your metabolism go back to "normal" or even faster than it was before.
What's the fastest way to increase metabolism and lose weight after pregnancy?
You are probably wanting to increase your metabolism as soon as possible, so you can lose the extra weight and start feeling normal again. If you've tried to lose the weight, but you are also losing milk supply, then supplements are a great support for your body. Using a metabolism supplement like Milk Dust Metabolism is a great, safe way to help your metabolism and insulin levels get back on track, while also not affecting milk supply at all. Milk Dust Lactation Protein Powder will also protect your milk supply, and even increase your supply, while nourishing your body for postpartum healing, lactation and recovery. Milk Dust Lactation Protein Powder is formulated to increase energy levels through nutrients and superfoods, while also cutting sugar cravings and helping balance your blood sugar. Combine these too supplements together, and you have a very powerful mix to get back in shape in a safe and nourishing way!
5 REASONS WHY MOMS USE MILK DUST METABOLISM TO LOSE THE MOMMY POOCH
Effective ways to boost your metabolism after baby:
Reduce sugar and carbohydrate intake:
The best way to help your metabolism is to decrease sugar and processed carbohydrate intake. The key to better insulin levels, hormones levels and less cortisol is less insulin spikes. Bread, crackers, dairy, candy, pizza, french fries...all those foods and EVEN LACTATION COOKIES spike your blood sugar. If you find yourself eating a lot of carbohydrates to keep your milk supply up, switch immediately to more complex carbohydrates.
The best carbs to help increase metabolism and reduce insulin levels are:
- Oatmeal
- Sweet Potatoes
- Quinoa
- Brown Rice
- Whole Grain Sprouted/Seeded Bread
In addition to changing your carbohydrate consumption, you also need to increase protein consumption! Protein actually requires more calories to digest, so you actually eat less calories when eating lean protein. Jumping on a crash diet can also drastically hurt your metabolism and insulin levels. Crash diets usually result in short term, super low insulin levels from fewer calories, followed by a surge of insulin when going back to eating regularly.
HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT WHILE BREASTFEEDING WITHOUT TANKING MILK SUPPLY
Increase protein intake:
Protein helps build muscle mass, and it is linked to milk supply. One study found that diets low in protein were linked to lower milk supply. Protein is a very important macro nutrient (carbohydrates and fats the other two!), and it plays an essential role in nourishing new mothers. It is probably one of the most important nutrients for postpartum weight loss, and will give your body the nutrients it needs to produce enough breast milk, while also burn extra fat gained during pregnancy. Remember, your body is designed to plan for any lack of nutrietns and energy after the baby is born, so it stores extra fuel to ensure that you have enough to feed your baby. It is a natural process to burn fat to use as fuel for breastfeeding during the postpartum period. The extra pounds for pregnant women are important, but if you eat too many extra calories, thinking your body needs it for breastfeeding, it will just stall your weight loss. By eating just enough calories, and choosing nutrient-dense calories, your body can easily provide enough breast milk for your new baby, while also burn fat. Protein plays a particularly important role in providing nutrients for lactation and healing. Protein is used to help heal your uterus and any other areas where the skin needs to be repaired. If you add strength training, to a diet full of nutrients and protein, your metabolism will be so happy. There will be more muscle mass to sustain, so it will need to work faster, and your metabolism will have the protein it needs to function!
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Strength train weekly:
Adding strength training to your workout routine will help increase and maintain muscle mass as you lose weight. More muscle mass means a faster metabolism, so maintaining muscle will help keep your metabolism working quickly. Resistance training requires your muscles to break down, then build back up stronger to hold additional weight or resistance. Protein is required for muscle rebuilding. Resistance training can be adding heavier weights each time your train, or additional reps to fatigue the muscles. Basically, you need to get your muscles sore, so they have to rebuild stronger. During the 6-week time frame, where you need to do more healing, gentle Pilates is great strength training until you are completely cleared from your doctor for more intense physical activity like weight training.
Increase nutrient intake rather than lower calorie intake:
Increasing your nutrient intake is much more important than lowering your calorie intake for weight loss, and it will help increase your metabolism. By giving your body more nutrients, you are choosing foods that actually require more energy to digest. Highly processed foods just spike blood sugar, give you immediate energy, and don't take much work to get the glucose to the blood stream. Nutrient dense foods like Milk Dust Protien, Sweet Potatoes, Oatmeal, Seeds, Eggs, Spinach and berries all require more work to unpack turn into glucose. Unhealthy foods take little to know effort to break down into glucose, which causes huge spikes in blood sugar levels. Making the lifestyle changes to eating healthier foods forces your body to work harder to digest and get energy, making your metabolism step up too.
Get more sleep:
Getting more sleep can seem impossible with a newborn, but getting enough sleep helps your hormones, specifically thyroid hormones and reproductive hormone levels stay balanced. When hormones are balanced, your metabolism is going to be working much faster. Take for example menopause, when one hormone like estrogen drops significantly, many women experience weight gain. The excess weight comes from your hormones dipping and rising, and this is very similar to what happens during pregnancy and postpartum. Obviously there are going to be limitations in the beginning, especially while baby is little, but sometimes new mothers think it is better to miss sleep and workout, rather than choose sleep. Sleeping is more important to your hormonal function, and the benefits of more sleep will greatly outweigh your workout.
Important points to remember when wanting to increase metabolism after pregnancy:
- Diet is more important than a workout. Your diet is an all-day effort, where as a workout is only 30-60 minutes of the day.
- Fat stores are meant to be used as energy, but they won't be accessed if your diet doesn't provide enough nutrients
- Hormones are a driving factor to metabolic function, more so than diet and exercise
- Insulin is key to hormonal health, so eating the right diet is the first step to balancing insulin, then hormones then metabolism.
Easy ways to fix your metabolism after pregnancy:
- Drink a healthy protein shake in place of one meal. Milk Dust is perfect for postpartum and breastfeeding mamas because of its formulation and ingredients that boost supply and cut sugar cravings.
- Cut out anything white, in a box or in a bag.
- Focus yur diet on the outer aisles of the grocery store
- Drink plenty of water
- Use a metabolism supplement to help your body get back on track
Milk Dust Metabolism is a great helper to ensure your efforts actually make some body changes. Getting to a healthy weight take a lot of work and time, so why not give your body the helping hand it needs. Milk Dust Metoblism is a new supplement to the Milk Dust family. It focuses on safely supporting your metbolism with simple, clean ingredients. Milk Dust metabolism uses nutrients specifically important to postpartum and lactation, while also adding some to support metabolism
- Zinc
- Chromium
- Alpha Lipoic Acid (treats and reduces insulin resistance)
- Green Tea Leaf (appetite suppressant/energy - good bye breastfeeding hunger!)
- Berbine HCL which Dr. Child describes as "one of the best supplements you've never heard of." It has positive effects on blood sugar and insulin, as well as extremely beneficial for hormonal pathways, and why it is one of the most important ingredients in Milk Dust Metabolism. The root behind not losing weight postpartum is hormonal imbalance, and Berbine is a key helper in this.
- Resveratrol: High concentrations are found in grapes, and it is extremely powerful antioxidant that reduces the risk of cancer, supports brain function and shown to reduce blood sugar and weight in various studies.
These are the main ingredients in Milk Dust Metabolism which focus on supporting nourishment during the postnatal period, as well as acting as a helping hand for your metabolism and hormones.
Both Milk Dust Lactation Protein Powder and Milk Dust Metabolism offer the nutritional support by targeting the increased nutritional needs during lactation and postpartum. When these are combined together, you have a powerful weight loss plan that is far more effective than many of the weight loss programs or trying a crash diet. When taking both Milk Dust Lactation Protein Powder and Milk Dust Metabolism, you still need to follow a well-balanced diet plan. It is really important to also get real food nutrients, drink plenty of water, and start increasing physical activity when you are cleared around six weeks postpartum.
