You could be fortunate. I was – only once.

When my middle daughter was born, I actually weighed ten pounds less than I had when I had conceived her.

That’s not something you can rely on, though, and I can tell you that from experience too. Nearly all women begin their lives as a new mother with an extra 8 to 15 pounds that they didn’t have pre-baby.

There’s a really good reason for that. God made our bodies with nurture in mind. A part of that weight which you put on during pregnancy was meant to nurture your baby Soon after birth. While your body demands an extra 300 calories each day to sustain with the nutritional demands of your baby during pregnancy, a breastfeeding mother requires a minimum of 500 extra calories each day to make sufficient milk and remain healthy. Your body stores up a little extra nutrition for after the birth in case there isn’t enough food for its needs when it is time to feed the new little critter.

If you’re breastfeeding, that’s part of the good news. You’ll automatically be burning an extra five hundred calories each day – which will make it significantly easier for you to shed the extra weight. In fact, you may not need to do anything special at all to lose weight. Just focus on eating a regular, healthy, well-balanced diet you’ll be looking good in the sexy maternity dresses you invested in while you were pregnant.

If you’re not breastfeeding, you won’t see it quite as easy. Your focus should still be on healthy eating, with moderate exercise to burn additional calories.

Here’s more good news for new mothers. Exercising is easier. Actually, that’s not quite right. Burning more calories is easier. Walking solely for one hour burns 200 calories. Walking while pushing a stroller ups that figure substantially. Push a stroller uphill, and it’s even higher. You will get additional duty out of things you in no way thought of like lifting the stroller and car seat in and out of the car, carrying the baby up and down stairs and simply plain carrying the infant.

Still. If you find yourself with persistent pounds that simply will not come off, exercise along with a moderate reduction in calories is the way to go. Much like pregnancy is not the time for weight loss, just after pregnancy is not the time to stress your body further with severe dietary restrictions. Aim for losing around a pound per week, though chances are you will find it coming off quicker than that.

Being a mom is a high-energy proposition!