Every year, millions of women have children. For the vast majority of these women, losing the baby weight can become a real nightmare. While most women usually drop several pounds following the birth of their child without trying, due to the body reversing some of the chances caused by pregnancy, it is very common for a woman to plateau after this initial loss and be unable to lose the rest of the weight.

What a lot of people tend to not understand is that being pregnant and going through labour takes a massive toll on your body. There is an extensive recovery period that can last over a month, during which time trying to exercise and eat right may seem nearly impossible and out of the question for most mothers. Because of this, it is very easy for a woman to lose motivation when it comes to dropping the weight. If you really let yourself go during the pregnancy, sometimes it can take years to lose all of the baby weight, and that type of drive and determination is hard for a lot of people to maintain for an extended period of time.

The good news is that there are ways in which you can set yourself up for success. You do not have to lose the weight in a month like you see in celebrity magazines - let's get that misinformation out of the way. In reality, it will take you a few months to lose the weight in a healthy manner.

The two most beneficial things that you can do in order to lose weight after your pregnancy are diet and exercise, and you can even start doing them while you're still pregnant. During the pregnancy, it can be very hard to diet and exercise. But if you make the effort to curb some of the cravings and do frequent but low-impact workouts (consult your doctor first), you will be giving yourself a big advantage when time comes to start losing the baby weight after the pregnancy.

After you've given birth is when the real work begins. You should be aiming to get one hour of exercise per day, five days out of the week. If this seems like too much time, you need to realize that being in beautiful shape requires you to put some serious effort into reaching your goal.

When you exercise and eat right, you are doing two of the most valuable things that you can do in order to get yourself back into shape. You might not lose weight as fast as a celebrity mom, but you will definitely lose the weight if you stick with it. Consulting with your family physician is a great way to find out exactly how you should be eating and working out in order to achieve your goal, as they have the training and medical expertise to walk you through such issues.