Sis had a baby, wants some help!

[ShadowFury]

Alright, I finally got my diet/routine in check, and now my sis is wanting some help.

She's 5' 7.5", 160 lbs. She was around 125 before the baby(she got to 200 during the preg) She's mad she ate so much now, but she wanted to be POSITIVE the baby was OK, lol. On the upside, she ate healthy. Whole milk, wheat breat, wheat pancakes(she made them), eggs, PB(not natty however).

The catch is, she had a C-section, and is breastfeeding. So that's why I can't really help her out(or have found anything on here, after 2+ hours). Her hubby is a marine, so he also is trying to help, but again, we aren't too good with how to go about it with the C-section/breastfeeding.

It's been about 3 months, and her scar hurts when she starts doing anything high intensity. She can walk, but not run at all. She likes to do the eliptical, but on zero incline, just straight walking, for about 15-30 mins. For weights, she does VERY low weights(machines at gym) because everything affects the scar. Legs, she can feel it, even arms, if she does them hard enough, she can feel it some, abs, hell yes, and then also doing back. So, what would be the best rep x set to do, and distance/length/intensity(that is bearable) for her to lose the fat? Mainly around her belly(duh), butt, and arms(tris mainly). I told her pushups would be an alright start for the tris, but she said she can only do a "girl pushup". I wasn't sure if it would really do much for her though, thus, I'm here at your guys' mercy

She has talked to her doc, but, well, they just say watch the diet and try to walk, so, not very specific. I believe she eats about 1800-2k cals a day. I'm doing this without her knowing, so I can't get UBER specifics, but any help is appreciated


Thanks for anyone that is able to help out.

 

[babywifey]

Alright, I finally got my diet/routine in check, and now my sis is wanting some help.

She's 5' 7.5", 160 lbs. She was around 125 before the baby(she got to 200 during the preg) She's mad she ate so much now, but she wanted to be POSITIVE the baby was OK, lol. On the upside, she ate healthy. Whole milk, wheat breat, wheat pancakes(she made them), eggs, PB(not natty however).

The catch is, she had a C-section, and is breastfeeding. So that's why I can't really help her out(or have found anything on here, after 2+ hours). Her hubby is a marine, so he also is trying to help, but again, we aren't too good with how to go about it with the C-section/breastfeeding.

It's been about 3 months, and her scar hurts when she starts doing anything high intensity. She can walk, but not run at all. She likes to do the eliptical, but on zero incline, just straight walking, for about 15-30 mins. For weights, she does VERY low weights(machines at gym) because everything affects the scar. Legs, she can feel it, even arms, if she does them hard enough, she can feel it some, abs, hell yes, and then also doing back. So, what would be the best rep x set to do, and distance/length/intensity(that is bearable) for her to lose the fat? Mainly around her belly(duh), butt, and arms(tris mainly). I told her pushups would be an alright start for the tris, but she said she can only do a "girl pushup". I wasn't sure if it would really do much for her though, thus, I'm here at your guys' mercy

She has talked to her doc, but, well, they just say watch the diet and try to walk, so, not very specific. I believe she eats about 1800-2k cals a day. I'm doing this without her knowing, so I can't get UBER specifics, but any help is appreciated


Thanks for anyone that is able to help out.

Well, first of all, before she starts lifting weights she needs to let that C-section incision heal up. Nearly every effective lift for fat loss is going to incorporate her abs and stomach area for stabilization. She needs to let herself heal completely before starting any intense workout. Doing something low intensity for now would be her best option. Until she is healed, she should probably stick with cardio. It will take her some time to gain strength. Having a baby is a big thing that he body will need time to bounce back from.

Yes, "girl" push-ups are effective for those who aren't strong enough for regular push-ups. But once again this is a compound movement that will incorporate her core. If she isn't completely healed, she shouldn't do this movement even.

Just nursing a child burns 300-500 calories a day! 1800-2000 calories a day seems low keeping in mind how much she will be burning. As long as her diet is healthy, she shouldn't worry about bumping that number up a little. She gained a lot of weight while she was pregnant obviously because she was eating too much, but also she seemed to be eating a lot of carbs, from the foods you listed. Replacing those carbs with more protein and fats would be good.

She should be drinking at least a gallon of water a day. Eating TONS of fibrous veggies and eating lots of protein and healthy fats will help her lose fat by themselves. Fat loss is only 20% workout, but it is 80% diet! Put her on a healthy, nutritious diet and she should lose fat even without an intense workout routine. Once she can lift, her fat loss progress will speed up.

 

[babywifey]

One more thing: try to get her to worry less about her weight, and be concerned more with her body fat. Once she starts weight lifting she may replace fat with muscle. Since muscle weighs more than fat, she may GAIN weight. But this is not a bad thing. The more muscle she has, the easier it will be for her to drop fat. I'm 5'9, weigh 160 lbs, but I am 15% BF. Because so much of the weight on me is muscle, people are shocked when I tell them i am 160 lbs. I am much smaller than a 24% BF girl who is the same height and weight as myself.

 

[EasyEJL]

I'm doing this without her knowing, so I can't get UBER specifics, but any help is appreciated

so how likely is it to work if she isn't looking for help? I think for a not all that physically active 5'7" woman the calories sound a little high for trying to loose weight. definitely agree though that she has to worry more about the scar + healing than about loosing anything. so the only other way to make real progress without adding much intensity in would be to clip calories a little

 

[ShadowFury]

Thanks for the reply Wifey, I told her what ya said(weight part mainly) so she's just going to stick to cardio, instead of light weights till healed. Sorry for late reply, been busy


Mmmmm, she is looking for help, lol, wasn't sure if there would be something new that we hadn't thought of to do. Like, "Oh, if it's after a preg, then x chemical is being slowly produced, but needs more, so she could take x." Or something ^_^ That's cals for maintenance I believe BTW. She said her doc told her that 500 cals are burned per day by breastfeeding also, so she eats aroun 2200-2300 usually I believe.

 

[EasyEJL]

no, no magic, just patience. but i would consider lightly lowering calories. you can point her out to using fitday.com or sparkpeople.com to track the calories she's taking in now so she has a good starting point

 

[ShadowFury]

Rgr rgr

 

[babywifey]

no, no magic, just patience. but i would consider lightly lowering calories. you can point her out to using fitday.com or sparkpeople.com to track the calories she's taking in now so she has a good starting point

Easy, at this point it is most important for her to be providing enough nutrition for herself and her baby. At 2200-2300 calories per day she could still lose fat because of how many calories breast feeding takes. Once she starts lifting, she may even want to bump those calories up some. It is very good that she is not afraid to be eating so much, because too often women take the route of starving themselves to lose weight.

 

[EasyEJL]

Easy, at this point it is most important for her to be providing enough nutrition for herself and her baby. At 2200-2300 calories per day she could still lose fat because of how many calories breast feeding takes. Once she starts lifting, she may even want to bump those calories up some. It is very good that she is not afraid to be eating so much, because too often women take the route of starving themselves to lose weight.

Right, which was why I said starting with actually tracking calories shes taking in would be a good idea. A vague guess from someone else is even less accurate than guessing your own cal intake and if its been 3 months and her loss has slowed or stopped and she can't raise output, examining intake is the next step. Dropping calories by 100 or 200 a day isn't starving herself. But if she's eating enough to maintain 160 at her current physical level which includes breastfeeding and what cardio and other physical activity she can do, modifying diet is her only choice to continue to loose fat. Plus she only has another 1 - 4 months where breastfeeding will be in large amounts because that is when she'll likely start tapering off, moving the baby to cereals, etc so its not like she can count on that bonus caloric output for all that long.

 

[ShadowFury]

She tells me that is her cals, from what she is tracking(I didn't ask her HOW she tracked), so that wasn't a vague guess >_>

Also wondering how to calculate the breastfeeding cals as she does taper down :/

 

[babywifey]

Right, which was why I said starting with actually tracking calories shes taking in would be a good idea. A vague guess from someone else is even less accurate than guessing your own cal intake and if its been 3 months and her loss has slowed or stopped and she can't raise output, examining intake is the next step. Dropping calories by 100 or 200 a day isn't starving herself. But if she's eating enough to maintain 160 at her current physical level which includes breastfeeding and what cardio and other physical activity she can do, modifying diet is her only choice to continue to loose fat. Plus she only has another 1 - 4 months where breastfeeding will be in large amounts because that is when she'll likely start tapering off, moving the baby to cereals, etc so its not like she can count on that bonus caloric output for all that long.

She tells me that is her cals, from what she is tracking(I didn't ask her HOW she tracked), so that wasn't a vague guess >_>

Also wondering how to calculate the breastfeeding cals as she does taper down :/

She should definitely figure out what her maintenance calories are. Subtracting 100 cals from that should be a good place to start for fat loss. It will be more difficult for her to drop fat since she can't be all that active right now, but as I've said, diet is the most important part of fat loss. I wouldn't be surprised if 2200 is actually her 100 calorie deficit.

 

[EasyEJL]

Ah well, then it sounds like she is on the right track at least, mostly i guess what she'll need is patience and encouragement then and someone to make sure there isn't any ben + jerrys in the freezer for her to dig into