Baby fat can turn into bad fat if you fail to act

If you’re still carrying extra pounds, a year after the big day, you need to take stock – the baby fat is a sign you’re on the road to metabolic syndrome.

Your body is never quite the same after being pregnant……

But, if you’re still carrying extra pounds, a year after the big day, you need to take stock. The hormone upheavals associated with building, delivering and feeding a healthy human baby, have taken a toll.

You’ve stepped on the bumpy road of metabolic syndrome.

This is the finding of a group of doctors based at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

The journey begins…..

The team followed 305 Moms, from the very beginning, to the one year anniversary of their delivery.

They specifically kept tabs on the Mom’s weight, along with “heart” health markers, such as cholesterol, blood pressure etc.

The good news….

Baby fat is NORMAL

81 % of the ladies in the study were still carrying baby fat, at the 3 month mark postpartum. So it is perfectly normal, not to be back to your pre-pregnancy weight, 3 months into motherhood.

And the “heart” health markers are within normal ranges, despite the extra layers.

But, a year down the line i.e. at the 12 month mark, you should be well on the way back to normal.

If you’re NOT, you’re in TROUBLE.

Trouble brewing

The ladies who had managed to shed some of the pounds they had acquired during their pregnancy, got a clean bill of health, when it came to “heart” health markers.

These ladies were in the majority.

But, 25 % of the new Moms were doing more than just holding onto the “baby fat”, they were slowly acquiring more. And these ladies “heart” health markers were sliding.

In the nine month window……. these ladies had metabolically speaking, begun travelling on an unhealthy road.

Blame the hormones

It is more than likely hormonal.

Remember, pregnancy itself is a hormonal rollercoaster and giving birth is just the beginning. You’re permanently sleep deprived, eating on the run….

Your hormones and your behaviour, conspire to make your more and more insulin resistant.

The bumpy road…

Getting on the insulin resistance road is easy…..

The road follows a long and windy route, initially the only signs you’re on the road are minor health niggles.

Love handles, sugar cravings, mood swings.

Nothing too serious.

But, as you continue along this path, getting off the road, becomes harder and harder.

The love handle,s turn into rolls of fat.
The sugar cravings, stop being mere longings and turn into obsessions and sugar binges.
The mood swings manifest as aggressive outbursts, accompanied by tiredness.

Years down the road, there is a diagnosis of diabetes and/or heart disease.

Get off the road NOW

The journey begins in a nine month window, between 3 and 12 months after giving birth.

So….. this is the time to work at shedding the baby fat.

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Cardiometabolic Implications of Postpartum Weight Changes in the First Year After Delivery. Diabetes Care March 2014. Simone Kew, Chang Ye, Anthony J. Hanley, Philip W. Connelly, Mathew Sermer, Bernard Zinman, and Ravi Retnakaran.