Give Yourself More to Celebrate: Tips for Losing Weight AND Stretch Marks

From head to toe, pregnancy and childbirth changed your mind and body. Now, being in postpartum, you have a new set of mental and physical changes to navigate.

It’s incredibly common for women to flood their mind with plans and thoughts on how they’ll shed the baby weight and get their skin back to its pre-pregnancy look and feel – fast. However, the hard truth is: These desires don’t happen overnight. Now that you have a precious baby who demands your full attention around the clock, it can take longer than desired to get back in shape and rid your skin of stretch marks.

Losing Weight & Reducing Stretch Marks

We’re here to remind you that wherever you are in your weight loss journey, you’re beautiful. Don’t worry; with patience, persistence, and – above all – self-love, you can get back to your pre-pregnancy self. But let’s applaud our incredible bodies as we go.

Here are six simple tips for losing weight, reducing stretch marks, and celebrating along the way:

1. Set Realistic Goals
Pop culture, women’s magazines and your neighbor Angela all may have you believing that losing your pregnancy weight is easy and should only take a few weeks. But this small talk isn’t helpful.

Your body is on its own journey and that alone should be celebrated. As you embark on your weight loss efforts, know that it could take some time. Set goals from a realistic mindset and be kind to yourself if you find that you’re not accomplishing your goals as fast as you’d like.

Celebratory tip: When you do hit a goal, or simply feel proud of your efforts, celebrate by doing something for you. You could make an appointment for a manicure, schedule a massage, or go to the mall and buy something for yourself.

2. Focus on Nourishing, Not Dieting
Crash dieting, counting calories, and denying yourself of sweets can set you up for failure. Instead of stressing over a particular diet or getting your meal prep done, just focus on eating as clean as possible and consuming appropriate portions.

• Foods high in fiber high have been shown to aid in weight loss.
• Healthy proteins can boost metabolism, decrease appetite, and reduce calorie intake.
• Substituting crackers, chips and cookies for veggies, fruit, nuts and yogurt during snack time can help you feel good and motivated to stay on track the rest of the day.
• When you want to eat something processed or that is high in sugar, just keep it to a minimum. Allowing yourself to taste small bites of less healthy foods can help you more than completely depriving yourself. Cravings can quickly be satisfied by indulging a little and can help prevent the middle-of-the-night-half-pint-ice-cream-binge.
• A well-balanced diet and consuming foods with a high-water content can help aid in your stretch mark reduction efforts.

Celebratory tip: Have you been eating great but you long for a cookie? Look up recipes for healthy versions of cookies, cakes and other sweet treats. Some only require three, healthy ingredients and taste great. Enjoy!

3. Get Your Blood Pumping
You already know that exercise will help you lose weight, but a workout routine must be combined with good nutrition.

The crucial fact to keep in mind is: physical activity is essential for your mental health. As a mom and a woman who has very important goals, you need to get the blood flowing as often as possible to allow endorphins to flow freely and release built up stress and pressure.

Whatever makes you feel on top of the world – walking, running, cycling, resistance or interval training, swimming, yoga, hiking, etc. – just make sure you take the time for yourself and do it. You can even take your little babe with you if it’s safe.

Remember, exercising is more than just for losing fat cells. It’s vital for your overall mental health and happiness.

Celebratory tip: When you think you’ve completely exhausted yourself, do one more of whatever it is you were doing. Show yourself how strong you really are and how far you can go. You. Are. Amazing.

4. Drinking Water Will Boost Results
Not only will drinking water make you feel healthy and energized, it will also aid in your weight loss efforts. Research has shown that:

• Drinking water can help reduce appetite and caloric intake
• Drinking a half liter of water can burn 24–30% more calories the following hour
• Drinking water detoxifies the body
• Drinking water hydrates the skin, promotes soft skin, and is a crucial factor in getting rid of stretch marks

Celebratory tip: Start a water challenge with yourself. Try to drink a gallon of water a day. To add some zip to your water, throw in some refreshing lemon wedges.

5. Oh, And Don’t Forget About Sleep
We understand if you just rolled your eyes. For the first year of your baby’s young life, your sleep will be all over the map. We’d like to suggest sleeping when your baby does, but we also know that’s not always realistic. You’ve got a household to run, work to do, maybe other kids to take care of, and a life to live.

However, sleep is obviously important for weight loss and healthy skin. Numerous studies have concluded that a lack of sleep can negatively impact your weight, and sleep deprivation is closely tied to weight gain.

Our biggest tip is to do the best you can. When you can rest, rest. Don’t waste time on your phone or zoning out while watching a TV show you could care less about. Go to bed.

And when you’ve hit a particularly rough phase where sleep is hard to come by, don’t stress – for stress can compound issues and negate all of your other weight loss efforts.

Celebratory tip: When your baby sleeps through the night, just take a moment to revel in that feeling.

6. Invest in Quality Skin Care Products
The baby beauty marks that formed during your pregnancy, also known as stretch marks, are common and are a reminder of what amazing work your body did.

It’s understandable if you want to get rid of them, though. Many women wonder how to get rid of stretch marks on thighs and arms, too. To begin the process of stretch mark removal, be sure to find a stretch mark product that:

• Is made of natural, proven ingredients
• Delivers a simple, straightforward method to fading stretch marks
• Safely and deeply exfoliates scarred skin and supports the regeneration of beautiful, healthy skin

Celebratory tip: Draw yourself a warm bath as often as possible and do your
skin care routine during and after.

A Comprehensive Stretch Mark Cream That Tackles Even the Most Stubborn Stretch Marks

You’re on your way to your best self yet. Let us help your stretch marks fade and your skin remain soft, supple.

The ReTone Stretch Mark Therapy Kit delivers an all-encompassing method to target and penetrate scarred and stretched skin.

Conceptualized by a post-pregnancy mother of two who tried everything on the market and still lived with stretch marks, ReTone diminishes the appearance of stretch marks by:

• Combining safe, proven ingredients
• Using a comprehensive two-step process
• Hydrating and supporting the regeneration of healthy skin

People who have used ReTone rave about how simple and easy the kit is to use. Most importantly, users typically see results in as little as 60 days.

See for yourself how ReTone’s exfoliant and cream reduce stretch marks.