Love your body as it is

The next step is to shed those excess pounds, tone your abs, and get your energy back by getting a healthy balanced diet and gradually getting back into exercise. If, however, you're breastfeeding, forget dieting. Breastfeeding requires extra calories, for your baby's nourishment and because it tires you out a lot.

In nine months to a year, you should have returned to your pre-pregnancy weight and gained body and muscle tone. But some of the effects of pregnancy won't completely disappear: stretch marks for some, sagging breasts for others, and a changed body shape (larger hips and a flatter or rounder bottom)

> Learn to love your body as it is. It shows signs of your pregnancy. If you embrace your body as it is and you feel beautiful, it will show on the outside and people will admire you. And if you feel sexy, you'll want your other half all the more.