Studies show that women who exercise during pregnancy have a much easier time returning to their pre-pregnancy weight and size than women who don't exercise while pregnant. In addition, having a fit pregnancy also gets you up and around faster after you deliver and helps you not crumple while carrying your ever-growing baby in your arms.

The key to post-pregnancy weight loss is to take it slow and steady, just as you did when gaining weight while you were pregnant. After all, you didn't gain all those pounds overnight, and they certainly won't come off that fast! As you get started, focus on eating smaller portions and leaving a few bites behind on your plate.

Being pregnant obviously comes with specific nutrition requirements, but so does giving birth to your child and recovering from that birth. No matter how you end up delivering, your body will require energy and specific nutrients to heal itself. Eat protein foods (think meats, eggs, dairy, and beans) because they're essential for repairing your body.

When suffering from postpartum depression, the only thing you want to do is feel better — and you want it to be quick. Recovery does take time, but you can still be proactive about making your way through the day — one thought at a time. Repeating truths to yourself is quite powerful and can advance your postpartum depression recovery in a huge way (and likewise, repeating falsehoods can greatly slow it down).

Pull yourself out of the deep pit of postpartum depression (PPD) and get back to normal with these essential tips, including some ideas to help you take care of yourself. Sometimes new moms think that they should be plopped at the bottom of the list as if their own needs don’t matter, and when PPD is added to the mix, a mom often feels unworthy and unimportant.

Repeating truths to yourself is quite powerful and can advance your postpartum depression (PPD) recovery in a huge way (and likewise, repeating falsehoods can greatly slow it down). Here are 11 positive thoughts to focus on. You may have a difficult time feeling the truth of these statements at first because the PPD makes you doubt your worth.

Postpartum depression constantly fills your head with negative thoughts that bring you down. One of the tricks to recovering as quickly as possible is to catch the negatives as fast as you can and turn them around into positives. Thoughts that Weaken Thoughts that Strengthen I'm a bad mother. I'm a good mother who needs help.

During pregnancy, your biggest stumbling blocks to regular workouts may have involved getting motivated to work out, finding the energy to exercise, and finding time to work out on long days that included visits to your healthcare provider. After the baby is born, however, your biggest challenges may be what in the world to do with your new baby during your workout and how to find time between all those feedings, changings, and your baby’s other needs — in addition to still being short on sleep and time.