We all know that weight gain is an inevitable part of pregnancy, in fact natural weight gain is encouraged as part of a health pregnancy.

Following birth, some women naturally drop the weight within a couple months, but most have to work at it—and this can be tough when you’re also taking care of a new baby, complete lack of sleep and all that! Still, it’s entirely possible so let’s take a look as some key tips.

Here are some tips for losing the weight you gained during pregnancy once and for all (or at least until your next pregnancy):

1. Stay far, far away from fad diets

This is good advice whether you’re trying to lose baby weight or regular weight or even just trying to be healthy. Losing weight is about permanent lifestyle changes and most diets simply aren’t sustainable.

After pregnancy a fad diet can dramatically decrease your energy levels and test your emotions. Most diets are based on strictly restricting food intake, which is particularly disastrous when your body is already in withdrawal from the flood of pregnancy hormones.

2. Fill your diet with “superfoods”

Nutrition is incredibly important immediately after having a baby, especially if you’re breastfeeding, but many mothers neglect this area of their lives after pregnancy—even the ones who take loads of vitamins when their babies are in the womb.

Finding time to cook a big nutritious meal can be tough but it’s easy to incorporate a cup of almonds or a bowl of yogurt into your daily routine. Fish is another excellent superfood you should make sure is on the menu at least twice a week.

3. Exercise WITH your baby

Exercising doesn’t mean having to go to your local EFM. It could mean dancing around the house when you’re doing chores. It could be taking your baby out in the stroller when you jog or walk around the neighbourhood.

As your baby grows make sure you get them wiggling too—you want to instill a love of exercise in them early!

4. Drink lots of water

Water is crucial to all life and this is particularly true for moms. It’s obvious that replacing sugary drinks with water is healthier and can help you lose weight, but did you know that water itself has properties that help you lose weight? The most notable of these is that water fills up your stomach so you crave less food.

5. Find support

Whether you find another mum who will go jogging with you, ask your partner to take the baby so you can go to your local EFM club or simply join a forum where you trade weight loss advice and support with other women, you will have a much easier time losing weight if you have people encouraging you along the way.

You can also enlist a personal trainer and a dietitian to help you if you’re really struggling to lose weight.

6. Remove all the junk food from your house

This one will definitely require support from your partner, especially if they have a junk food habit of their own, but is really the easiest way to keep your diet healthy. Get rid of all the junk food in your house and load your fridge and cupboard up with easy-to-prepare healthy snacks.

After you’ve been eating healthy for a few months you can start to keep a little bit of junk food in the house for special occasions, but be careful how much you have in the house at any given time. The easiest way to stop eating unhealthy food and snacks is to get them out of your house.

7. Get more quality sleep

Yes, we know how difficult this is with a new baby around, but your body is far more likely to retain baby weight if you’re not sleeping properly. Being tired actually releases cortisol and other stress hormones in the body. These stress hormones have been proven to increase weight gain and make weight loss incredibly difficult.

Even if you can’t get your baby to sleep through the night you can get better quality sleep by avoiding bright lights or screens an hour before bedtime and keeping electronics out of the bedroom.

Losing weight after pregnancy can be difficult but it is entirely possible if you follow these seven tips and stay focussed on living a natural, healthy lifestyle.