If you've recently had your baby and are feeling fat and unlovely, you're probably dying to lose some weight and get back to your normal figure. Here are 6 tips for losing baby weight.

Tip #1 - Eat a sensible balanced diet including some starch, protein and fat. You may be surprised about the fat but I do mean "good" fat such as olive oil.

Tip #2 - Eat lots of small meals and snacks and I don't mean biscuits, crisps and peanuts. Stock your fridge with carrot sticks (they keep for ages in a box of cold water), celery sticks (also in water or a plastic bag) and fruit. If you must have crisps, choose the low fat, low sodium varieties. Cubes of cheese are a good source of protein and calcium.

Tip #3 - Avoid junk food. I know that you won't have much time left for cooking for yourself but a trip to a burger joint is not amongst my tips for losing baby weight. Why not get someone to look after baby once a week and cook some healthy meals to put in the freezer or you can just grill a chicken breast and serve it with some boiled potatoes and vegetables or salad. The same goes for steak, fish or any other lean meat.

Tip #4 - Do eat whenever you're hungry. You'll see this in any list of tips for losing baby weight because if you're hungry you'll start craving all the foods you shouldn't have and you'll never lose that baby weight.

Tip #5 - Do breastfeed your baby. Believe it or not, breastfeeding uses up around 500 calories a day and that in turn will use up stored fat left over from your pregnancy. It's good for your baby too, helping him or her to build up antibodies.

Tip #6 - Take regular exercise for quite short periods, say twenty minutes, about five times a week. This needn't involve expensive gym memberships, you can just take baby for a walk in the fresh air which will do you both good. Don't forget to exercise those stomach muscles as toning is as important as losing weight.

If you follow these tips for losing baby weight, you'll soon have regained the figure you had before you became pregnant.