Whangaparaoa Personal Training - Fitness Training - Improved

Having a baby is life changing. Not only will it change your world when the baby arrives, but it also changes your body. It can be quite hard to adapt to your new body shape when pregnant, but can have a much bigger impact on you once the baby is born. You are most likely bigger than you have ever been and it can come as a real shock – your belly takes ages to settle down and shrink and you don’t know how to go about losing baby weight. You wonder if your body will ever be the same again, or you are destined to have to the left-over scars and sagginess of pregnancy.

First of all, you need to take it slow. Enjoy the first month or so with your new baby and worry about your weight later on. When you feel up to exercising, start! Start very lightly – low impact exercise being the best way to start. This can involve going for walks (with your baby in a sling or stroller) or some light yoga. It is very easy to get back into exercise if you take it slowly. If you don’t, you can overdo it hurting your health and leaving you frustrated. You need to be easy on your body – not only has it just carried a baby for 9 months, you have also given birth! Your body needs time to heal.

Nutrition is also important when losing baby weight, especially if you are breastfeeding. You need to make sure you are getting enough calories to have a good milk supply and a quality milk supply. Breastfeeding will definitely help you in losing your baby weight too, as your body expels an additional 500 calories a day for it! If you are not breastfeeding, you will make it just a little harder to shift that baby weight, but you can still with ease. The important thing to remember is to have nutritious meals. This can be difficult if you have no clue about nutrition, or simply don’t have the time .

Tips for Losing Pregnancy Weight

New mothers trying to lose weight after pregnancy may sometimes feel they are fighting an uphill battle. Despite this, losing pregnancy weight is an achievable goal.

Set an Achievable Goal

The first thing new moms should keep in mind when trying to lose weight after pregnancy is that it can take time. Fitness levels, lifestyles and personal metabolisms can make a different time table for everyone. A new mom, who was on bed rest and as a result has a poor fitness level, is going to take longer to get back in shape than a woman who was able to power walk four miles a day until she gave birth.

Take into account how much weight needs to be lost, current fitness levels and how easy or difficult it was to lose weight in the past before setting a timeline to lose the weight. It can be helpful to keep a goal in mind for fitting back into pre-pregnancy pants, but make sure that it’s a goal that can be easily reached, not one that will lead to a sense of failure.

Walk With the Baby

As soon as physically able, begin walking with the baby. If the weather is nice, put the baby in a stroller for a short time each day and get some fresh air and exercise. If the weather is poor, try taking the baby to a mall, museum or other large indoor area. Wearing the baby in a carrier while walking inside public places can be beneficial in these cases as it discourages strangers from touching the baby, adds the baby’s weight to the mom’s, making the walk more strenuous, and avoids the challenge of maneuvering a stroller through crowds.

Try to walk a little more each week, stretching fitness levels gently. Athletically inclined moms can begin running as soon as they are physically able, and all moms and babies can benefit from some fresh air and time spent together outside.