Losing Baby Fat

Carrying a pregnancy for nine months never leaves a woman physically the same. Increased blood flow, enlarged tummy and increased fat deposits during pregnancy eventually contribute to weight gain. As this is normal, the weight does not shed off automatically after child birth, a mother needs to do a mix of exercises and follow a strict diet. Here are some tips on how to lose baby fat

Post Natal Work Outs

After child birth recovery, which takes about 6 – 8 weeks after delivery, a mother should be ready to start exercising. This will start on a slow note. The exercise should start from the simplest activity and progress to advanced exercises as illustrated below:

Indoor Exercises

1. Pelvic Contraction: Sit on the floor or on a chair with hands on the waist, contract the pelvic muscles and holding them in for 10 seconds as if you are trying to stop peeing. This helps to hold your womb, pelvic bone and bladder in position. Make sure to perform about 3 sets of pelvic exercises of 8 each in a day for a week.
2. Climbing the Stairs: Going up and down the stairs for 10 minutes 3 times a day helps burn body fat by losing calories of about 220 calories. This activity strengthens your heart and lungs enabling it to supply oxygen-rich blood to the muscles.
3. Curl-ups: These are performed by lying on your back with bent knees while feet firmly anchored on the floor and repeatedly lifting up your torso and lowering it gently back. It helps to tone tummy, strengthen muscles and burn calories. Perform about 3 sets of 20 lifts each per day.
4. Head and Shoulder Lift: In a similar position as to the curl-ups, lift up your upper body– head and shoulders – towards the knees and back while interlocking your fingers and using them to support your head from the back. Do 3 sets of 10-20 lifts per day. This helps to strengthen back muscles.
5. Dead Weight Lift: This can be best done from your nearest gym. With the use of dumbbells, barbells or kettlebells. With the barbells flatly laid over your feet, bend down and grip the weights keeping your back straight to assume a sitting position. Lift the weight up until you stand straight and repeatedly go down and up. Start with a light manageable weight of about 10 pounds and work your way up.

Outdoor Exercises

1. Taking a Stroll: Take a short walk daily for a distance of about 1 – 2 miles. You can as well take your baby along by pushing him through on a stroller. The fresh air outside is also good for your lungs.
2. Fitness Jogs: Once you can walk a total of 4 miles a day, the body is ready to go for a jog. Perform shot jogs around the neighborhood for 10 – 20 minutes 3 times a day. By the time you finish the jogging exercise, you shall have lost a significant amount of weight and you shall have started to see notable changes in your body shape and weight.
3. Group Exercise Clubs: After these exercises, you can join group exercise clubs with other recovering mothers and share and work-out with them while also getting instruction from work-out professionals.

Breastfeeding

So simple but yet helps cut a great deal of weight in a day. A breastfeeding mother would burn 600 – 800 calories just like that. After stopping to breastfeed, your body does less work and this should correspond to your food intake.

Post – Natal Diet

A well-structured diet will assist in tracking your progress to your dream shape. The goal of the food plan is to supply you with about 2500 calories a day. This can be achieved through the following:

1. Breakfast: It is a must, ensure you take low fat milk dairy products together with breakfast cereals and bread
2. Lean Protein: Stick to food sources of healthy protein i.e. pork chops, lean beef, boiled eggs, lean chicken and fish cuts
3. Fiber Rich Foods: Ensure you take plenty of foods high fiber i.e. fruits, vegetables, whole grain rice and oats to supply you with the much needed nutrients to maintain your satiety levels high
4. Small Portions: Ensure you take smaller portions more frequently
5. Avoid Junk Food: Refrain from fatty foods, sugary foodstuffs, and fizzy drinks
6. Drink water: Since you will sweat and get dehydrated during exercises, take a lot of water after exercises to rehydrate your body. Also, the water helps to keep your body in shape and increase milk production.

Conclusion

Getting back to shape requires commitment to exercise and self-discipline when selecting foods to eat. The more you play by the rules, the better the results. Otherwise sleep a lot and stay stress free. Happy weight loss!