Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.
As women, there’s so much pressure on us to ‘snap back’ after pregnancy. We’re bombarded with images in the media of celebs who have supposedly got right back into their jeans after giving birth, and are pictured a few weeks later with no visible signs that they’ve recently had a baby. This isn’t the reality for most women, after having our babies it’s far from uncommon to struggle with weight, body image and even a sense of identity loss. Instead of putting pressure on yourself to bounce right back to your pre pregnancy body and weight, focus on looking after yourself. With a little one to look after you’ll no longer be your number one priority, but you don’t have to completely overlook yourself either. Getting to a stage where you feel happy and healthy will benefit your little one as well as yourself as you’ll be in a better mood and have more energy. Here are some things you can do.
Speak to your doctor
In the early days after giving birth, the only recommended exercises are walking and kegels. Wait until your six to eight week postpartum checkup, and make sure everything is ok before you start introducing more exercise into your routine. If you’re normally a regular gym goer this can feel like a long time, however it’s important to make sure you’re healthy and healed first or you can cause yourself some damage.
Build your way up
Even if you had an active pregnancy, after not exercising for a number of weeks after giving birth, your fitness levels won’t be quite where they were. Start small and work your way up, you could begin with walking and then move onto jogging or using cardio machines at the gym such as the cross trainer. Once you’re happy that your fitness levels are back up to scratch, you could do things like HIIT workouts. These high intensity training workouts can be useful for busy moms as you burn a lot of calories and make a lot of progress in a short time frame. Meaning you can go to the gym or attend a class and be done within thirty minutes.
Get the family involved
Getting the rest of the family active is one of the best ways to stay healthy. Once your baby is six months old you can start jogging with them in a jogging stroller, or you could all just go on long walks together. You could go to the park and play frisbee or ride bikes with your older kids, its the perfect way to get fresh air and you’ll burn calories without it even feeling like a workout. As your baby gets older you can buy carriers and go on hikes in the countryside with them if the terrain isn’t quite right for a pram.
How do you like to stay fit as a new mom?
Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.
