Studies revealed that most women don’t prepare themselves for pregnancy. In addition to this lack of preparation, 25% of future moms get pregnant by accident. It’s only once they’re pregnant that they start taking their folic acid and changing their alcohol consumption. However, half of them still don’t eat the recommended quantity of fruits and vegetables. It’s important for them to be educated early on in their pregnancy about what they should do to improve their physical health and understand the benefits that come with it. It's not too late to start, because the hardest part will come after childbirth.
During pregnancy, many things can be done to help you lose weight... after pregnancy. Simply follow this guide with easy-to-understand explanations.
Things to do before D day
Prepare frozen meals in advance. You will save a lot of time and energy, which you’ll be able to spend on your baby and your training!
Plan your training days in advance. Establish a game plan with spouse to help you set specific times for exercise. It will allow you to avoid arguments along the way, which would end up taking a lot of your precious time.
Keep doing intense exercise, with your obstetrician’s approval. Running is not prohibited for women who were already runners. Maintaining the ability to do strenuous exercise will decrease the difficulty of starting again after childbirth. Motivation will also be easier to maintain.
Take the time to help your parents during the 9 months of gestation. You’ll have more time for training. And try to make this “babysitting” a weekly appointment.
See your osteopath every 1-3 months. He will help you put back in their place the organs that have been moved by the baby. Misplaced or crammed in organs are less efficient, so they don’t eliminate toxins as much. With treatments, your body uses your energy more efficiently because the nutrients are better used. The osteopath will also help you reduce, or even get rid of entirely, the pain that could discourage you to go to the gym.
Train to gain strength. Do series of 4-8 repetitions that will really help you get stronger. This strength will be very handy when you start carrying your baby in your arms for hours. By being able to lift heavier loads, you’ll be less tired and your cardiovascular workout will benefit from it. It will also help you be more independent when your spouse is not there and you need to lift or move heavy objects!
Find out about the different classes you can attend. This way, you won’t have to look for places that offer step classes between two feedings. You will reduce the stressors that decrease your sleep, increase your abdomen’s circumference and prematurely deplete your adrenal hormones, which are useful for losing weight.
You see how very simple things will help you stay on the exercise track when your life as an independent adult will come to an end? Obviously, you’ll need to prepare yourself a little, but it’s really feasible and uncomplicated. Here are now the best tips that will give you the tools you need to lose the desired weight after your child is born.
Habits to adopt after childbirth
Breastfeeding. Breastfeeding stimulates the production of prolactin, an hormone produced by the mammary glands allowing your body to tap into its fat reserves. The fun part is that the areas most responsive to this hormone are the buttocks and hips. According to research, you can even go back to a lower body fat percentage than before your pregnancy. That’s all possible because you normally don’t produce prolactin.
Read our article on fatigue, because it’s an aspect that will really have a big impact on your ability to exercise on a regular basis. Tired people can’t maintain a high enough intensity to get satisfying results within a set timeframe.
Every time you can walk to do your errands, do it. Not because you’ll spend an enormous amount of energy, but because it will train your body to do more. When you’ll be able to do more, the results from exercising will come more quickly.
Set aside 3-4 full hours per week to doing nothing. Even if you have a lot of household chores to do, use these hours to forget about everything and not feel overwhelmed by your responsibilities. This feeling would only cause more stress, which is not good to reduce abdominal fat and would lower the motivation and energy levels that are so important when your exercise.
Allow yourself 2 meals a week where you can eat anything you want. It will help you avoid cheating or stopping your good eating habits. You feel that you are entitled to make mistakes and that you can still enjoy eating junk food a few times a month.
Reward yourself when you reach a certain number of training sessions. For example, you could treat yourself to a massage or manicure every 10 sessions. In other words, keep the money you would usually spend on random stuff to treat yourself for exercising regularly.
Join a mommy training group to avoid feeling so alone in this difficult new role. Morale plays a big role in giving up exercising. Ask questions to other moms to feel up to the task in your new role as mother. Your newfound sense of empowerment will then translate into setting higher training goals for yourself. You’ll also learn a lot from people who are experiencing the same thing as you are.
Losing weight after pregnancy it is not difficult if you are able to plan and organize other aspects of your life wisely. It’s surprisingly in this area that you will have the most positive results.
