5 Tips To Help Get Your Body Back After Pregnancy

It is natural for pregnant women to gain weight and inches during the third trimester, but many women are left with excess weight on their stomach after their baby has been born. If this is affecting your confidence, or the way you feel about yourself, it's important to remember that you're in control. Post pregnancy weight loss involves exercise, eating well and making a few lifestyle changes, but there are some specific strategies you can adopt to shed the unwanted weight. 

1) Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is said to be a great way for new mums to burn off extra calories and is said to help the uterus to contract back to its normal size.

2) Exercise weekly

In order to burn fat, it's said that we need to perform aerobic exercise for at least 75 minutes every week. Whether that's through running on the roads, cycling in the gym, or swimming in the pool, working up a sweat and getting out of breath regularly is essential. It is vital to also perform regular abdominal exercises, including crunches, sit ups, and leg lifts in order to tone and strengthen core muscles. However, it can be difficult to gauge the effectiveness of workouts without the expert assistance of a personal trainer - who will usually charge a small fortune. The Kiqplan Goodbye Baby Bump app can guide you through the process of exercising in order to lose the weight. This intuitive digital coaching app is compatible with iOS and Android devices, as well as leading activity trackers such as Fitbug. The Kiqplan Goodbye Baby Bump app uses information you supply along with activity data to tailor workout plans to your specific needs.

3) Eat a balanced diet

Sticking to a healthy, balanced diet and not exceeding daily calorie allowance, should help reduce the weight around the abdomen relatively quickly. Keeping track of food intake and ensuring not to overeat are not always easy goals to achieve. It's important to minimise consumption of processed and fast foods. Consumption of wine, beer, cider, and carbonated drinks can cause changes to the liver that might make us more susceptible to weight gain. It's also worth being aware of drinking too many diet drinks, as the sweeteners in them can cause headaches and sugar cravings. 

4) Don't forget resistance training

Many people make the mistake of believing that lifting weights is only for people who want to look muscular. However, building lean-muscle mass increases the body's metabolism, which helps to burn fat a lot faster. It's important not to solely concentrate on the abdomen and carry out resistance workouts that address every area of the body. A strong, toned, and conditioned body will improve posture, keep you looking trim and ensure that cardiovascular exercise is as effective as it can be.

5) Pelvic floor exercises

Performing regular pelvic exercises throughout pregnancy and during the months afterwards will give you a great chance of regaining your pre-pregnancy stomach. You can find the pelvic muscles you need to work on by imagining you need to stop yourself from weeing. Sit comfortably, and squeeze those muscles 20 times in quick succession. However, be careful not to hold your breath or tighten other muscles such as your legs and buttocks. Although rare, a condition known as diastasis rectus abdominus can leave a new mum's tummy overstretched and badly out of condition. This is caused by particularly large babies or when a baby is carried 'at the front' - particularly during the third trimester. There are special exercises that a midwife or doctor will talk you through if you're suffering with this condition, but it's important to address the issue quickly, as it may become irreversible. 

An effective post pregnancy workout plan, a well-balanced diet, and healthy lifestyle choices should all be enough to help get your body back to something you feel comfortable with post-pregnancy. 

 

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