Of course, the period of pregnancy is the happiest in the life of every woman. But it was at this time that the vast majority of ladies were gaining extra pounds. There is even such a stereotype that if you decide to have a baby, you can say goodbye to your figure. This opinion is so old that many women have been able to break it. Each mom just needs to return to her “previous” form, and fitness after childbirth will help her in this. This is what will be discussed in this article.
Postpartum recovery
To restore its former shape after childbirth is simply necessary. Firstly, if you like yourself, you will have a good mood, therefore, the baby will be fine. Secondly, after sports you will feel a surge of strength. Mommies, who exercise regularly, look more active and energetic. Those who already love sports know that a good workout is like a fresh breath of air. Do not believe? Then try fitness after childbirth.
Restore a figure after childbirth is necessary on all fronts, and not just through sports.
First of all, you need to normalize the weight, and this can be done with the help of a proper diet. Of course, during the period of breastfeeding you will have to forget about all kinds of diets that you used to sit on, they are generally inappropriate during this period. Not only have you not yet fully strengthened after childbirth, but also diets will deprive you and your baby of nutrients.
We change the diet
The first thing on the way to a former figure is to reconsider your diet. Surely, if you are breast-feeding, you already adhere to certain rules of nutrition. After all, during lactation, smoked products, fat content, carbonated drinks, products with artificial colors and preservatives are not recommended. If you haven’t eat all this for a long time, we can say that half the job is done. It is worth adding a few nuances:
- You should eat small meals 5 times a day. If you are hungry between meals, eat some fruit or drink a glass of kefir.
- Refuse sweet, salty and flour. These are the three main enemies of the ideal figure.
- Drink more fluids. Normally, a person needs about 2 liters of water per day. Lack provokes a decrease in metabolism, therefore, calories are not spent. In addition, breast milk consists of 90% of the liquid, therefore, during lactation, drinking pure water is simply necessary.
Lastly, healthy sleep also affects metabolism. When your baby is sleeping, and you allow yourself to sleep, and dust and garbage will not go anywhere.
When can I do fitness after giving birth?
Many women who decided to regain their former shape are concerned about the question: “How much after childbirth can I do fitness?” First of all, do not rush to run to the gym on the third day or after discharge. It is worthwhile to immediately warn that losing weight quickly after giving birth will not work. Still, as many as nine months, these extra pounds you have accumulated. In addition, a sharp weight loss can play a cruel joke, your breast milk may disappear. Therefore, gradualness is important in this matter.
Usually, doctors recommend starting sports training 5-6 weeks after giving birth. This is only if the birth took place naturally without any complications. And then proceed immediately to intensive training is not worth it. If you were engaged in fitness before pregnancy and during it, then it will not be difficult for you to return to normal sports mode after childbirth.
There is another important point, why you can not immediately begin active training. The fact is that if, during lactation, Mommy is engaged in intensive strength exercises, then lactic acid is released from her, which spoils the taste of the mother's “delicacy”. That is, the baby can simply refuse to breast. Therefore, do not rush to exhaust yourself with sports. And if you want to feed the baby further, it is better to give preference to Pilates or yoga. Such fitness after childbirth will definitely not bring harm.
Sports after cesarean
Special attention is required when the birth took place by Caesarean section. Back to training will be harder. In addition, there are special programs - fitness for weight loss after childbirth by cesarean section, but they can only be started after consultation and permission of the doctor. Typically, a woman is allowed to return to training only after the wound has healed, to eliminate the risk of infection and rupture of sutures. As a rule, this requires at least 8 weeks.
Preparation first
Your body rested from physical activity for nine months, so do not immediately grab the barbells and dumbbells. You need to start practicing gradually, over time, increasing the load. If you do not have the opportunity to leave the child to a nanny or grandmother to go to the gym, this does not matter. You can arrange fitness after childbirth at home, since there are many video courses for this. In addition, daily walks with the baby are also considered a kind of exercise. Walking burns calories. So do not sit on the bench, but walk, walk and walk again.
There are exercises that can be done immediately upon returning from the hospital. After them, it will be much easier for you to start more intensive training. So, these include:
- Kegel exercise. It is necessary to restore the elasticity of the pelvic muscles.
- Breathing exercises
- Fitball exercises. You can deal with this inventory on a daily basis. For example, while breastfeeding, you can sit on a fitball and perform circular movements of the pelvis.
Combine baby care with fitness
Many mothers refuse to play sports, citing the fact that they spend all their time on caring for the baby. We will reveal a secret for them: these two classes can be successfully combined. The easiest option that we have already mentioned is walking. With kids you need to be in the fresh air every day, so let it be useful for you. For example, during a walk you can perform various movements, walk slowly, then faster, on tiptoe. It takes only 40 minutes, and 300 kilocalories as it never happened.
Each mother does not sit and does not lie on the couch, she moves around the apartment, doing household chores. So walking can be replaced by energetic dancing. By the way, yoga is ideally combined with worries about the baby. And it is not necessary to perform complex asanas, it is enough to learn a few simple poses.
Top Best Postpartum Fitness Programs
We offer you the top of the best and most effective home workouts that you can perform while your baby is sleeping:
1. Cindy Crawford: postpartum fitness
Perhaps this is the most popular program for young mothers, as it is affordable and gentle. Even if you didn’t do sports before pregnancy, this video course will be up to you. Cindy Crawford created a program with a smooth increase in load, that is, you first start exercising 10 minutes a day for 14 days, then add another 15 minutes and so on until a full workout.
2. Tracy Anderson: Post Pregnancy
Tracy created the program based on her personal experience. This video course is more complex and may not be suitable for beginners. The set of exercises is designed for 50 minutes, and this is a fairly strong load, so you can divide it into two approaches. The program has a lot of exercises for the press.
3. Hot Body Healthy Mommy
This is a new program from the famous Gillian Michaels. The set of exercises is designed for beginners and for those who only recently recovered after childbirth. It consists of 3 workouts for different parts of the body.
Beauty treatments for young mothers
Now you know what fitness after childbirth means, after how much you can start exercising and which exercises are better to do and which are not. In conjunction with sports, cosmetic manipulations will help to restore your figure. Here are some procedures that can be recommended to a young mother:
- Home peeling. To improve the skin texture, to give it smoothness and elasticity, you need to use a scrub twice a week.
- Self-massage. Several times a week you can do yourself a massage using special anti-cellulite creams.
- Electrical stimulation. Suitable for nursing mothers. This is a hardware procedure in which the lower layers of the muscles are affected. That is, it is an alternative to exercise.
- Mesotherapy Alas, this method is not suitable for nursing mothers. But if you do not breast-feed, then you can use the mesotherapeutic procedure, which is aimed at burning fat and tightening the skin.
- Also at home you can make wraps with different compositions. Not recommended during lactation.
Useful Tips
The fact that fitness after childbirth is important and necessary is obvious. But here's how to make it so as not to harm either himself or the baby ?! It is necessary to adhere to several rules and recommendations:
- If possible, it is best to hire a personal trainer who will tell you in detail what fitness after childbirth is, when to start exercising and what exercises you can do.
- If you study at home on your own, then develop for yourself such a program that it involves all muscle groups.
- Do not do all the exercises in one go. You can distribute them all day. For example, while the baby is sleeping.
- Start exercises only after feeding and an hour before.
- Do not neglect to wear a postpartum bandage. It is able to support the abdominal muscles and will not allow the skin to sag.
- For the sake of a beautiful figure, you should not give up breastfeeding. After all, this is an important nutrition for the baby. In addition, the production of breast milk takes 300 kcal.
- You need to do it regularly 3-5 times a week for 30-60 minutes.
Conclusion
And in conclusion, it is worth saying that every woman needs fitness after childbirth. There is no one to leave the child with to go to the gym ?! This is not a problem, do it at home, it would be a desire. But remember that the most important thing is health, do not overwork, because you have so much trouble with your baby. Stay beautiful!