Losing the Baby Fat - How to Get Your Body Back
August 28, 2008
Hollywood Moms make losing the pregnancy weight easy and the media makes this seem like the norm. Like it or leave it, the pressure to follow this “norm” is unavoidable. However most busy Moms neither have the benefits of the rich and famous nor a perfect metabolism and hence have to struggle for several months or years to get back to a healthy body. Fear not, there is a silver lining for the busy Mom who wants to lose the pregnancy weight.
Okay, so you can’t look like the movie stars, but why should you? Your focus should be on you because that’s what matters. It’s not about how fast you can lose weight after giving birth. It’s about getting a healthy, fit and lean body for the long term. It’s about changing your lifestyle to maintain your health and that of your family. It’s about achieving wellness. It’s about celebrating you.
The desire for new Moms to lose weight after giving birth kicks in quickly when the daily activities of caring for the baby and maintaining a household just doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. And the thought of working out at the gym to face the public scrutiny is enough to keep you “hunkered” down at home. What a lot of Moms out there need to know is that there are lifestyle programs available that are designed for the busy Mom. The trick is how to distinguish the good apples from the bad apples.
1. Knowing That You’re In Good Hands
A busy Mom is always pressed for time and finding time to complete 50 minutes on the treadmill at the gym can be a difficult to squeeze into the weekly schedule. Thus, a good lifestyle program should have an exercise program that can require little space and therefore can be done any place. The workouts should be designed to maximize losing the baby fat within a short time frame. There should be easy access to contact the fitness professional or staff for assistance, extra support and advice. Useful resources should be available to supplement the program and keep your momentum of change moving forward.
2. The Exercise Regime
Whether you are a cardio junkie or not, exercise is good for the body. But in this case you need to do the exercises that will burn the baby fat and get you that lean fit body and into a smaller dress size. All exercises do provide different benefits for the body. Your goal is to trim your tummy. Therefore, you need to combine cardio with some resistance training.
The type of weight training that is best suited for toning your muscles is called resistance interval training. A typical resistance-training workout can last about 15 - 20 minutes with each exercise done in short intervals. To burn the most fat, each exercise has to be done at maximum effort. Resistance training only requires any of the following equipment: free weights, your own body weight, an exercise ball, or cable weights. Thus a workout can be done at minimum cost and time in the comfort of your home.
3. Useful Resources
It’s all well and good if a lifestyle program includes Bonuses but they need to be of some relevance. Resources such as free daily reports or newsletters that can keep you up to date with current information on fitness, health and nutrition is always useful. Other supplements such as a workout journal, goal setting sheets, pre-done menus and grocery lists, nutrition guides for you and your family can make the difference to keep you on track. But most importantly, a good lifestyle program should have a “real” support system and hence a means of contacting them in the way of a forum, e-mail or blog to share your progress, set-backs or ideas with a community of other busy Moms.
Whatever reason you have to lose your tummy and get into shape, you need to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Losing pregnancy weight should be more than just shedding pounds but it should be a way of maintaining and living a healthy life. Only you can get your body healthy. But getting there will require a good lifestyle program that will be able to see you through the good, the bad and the ugly on your road to health and wellness. The benefits will be tenfold for you and your family.