Posts tagged postnatal exercise
#48: Four things you should never do to lose your baby weight

If you’re desperate to lose your baby weight and raised in the “diet era” of 80s and 90s, you may have considered some “old school”, unhealthy and destructive solutions to lose your baby weight. Long term these methods do not work and often lead to injuries and health problems, including fatigue and hormonal imbalances. The risk is not worth it. In this post I list some unhealthy approaches you should never try to lose your baby weight and what to do instead.

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#47: 8 secrets to successful postnatal fitness routine for tired mums

Exercising is super important for our energy and health when it is be adjusted to your current lifestyle, recovery and energy.

To get great benefits from exercising you don’t have to run for miles, plank for hours or do thousands of squats. No particular workout is better than the other. We need all different types of movement and routines. You don’t have to stick to the one you like the least just because some experts say it is the best one. 

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#46: 7-day SAFE Full Body Workout for tired mums

I have something really cool for you today. I have prepared a 7-day full body workout for you to help you start exercising after having a baby. Our workouts don’t have to be long nor extremely challenging. They can be short and sweet. I know very well how difficult it is to find any time for yourself when there is so much to do every day. But having few moments just for you is self-care. When you feel good, everything is easier and better.

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#45: Why is it more challenging to exercise consistently when you had your first baby after 35

Before having a baby I trained a lot. As a fitness trainer I taught a few classes a week. I was into hiking, cycling up mountains, bouldering, snowboarding and training even more at home. Today it feels like a lot but before, it was quite normal to me. I loved it. I didn’t have many issues with motivation. As long as I had a good night’s sleep it was great.

Today it is way different. Not only because it is three years later and I simply got older, but mainly because I don’t get enough sleep.

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#44: 30 day 5-min exercise challenge for tired mums

It isn’t always easy to find time to exercise. From the moment I wake up I am on “mummy” duty. During breakfast I think about lunch. During lunch I plan dinner. I make sure Freya sleeps enough, eats enough, drinks enough, reads enough, has time to do puzzles, go outside at least twice a day, shopping, washing, cleaning…

Yet exercising makes me feel good in my body. Helps me perform all these tasks safely and keeps me pain free. As soon as I stop, I notice discomfort in different parts of my body, in my back, glutes, neck and shoulders. It also helps me have more energy to stay patient and laugh when days get hard.

Therefore, I prepared this 30 day exercise challenge for tired mums. We exercise only 5-min a day (in sync with our menstrual cycle). Read more to check all benefits and “rules”.

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#43: One thing tired mums should stop doing to stay consistent with exercising

After my pregnancy I was so impatient to get back to exercising. I was fed up with my mummy tummy and the lowest fitness level I had ever had. I didn’t feel good in my body. All I wanted to do was feel “normal” again. When I started training again I went all in. I went too hard. I overdid it, got fatigued and needed to take another break to recover. In this post I am sharing my story with you and explaining what is the better way to get back to exercising after having a baby (at the age of 40).

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#36: Why you will lose baby weight faster if you exercise less

For as long as we’re breastfeeding our estrogen levels stay low. The longer we breastfeed the less juicy, less youthful and more tired we feel. On top of that, for as long as our estrogen is low, we won’t only have less energy to exercise, but we will also get less results from our training (estrogen is female testosterone) and we may struggle to lose weight.

If we are not sleeping through the night and breastfeeding, we have to focus on taking care of our body. Hormones control it all. Balancing our hormones, avoiding any unnecessary stressors and keeping our cortisol levels as low as possible is extremely important. Stressed body holds on to its fat, especially in the midsection.

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#33: The best first exercise for a new mum that you can do 14 days after giving birth

Despite what Mr. Google says you should never start your postnatal recovery with any of these exercises: hip bridge, tricep dip, modified side plank, bird dog or plie squat.

They sound safe, and they will be after a few months, but before you start performing them, you have to first rebuild your muscle-mind connection and strength in your deep abdominal muscles.

Today, many women have distended abdominal muscles years after having children.

If we start exercising before we restore our abdominal muscle-mind connection and rebuild our strength, we risk destabilising the back and the whole body. The risk is even higher after a c-section or pelvic floor injury during birth.

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#32: How to start exercising after having a baby

The images of different stars and celebrities looking amazing only 12 weeks after giving birth are extremely encouraging but at the same time misleading. Look at Kate Middletown for example. She looked stunning 8 hours after giving birth to her third child and back to her pre pregnancy body just three months later. That leaves most mum with this unrealistic expectation that postnatal recovery is so fast. It makes us try dieting and extreme exercising too soon, leaving us stressed, fatigued and sometimes even fatter (as our body stores fat when we’re stressed).

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