Parents of newborns have a lot on their plates. Thankfully, getting into shape after giving birth doesn’t have to be demanding. In fact, exercise may actually make your life easier. Research shows that it can help treat postpartum depression. If you take the right approach, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of exercise and make fitness a permanent part of life.
From walking to breastfeeding, there are plenty of easy ways for new mothers to burn calories. Working out can improve your self-confidence, elevate your mood, and help you recover from childbirth. You don’t need to wait until the baby’s older to start exercising. You can start getting yourself into shape right now.
1. Try Breastfeeding To Burn Calories
Try breastfeeding. Not only is breastfeeding beneficial for babies, but it can also rapidly bring the uterus back to its size before pregnancy. On top of that, it can burn as many as 600 calories per day!
With that said, breastfeeding alone won’t be enough to help you get back to your weight before pregnancy. You’ll also need to exercise, eat a healthy diet, and pay attention to your portion sizes. If you combine breastfeeding with those things, you’ll see great results.
2. Start Walking Right Away
As soon as your doctor says that it’s okay for you to get up and start moving again, you should begin walking. This is an easy, low-stress way for you to be active. Walking can even burn calories!
Use a fitness tracker so that you can measure the number of steps that you’re taking each day. As your fitness improves, you should try to increase your daily activity levels. Try walking while holding your baby to boost the number of calories that you’re burning. Set milestones for yourself so that you’re motivated to keep pushing yourself further.
3. Exercise Your Vaginal Muscles And Abs
Strengthen your vaginal muscles. As long as there are no complications during your delivery, you should start doing exercises right away, like pelvic tilts and kegel exercises. These exercises can send more blood to the perineum. These can help your body recover from childbirth.
Breathe to exercise your abs. Even if you’re not up to doing intense workouts just yet, you can exercise these muscles by breathing in and out through your belly. Deep breathing can work the transverse abdominal muscles. It can set you on the path to post-pregnancy fitness.
4. Do Classic Crunches
Include crunches in your routine. Once you’re ready, add basic crunches to your workout routine. Before pushing yourself too hard, you should check to see if you have abdominal separation (diastasis recti). While you do your crunches, rest a hand above your belly button; see how many fingers you can fit between your abdominal muscles, and if you have room for at least three fingers, you’ll need to work to bring your abs back together. Don’t try doing more intense exercises until after you’ve addressed this problem.
Rest your hands along the sides of your abs. During your crunches, push your abs back together, and eventually, you should be able to bring your abs back to their normal alignment. If you don’t see an improvement, you should talk to your doctor to see if you need physical therapy. Once you’re ready, you can take your cardio workouts up a notch by incorporating short, high-intensity drills. Make sure that you include exercises like modified push-ups, jogging, or walking lunges so that you can exercise the hamstrings, quads, and glutes.
5. Rev Up The Exercise
Try strength training. Combine your short cardio workouts with strength training. These brief workouts can be highly effective, but they won’t take much time, making them ideal for moms.
It’s a way to burn fat and boost your metabolism. Your routine should include exercises like lunges, squats, and tricep extensions. To raise your heart rate, take a minute to do some squats with shoulder raises and lunges with triceps extensions, then shuffle from side to side.
6. Work Out With Your Baby
Work out with your baby. You might not have a ton of time for yourself, but even ten minutes of exercise a day can give you big results. Don’t be afraid to make your baby a part of your workouts.
It can be a way for the two of you to bond. Look at mother and baby exercise videos if you need some inspiration. There are plenty of simple and fun workouts that you can try.
Getting back into shape after giving birth doesn’t have to be stressful. A quick, low-impact workout can improve your fitness and your emotional well-being. It can even help relieve the symptoms of postpartum depression. This is something that’s backed up by studies and is frequently recommended by doctors.
You don’t have to push yourself hard in order to get back into shape. Even something as basic as breastfeeding can help you burn calories. Walking and basic crunches can do even more to help you get fit. Make these short, simple workouts a part of your day-to-day life.