Becoming a new mum is a huge journey, physically and mentally, and the thought of exercise and ‘getting back into shape’ can be daunting for some.
Gone are the days where we encourage mums to do no exercise with the fear of it being bad for them.
While it’s important to not rush into any inappropriate exercises, commencing pelvic floor exercises and low-impact exercises such as walking can help with recovery and improve mental and emotional wellbeing, sleep and lipid profiles and insulin response.
If you’ve had an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery and your body is recovering well day-by-day, then new mums should speak to their doctor about starting some appropriate light to moderate exercises such as walking and light resistance exercises.”
As well as eating right to ensure new babies get the right nutrients and to assist in losing weight, exercise is just as important. Exercise makes you stronger and improves fitness, which all contributes to the prevention of chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.
Being a new mum and having a baby is exhausting, however as tough as it is, I recommend scheduling exercise into your diary to ensure you do it.
As a new mum, exercises can be completed in short bursts during the day.
Below are my tips on how to ensure the most benefit, while practicing good nutrition:
1. Use the pram and walk whenever possible
2. Do 5-10 minutes of exercise straight after a feed while the baby is sleeping or playing. Floor-based strengthening exercises are great as you can be close to the baby.
3. Use every opportunity to make daily tasks a bit of an exercise. Try squatting when hanging out the clothes, instead of bending over to get the clothes, squat down using your legs and butt to get you back up – keep your legs about shoulder width apart as you do this.
4. Eat a variety of foods from the five food groups and limit treats such as lollies and biscuits. While exercise provides improved health and fitness, healthy eating will play a huge role in weight loss.
5. While you may be trying to ‘lose weight’ make sure you are eating enough, especially if you are breastfeeding. A lot of new mums mistakenly think that reducing their kilojoule intake to extreme lows is improving their health. Sure they may lose some weight initially, but what they don’t realise is they’re likely to damage their metabolism.
Remember, not eating enough results in a drop in your ability to burn energy – this means that you have to eat less and less to sustain the weight loss. This is not sustainable long-term and the weight often comes back, sometimes with interest, which can be really disheartening but also unhealthy.
Go for steady weight loss rather than large and sudden drops. You may have to aim for even slower weight loss if you are breastfeeding due to the nutritional demands of feeding your baby.
- Rosemary Marchese is author of The Fit Busy Mum; Seven habits for success ($29.95 rrp), which provides easy to follow inspiration to helps readers identify opportunities and habits that can put them on the path to success in all areas of life. www.thefitbusymum.com.au
