Getting Your Body Back After Pregnancy – Part 1

You have just spent nine months creating a new life. It is during that time period your body deposited fat behind your shoulder blades, on your hips and in your butt in preparation for nursing. Your abdomen expanded to at least three times its normal size and your ligaments all stretched out of shape from hormonal activity in preparation for delivery.

Now you turn on the television and are faced with svelte and shapely celebrity models who delivered their children on the same day that you did. It just makes you not want to look in the mirror again!

But, before you lose heart, remember that it is the job of these celebrity mothers to look great at all times. They have personal chefs, personal trainers and workout facilities available to them at all times. They have nannies who watch their babies while they are working out and housekeepers to keep up their homes. They nap when they need to and workout when they should. And, if all you had to do was hold your baby, workout and take a nap you would look as good as they did to.

So, considering you live in the real world, let’s look at some of the things that you can do in order to get your body back after pregnancy. Obstetricians and workout experts warn moms that getting their pre-pregnancy weight back after a difficult pregnancy, cesarean section or if they are breast-feeding can actually be damaging to their bodies and their child.

The worst thing that any woman can do is to do too much, too soon. This only engenders exhaustion and discouragement which makes it less likely that the woman will continue with any exercise program or nutritional regimen. When breast-feeding, a woman should be eating at least 1800 calories a day because if they eat less they will not only shortchange themselves but they will also shortchange their infant with the quality of milk that their body can supply.

How long it will take each woman to lose the weight they have gained during their pregnancy is really individualized to each different woman. Some are able to lose the weight within the first three months while others are faced with the same 10 pounds two years later. Unfortunately, even though all the weight may come off there is a good chance that the body has now rearranged where all the weight is being carried. Some moms report that their hips are now wider, their rib cage is wider, their rear ends have gotten larger or their feet have gotten bigger.