Post-Partum Weight Loss Tips - Part 2

In the last article about how to lose weight after pregnancy, we discussed general things like diet, pre-pregnancy weight gain, breastfeeding and basic exercises at home. In continuation with the idea, here are some more tips that focus on cardio and Strength training, yoga, home workouts, ab exercises, and healthy snacking options to speed up your post-partum recovery and get back in shape. Read on, and you'll be on your way to looking great and feeling good, even with a baby in your arms![Image credit: Babyzone]

Get Your Cardio Workout Right at Home
You don't need to hit the gym to get your Cardio done; climbing the stairs at home, using the steps as a stepper workout, skipping, running in place are all simple workouts that you can substitute to burn calories and get a healthy cardio routine accomplished right at home. You can even jog in place and slowly increase your pace with each passing day. After 6-8 weeks of delivery, once you feel healthy enough, carry your baby and go up-and-down the steps for 3-4 times, repeating this for 3 times a day at regular intervals. This is an excellent way to increase heart-rate, all the while cuddling with your baby!

Exercise your Abs as often as you can
New moms are afraid that they would not be able to lose their belly fat after pregnancy. Though it seems tough, and will surely take some serious effort, be patient, and you will definitely be able to lose most of your belly fat. The most important aspect is to do core training and concentrate on your abs. Try to do at least 3 sets of crunches or ab-situps, making at least 20 in each set. Some basic yoga exercises that exercise your core are also beneficial, and will help get your tummy back into shape.

Don't forget the Strength Training
Lifting Weights is as important as any Cardio exercise, and effective strength-training is the key to lose fat and build muscle. If your workout only includes cardio and no weights, you will end up with a low figure on the weighing scale, but it would be muscle loss instead of fat loss. So try to lift 3-5 pound dumb-bells and do some basic exercises for biceps, triceps, thighs and quadriceps. While you are recovering, DO NOT lift anything heavier than your baby; start with low weights till you get back to normal health, then you can slowly increase the weights, duration, and repetitions of your sessions. For details about what exercises to choose, please refer to my article about strength training for weight-loss

Choose Healthy Snacks for Munch-time
Its important to get proper nutrition and eat sufficient calories while you are recovering postpartum, especially if you are breastfeeding. So when you feel the urge to snack or munch on something, choose healthy alternatives like nuts, cheese cubes, broccoli, carrot sticks, boiled eggs, turkey slices, soup servings, iron-fortified cereals and fresh fruits like bananas or blueberries.

Try Swimming for a Full-Body Workout
Just as Swimming was good for you while you were pregnant, it continues to be the best non-stress exercise for a complete body workout even after giving birth. If you can find some time to leave your baby with someone else, opt for at least 30 minutes of swimming 3-4 times a week. This will not only help increase your metabolism, it provides a relaxing way to work on your abs, arms, legs and toning your overall body, all in one go.

Yoga Can Work Wonders Too
Everyone these days knows about the benefits of yoga, and there would be no second thoughts about how it can help you get back into shape post-partum, just by focusing your energy on toning your entire body and mind. it is easy, can be done right at home, and will not only help you lose fat, but can relive stress too. You can find some great Yoga poses for postpartum weight-loss at Babyzone; if you can afford to join a yoga class at gym, that would be great too as having company is much more motivating than doing it alone.

Be Patient
This is perhaps the most important advice for all new moms. It took nine months to accumulate all that weight, and I'm sure everyone gives in to indulgences while pregnant, resulting into more fat deposits than you'd have imagined. So be patient, be committed, and give yourself and your body some time to recover and then at least a year to get back to your original shape. You will lose almost 10 pounds within the first couple weeks of delivery, and a few more as you spend sleepless nights taking care of your newborn. but it is usually the last 5-10 pounds which need dedication to fitness. believe in yourself, follow the tips discussed here, and you'll be a fit-and-fine mommy in no time!

So, to all new mommies out there, hang in there, enjoy your precious moments with your baby, dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to any form of exercise, and you'll be surprised how much easier and fun it can be to be a parent with a healthy mind and a healthy body!

If you've missed part 1 on this series, follow the link for tips on how to lose weight after pregnancy.

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How To Break a Weight Loss Plateau

No matter how efficient your diet & workout plan, you are bound to face a weight-loss plateau at one point or another. But this does not mean your weight-loss trend has ended, it just means that you need to revise your tactics and fitness routine to overcome the plateau and march ahead! Plateaus are common to anybody who's been on the same diet and exercise plan for a while, which is the reason why you don't see the same results you saw at the beginning. But its not as scary or difficult to break a weight-loss plateau. I've done it myself, and I hope my ideas help you achieve similar results too!

If you've been eating right and exercising often, you've probably been losing weight at a rate of one or two pounds a week. However, as you get closer to your optimum weight, it usually gets harder to lose those last few pounds. You know you've hit a weight-loss plateau when more than two weeks have gone by without any further change in your weight, while you still follow the same regimen! So the first thing you do is review your exercise and diet program, find out what's wrong and make amendments. Here are a few helpful tips to get you started!

Calorie Intake & Diet Plan
As you probably know by now, weight loss is all about burning more calories than you consume. A healthy diet plan is the key, so take a quick look at your food diary, or calorie intake.

Are you still keeping track of your portion sizes, even when you are dining out?
Are you spacing your meals 5 times a day, dividing daily calories between them?
have you recently sneaked in a few desserts or carbs thinking a piece won't hurt much?
Did you switch to sodas instead of smoothies and juices?
Are you drinking enough water?

It's easy to increase your calorie intake accidentally, without realizing how its hurting your diet plan. Remember, a baked potato is not the same as a baked potato with gravy and butter! So evaluate your calorie consumption; maintain a diet hhournal if you like; if you are well above the 1200(for women) or 1500 (for men) daily intake level, you can try cutting down a couple hundred calories to break the plateau. However, if you are consuming less than 1,200 calories a day (1,500 for a man), your body may react by slowing down as a self-preservation measure. This means your metabolism rate falls, and you actually store fat even if you're working out consistently.

Eat 5-6 Times a Day
Eating frequently stabilizes your blood sugar, controls appetite, and keeps your energy up. Ideally, you shouldn't go more than three or four hours without eating something. Doing so slows down your metabolism and makes your body burn fat at a slower rate. Its also very important to eat as soon as you feel hungry - a feeling of hunger indicates your blood sugar is going down, which makes you prone to craving simple sugars. If you're eating three times a day, eat five. If you're already eating five times, upgrade to six or seven. This doesn't necessarily mean you'll be eating more food; just divide your calories into 6 meals per day.

Change Your Workout Routine
"Variety is the spice of life" - and this phrase has never been so fitting to a scenario! It takes your body only four weeks to get used to a workout. Once something becomes a routine for your metabolism, plateaus are likely. The most efficient way to break a plateau is to shake up your fitness routine. Join an online weight loss program to find tips and ideas. If you are used to 30 mins on the treadmill, switch to cycling or kick-boxing instead. Instead of the stationary bike, switch to a Stepper or a StairMaster. Instead of running in the morning, try playing tennis or do some swimming. Use Interval Training to your advantage; short bursts (30-60 sec)of higher-intensity movement, such as sprint, followed by 2-3 mins of less intense exercise like walking. Adding variety to your routine brings revs up your metabolism as the body has to start adapting again.

Add More Strength Training
If you are not doing so already, start lifting weights now to boost your metabolism and burn fat! When you lift weights, your muscle fibers suffer tiny tears which causes you to experience soreness for a couple days; but that's normal. Changing the intensity of the workout helps a lot. Try to increase the amount of weights you lift, or try changing the number of repetitions. Whenever you change a workout routine your body responds by burning fat. Do not under-estimate the power of strength-training; in fact, lifting weights is the best way to conquer that plateau! Challenge your muscles with harder exercises or heavier weights (every 6 to 8 weeks), adding a set of risers during your step class, increasing the incline on the treadmill, the duration of your run/walk, etc… It might seem tough at first as your newly challenged muscles will have to work harder but you will burn more calories and build more lean muscle mass in the process. its always a good idea to do a combination of resistance machines and free-weights, as the latter can increase metabolic rate as high as 10% in one session!

Avoid Alcohol & Drink Water
Thirst is often mistaken for hunger. Every time you feel the urge to snack, drink a glass of water first and see if the urge goes away. Coffee, tea or any other juices count as liquids, but add an extra glass of pure water for each cup of coffee you drink, as caffeine tends to dehydrate the body. Research has shown that BMR increase by 30%, not to mention flushing out all toxins from your body, thereby contributing to a healthy weight-loss. As for Alcohol, it is a known fact that it contains a large amount of calories, but hardly any other nutrients, and some of these are also high in sugars and fat. Alcohol consumption slows down the fat burning capabilities of the body, as the body focuses on using the alcohol (a toxin) as fuel, rather than burning fat for energy. Alcohol also dehydrates, which in turn, makes you hungry. So avoid Alcohol, and start drinking more Water instead!

Losing weight requires exercise or controlled caloric intake . While its important to maintain a healthy weight, do not get obsessed by it! And plateaus in weight loss are very common; it only means you've successfully lost a lot of weight, and now you need to re-evaluate your regimen to overcome the weight-loss plateaus. Just follow the simple steps above, and you'll be ready to drop a couple more sizes the next time you buy yourself a new dress!

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Combine Cardio With Weight (Strength) Training to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

Maybe a few of us dream to look like a supermodels, but absolutely everyone aspires to be fit and look good! It's really interesting how a little change in your fitness routine can accelerate your chances of achieving your goals. Exercise and a balanced diet plan will not only get you a fit body, but even a sharp mind! Contrary to what many people think, strength training is as important, maybe more important to successful fat loss than aerobic exercise. Spending hours a day doing cardio workouts may not be the best solution to tone and trim your body; you burn calories, yes, but you are mostly burning your muscle instead of fat, which would make you look flabby and leave you tired. This is where adopting a serious weight lifting routine comes to your rescue, especially for women, who find it harder to build muscle. So read on to find out why is weight-training important, and how should you go about it.
(img credit: google images)

Muscle vs Fat
"Losing weight" is synonyous with "losing fat, not muscle". Muscle tissue is very active--it burns a lot of calories. Every pound of muscle burns about 35 calories per day. Since there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat, you would gain almost one pound of fat per month just from the muscle mass that you lost! Inactive adults lose around one-half pound of muscle per year, or five pounds per decade. Since most people continue to eat as much as usual, if you take in more calories than you burn, the extra calories get stored as fat. Fat is less dense then muscle, which means that as you lose muscle and gain fat, your weight might remain the same over the years, but your waistline will continue to expand!

Strength Training Versus Aerobic Exercise
How can you lose and keep off extra fat? You need to increase your resting metabolic rate (RMR), which is the pace your body burns calories at rest. Your RMR is closely linked to the amount of muscle you have. Depending on the intensity and your weight, an aerobic workout (walking, cycling, stair stepping) will burn approximately 300 calories per hour, elevating the RMR temporarily up to a few hours, compared to strength training which elevates the RMR permanently. The RMR accounts for 60 to 75 percent of your daily calorie expenditure, so even a modest increase will help burn off more fat. This does not mean that overweight individuals shouldn't do aerobic exercise; it should be a part of a successful weight loss program. It's just that aerobic exercise by itself may not be the best solution for permanent weight (fat) loss.

So here are some basic requirements to get a fit and well-toned body:

Lower Body Workout
To improve your lower body, you must perform compound weight lifting exercises using a sufficient amount of weight. You should choose weight that allows you to do 5-10 repetitions before your muscles give up. Your lower-body workout should mainly include squats, deadlifts, leg press, and lunges. Free weights are the best, but if they are a bit too much for you, the exercise machines can surely help, though they are not as effective as free weights. Most importantly, Do Not be afraid of bulking up! As long as you don't eat more calories than your body is burning, it will not get bigger by weight lifting!

Upper-Body Workout
Your back, abs, arms, and shoulders all have the potential to carry a significant amount of muscle mass, too. Like with your legs, it's important that you choose a heavy-enough resistance, or weight. The heavier the weight and the more intense the workout is overall, the greater your post-workout caloric burn will be.

Repetitions and Intensity of Weights
Every individual's body works differently, so talk to a trainer and decide on how much weight you should lift and what would be the deal number of repetitions to do. Always start with lower weights with 2-3 sets comprising of 7-13 repetitions per set. Keep breathing (do not hold your breath) normally and lift and lower the weights slowly to get the maximum benefit. The basic rule is to Exhale while lifting weight and Inhale while lowering it down.

Combine with Cardio
As unfair as it may seem, it's common for men to be able to get and stay lean just by working out with weights and following a healthy diet. But for women who have a lower metabolic rate, cardio combined with weghts is very important. So try aiming for 30-40 minute of cardio workout at least 3 times a week. Try alternating between machines or routines to achieve maximum benefit.

Don't be afraid of weights; as long as you do it wisely, a consistent 30-minute workout as described above performed 2 -3 times per week is enough to get you lose those inches and make you fit and strong. It will keep you energetic and mentally alert too. But always remember that your body is your best guide. If you feel sore or weak, stop immediately and evaluate your program again. Talk about this with your physician and personal trainer and add strength-training to your workout routine today!! Hope this article helps you take the first step to a healthier body!

NOTE: The author is not a licensed nutritionist or physical trainer. Please use this article as a reference and discuss the best solution with your physician or trainer before following these tips.

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