Good News! You actually can work out while you are pregnant!! Some situations are different so just as a side note, through your pregnancy, please consult your doctor regardless of what other people say. Your doctor knows your situation and knows what is going on with you and your baby. Postpartum is defined as one year after the baby is born, that is the postpartum period. Childbearing years are a time in a woman’s life that is critical for weight gain, or a time that they can more easily retain that weight. This is also a time to strengthen your body to make it healthier for you and your baby.
Studies have shown that strength training or any kind of exercise related activity can strengthen the core muscles that are needed during the birthing process, and make it easier. Many women are worried that they will retain the weight that they gained during pregnancy, because they saw a friend retain that weight or they saw their mother work really hard to lose it and didn’t. Statistics show that 14-20% of women will retain 10 pounds after giving birth, or during postpartum period, one year. This does increase when you have more children. But by exercise and being active you can prevent this excessive weight retention.
Many women do experience postpartum depression, which is a feeling of depression after your baby is born. It is also a feeling of not wanting to accept your baby, hallucinations, fatigue, no motivation to do anything, and not being able to make reasonable decisions. One in ten new mothers will experience this feeling. Don’t worry, through exercise and being active it can help the mother and the baby. Men can also help women with this. As you talk to your spouse about her feelings you can also feel included and help her through this process.
With strength training, this can help relieve many signs or symptoms of postpartum depression and also help maintain or reduce postpartum weight retention. ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends women that are already doing vigorous- intensity exercise before having a baby to keep doing vigorous to moderate intensity exercise. Running might not be appropriate during the third trimester. Again please consult your doctor. ACSM also recommends that women should exercise for at least 150 minutes a week moderate intensity exercise while pregnant. Many women are also worried if the baby will be ok. Of course the baby will be ok because it is protected by the amniotic fluid that the baby is in. It is almost like the baby is hanging out in a big tub of water, just floating around.
Some exercises that doctors recommend are walking, swimming, low-impact aerobic exercise and dancing. Walking is very good for low impact on the knees and ankles as the baby gets bigger this will increase the weight on your knees and ankles. Swimming is the best and safest exercise for your baby. Swimming exercises your big muscles in your arms and legs and makes you work hard. Low-impact aerobics can be and a class that makes you set aside time to exercise and helps you move. They have classes essentially for pregnant women called camaraderie this is for future mothers can get together and focus on those muscles to help with the birthing process. Dancing is very good in your house for example. You don’t want to do twirls or jumps in your dancing, that might harm your baby.
While breastfeeding increases your caloric expenditure, milk production requires an extra 500more calories each day so women can produce enough for their baby. This is because a woman, during this time period of breastfeeding will help to give the baby the nutrients it needs. This takes a lot of energy from mom to produce enough milk for the baby. Many women even after breastfeeding keep eating the way they were and will gain weight. When you stop breastfeeding you should stop eating the calories that you were giving to your baby.
Women can be strong and we are wonderful! We can achieve many things and we have such a blessing of creating little angels that come into our lives. We want to take care of them the best we can. But we also need to take care of ourselves. Take care of your body by eating great foods now and being active now. Do not wait until you are pregnant to start exercising and eating right, you can start now!!
If you have more questions or are curious about postpartum and exercise please visit this site:
http://www.progressiveparent.com/Pregnancy_postnatal_exercise/faq_Postnatal_Exercise.htm