Post Pregnancy Weight loss
By Carla A Johnson

1. Always consult your Doctor before starting any sort of regular exercise routine.
2. Don’t over do it, especially when first starting out, you need to get to know your bodies limits build up the intensity gradually over time. Exercise should be enjoyable, if you don’t enjoy doing something, it is unlikely you will stick at if for very long, so it is vital that you enjoy it.
3. If you feel breathless, dizzy or pain, stop and rest and if you are very concerned see a Doctor.
4. Focus on doing the exercises correctly; don’t cut corners as this is often when injuries occur.
5. One of the worst things you can do, yet it is still one of the most common, is to hold your breath while you are exercising. Your body needs oxygen, especially while exercising, so make sure you breathe correctly.
6. Work out on the appropriate surface. It should be firm but soft.
   

The key areas for you to focus on are the ones that work the hardest during labor and delivery, as well as the ones that have put on excess weight during the pregnancy. Primarily the parts of the body that work the hardest during labor and delivery are the lower back, inner thighs, pelvic floor and of course the abdomen.

The pelvic floor muscles form the base of support for the pelvic organs and their contents. The Urinary sphincters, rectal muscles, vaginal muscles are all included here. These muscles had to work very hard during pregnancy and labor. They support much of the increased weight and enlarge uterus as well as having to stretch beyond belief to allow the baby to pass during delivery.

Exercises such as: the pelvic tilt – strengths both the pelvic floor muscles and abdominal muscles, this exercises should be the sort of exercises that you focus on. Other exercises such as partial sit-ups or full sit-ups are also important.

Exercises that are fun that you can do on a regular basis, that do wonders for you include: swimming, bicycling, walking, jogging (but this can be jarring on the knees for some people) and one of my personal favourite, dance.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the most important things post pregnancy weight loss about any form of exercise is that you enjoy it, so find an activity that you enjoy. One of the reasons so many people fail to exercise is because they see the word exercise as a bad word, they related it to hard work, stress and pain. You must change your thinking and start to think of exercise as enjoyable, and if you aren’t finding it enjoyable then consider changing to an exercise that is more enjoyable for you.