Diet and Weight Loss Tips

Many pregnant women have asked me if it’s safe to work your abdominals.  With healthy pregnancies it is typically safe to do traditional ab work (i.e. lying on your back) up till week 12.  After week 12 it is no longer recommend to lay on your back.  However, you can still work your abdominals without laying on your back. 

Try this simple exercise to strengthen your abdominals:

On all your knees on all fours, head in line with the spine bring one knee in towards your chest.  Hold for 2-3 counts.  Release and repeat 10-15 times.  Then repeat on the other side.  Work up to 2 sets of 10-15 reps.

Many new moms want to lose the baby weight, but just don’t have the motivation to do it.  One thing I often remind my clients is to think about how good they feel after they work out.  After each workout I talk about how much stronger and toned their muscles are becoming, and how much better they feel about themselves in body and mind.  The more you equate working out to feeling and looking good the more motivated you’ll be to exercise.

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There is so much emphasis on weight gain when you’re pregnant, it can be quite consuming.  My suggestion is to listen to your body and “fuel” yourself and your baby with nutritous foods when you feel hungry.  It’s normal to have cravings.  Listen to them, just chose wisely!  Cravings for sweet foods can be satisfied by eating fruit, a glass of juice (orange juice is a great choice since it’s high in folate, which is good for baby’s development), or a fruit smoothy.  Salty cravings can be satisfied with nuts, whole grain crackers with cheese, or a bagel with peanut butter. 

Yoga is an excellent form of exercise for any Body!  There are many different types to chose from.  Some are more challening like Ashtanga Yoga while others are more relaxing like Hatha Yoga.  Holding the yoga postures creates long, lean muscles, and the asanas or moving/ flowing series of postures increases the heartrate so you burn calories.  The most common fear I hear is “I’m not flexible”.  Don’t let that fear stop you!  The more you do yoga the more flexible you’ll get!  Yoga also increases muscle tone and strength, and creates balance and relaxation in mind and body. 

The holidays can be a stressful time because the routine of daily living is interupted by family visits, food preparation, and gift giving.  People experience even more stress when they place high expectations on get togethers.  Here’s three top tips to decrease your stress:

1.  Not everything has to be homemade.  If you don’t have a lot of time, don’t feel bad about getting prepared food.  There are so many delicious pre-prepared meals .

2.  Recognize that your childs routine will be temporarliy disrupted, and it’s ok.  Children adapt easily.  A few days out of routine will not mess things up.

3.  Don’t expect your family to give you compliments about your outfit, food, etc..  Expectations are the greatest cause for disappointments.  With that in mind, give yourself a compliment and if you receive them it will be a pleasant surprise.

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