The ME ClinicPregnancy and birth can take an enormous toll on your body — and with good reason. Your body has just performed what is possibly the most amazing yet challenging feat imaginable, giving life to your little one.

But when the time comes to start getting back into shape after bubs, you may not know where to start, so here are some pointers to help you get back on track.

How to manage your body post-pregnancy

Healthy eating

While your first instinct may be to jump straight back into your old fitness regime, almost every health professional will recommend you wait at least 6 weeks before attempting any high-intensity activity. While it’s in your own best interests to heed that advice, there is something you can do in the meanwhile to help get back in shape — healthy eating.

While in the initial week or so after giving birth you’re most likely going to want to indulge a little in the foods you avoided while pregnant like soft cheeses, cold-cut meats, sushi and poached eggs, once you’ve had a little fun it’s time to start thinking about what you’re putting into your body.

We’re not suggesting you try out the latest low-calorie or low-carb fad diet to help shed the kilos — after all you’ve got to ensure your body can generate the energy needed to help you function on next to no sleep, and if you’re breastfeeding, it’s even more important to ensure you’re fuelling your body with enough healthy and nutritious foods to help feed your baby.

What you should focus on is ensuring you’re eating the right quantity of the right foods.

For some guidance, the Australian Breastfeeding Association suggest breastfeeding mums try to eat the following serves of food per day:

  • 9 serves of gain (cereal) foods (mostly wholegrain)
  • 7 ½ serves of vegetables and legumes/beans
  • 2 serves of fruit
  • 2 ½ serves of dairy (milk, yoghurt, cheese or alternatives), and
  • 2 ½ serves of lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds.

If you are tall or quite active, they also recommend you add up to 2½ extra serves from the above food groups to your daily intake.

Getting back to being active

Once you’ve completed the mandatory 6-week recovery period and feel ready to get back into your old exercise regime, the key is not to bite off more than you can chew too soon.

The best approach is to start simple then gradually increase the intensity or frequency of your workouts so you don’t place your body under more stress than it can handle and increasing your chances of injury.

Remember than your body has been through a lot over the last 10 or so months. In addition, your pelvic ligaments which relaxed in response to the release of the Relaxin hormone in preparation for birth can take up to five months after giving birth to stabilise.

To ease your way back into exercise, a good way to start is by trying some low-intensity exercise like walking or yoga to improve your fitness and strengthen your core to condition your body before you try taking on more high-intensity activities like running, personal training or competitive sports.

It may also be a good idea to look for exercise programs which cater for mum and post-natal recovery, as the activities will be specifically designed for post-baby bods. Some mums and bubs exercise groups will even let you bring your little one along and incorporate them into your workout!

When all else fails

While in no way should you feel pressured to bounce-back to your pre-baby body, if you’ve been following a healthy eating and regular exercise regime for a lengthy period of time and have noticed a few problem areas which simply haven’t responded how you wanted them to, you can always consider cosmetic treatment options.

Most cosmetic clinics like this Melbourne liposuction clinic now offer more than the traditional invasive tumescent liposuction technique, to also offer minimally or non-invasive liposuction techniques which use ultrasound or lasers to achieve a similar result. They often also offer a range of treatments to treat or reduce the appearance of stretchmarks if you’re unhappy with them.

However, it’s important to note that these techniques are not suitable for everyone and you should give serious consideration to the risks associated with any cosmetic procedure before going ahead with it.

 

Ultimately, while there are a number of things you can do to help get back into shape post-baby, remember that your body has just performed some super-human tasks, so the other option is to simply embrace your ‘battle scars’ and wear them with pride, because you earned them doing one of the most beautiful things imaginable — bringing your little one into the world!

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This blog post is sponsored by The Me Clinic

Face, Body and Skin Cosmetic Surgery for Women and Men in Australia. With over 35+ years of experience and 7 locations across Australia, The Me Clinic offers a variety of cosmetic surgical procedures and non-surgical treatments for both beauty and health purposes.

Visit our website at www.meclinic.com.au for more details on how we can help you.

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