My goal is to find the time to do one activity from each of these posts this weekend.
1. Movement for Mere Mortals points to all the ways to get started after you have a baby.

2. Stand Up Straight talks about how motherhood affects posture.
3. Don’t forget, a fitness routine is something you have to ease into after giving bith.
4. Fitness isn’t about losing weight. It’s about living a healthier life, for the whole family.
5. The Abs Omnibus points to all the belly posts.
6. Walking is always great exercise and it’s free.
7. Agrifitness! It’s hard work and it’s never finished, but if you’re lucky you get fruit and vegetables out of it.
8. NIA may be the perfect exercise for new mothers.
9. I reason that maybe a little pain, is the price of getting back into shape.
10. Pump iron points to research that weight training helps to control abdominal fat.

Post from: Babylune

After a woman gives birth, her muscles are in a state that I call abdominal amnesia. The muscles there have lost their memory. You may not even be able to feel the muscles when you consciously attempt to tighten them.

My mother-in-law swore by girdles for new mothers. A few weeks after giving birth, she said new mothers should put one on to help wake up the stomach muscles. My own mother, on the other hand, had been told that using a girdle would prevent the muscles from coming back on their own through daily activity.

In my experience, daily activity alone is not enough to wake those muscles and I hate discomfort so I haven’t tried the girdle.

So, to begin waking the muscles up a few very gentle exercises are needed. A few days after you give birth, lie on your stomach and try to squeeze your stomach in toward your spine. You should have some awareness of your muscles when you lie on them. After a few weeks, you can try getting on the floor on all fours. With your back straight, try to pull your stomach up toward your spine as you breathe in. Hold for a few seconds and relax your stomach as you breathe out. Keep your back straight and flat throughout.

This is not the path to a six pack, but a gentle awakening of your muscles to remind them that there is now, just one person living in your body again. Remember, we all have to start from the beginning again.

Post from: Babylune

That miracle was the result of a fit pregnancy. I walked or swam for an hour every day, I slept for about 12 hours a day, and I ate low-fat yogurt three times a day.

My second pregnancy was more difficult. For much of it, I was under orders not to stand or walk for more than 15 minutes at a time. I also had a child to care for while continuing to earn a living. By the end of my pregnancy, every had lost its tone, even my digestive system. After so many months of inactivity, I forgot that I could just go for a walk whenever I liked for as long as I liked (as long as I brought the baby and kept the weather in mind). The fitness habit had not just been broken. It was shattered.

After months of hip pain, I decided I felt good enough to go for my first jog since giving birth. It must have been about 10 days ago. I haven’t gone again because it’s taken me this long to come to terms with my frustration. I used to run 5K in just under 30 minutes. It’s not fast but, at least in my mind, it was a respectable distance in a respectable time. After more than a year on the side-lines, I was out of breath after just a few minutes. I had to do the pattern of 1-minute jog, 1-minute walk, 2-minute jog, 2-minute walk that people jogging for the first time need to do. I felt humiliated even though there was no one watching but me and my expectations.

Now though, I’ve come to terms with my fallen fitness. I am coming back from pregnancy and child birth, events that my body supported with all its strength and energies. I need to see that in a positive light. If other people can re-gain their fitness after tragic car accidents, I can start at the beginning again. If Terry Fox could decide to run across Canada after losing a leg to cancer, I can start from the beginning again. If my body can grow an entirely new person, I can accept that it needs to be treated with care rather than the expectations of who I was before I became a mother of two.

How do you feel about starting from the beginning?

Post from: Babylune