Postpartum Fitness Blog

The Top 4 Essential Supplements For Mamas And Mamas-to-Be

During pregnancy there are some key nutrients your body needs. You’re creating a tiny human, cell-by-cell, so naturally that takes a lot of effort and foundational material to ensure all the right pieces are in place for a healthy, happy little bug.

Birth is also a pretty darn traumatic event for your body. So making sure you’re fueling your tissues with the right key ingredients post-birth can go a long way to ensuring your body recovers well during the fourth trimester (the first 3 months after birth) and beyond.

And if you’re breastfeeding you need to ensure you’re taking in enough nutrients to pass along to your baby because you can’t give what you don’t have.

For these 3 key reasons – pregnancy, the fourth trimester, and breastfeeding – we need to talk about the best nutrients for your body (and your baby’s body) and what supplements you may want to consider taking throughout all 3 stages.

If You Want a Stronger Core Post-Baby You Need to Know This

There’s a harmful habit that a ton of women do every single day that is bad news bob for their core and pelvic floor.

It seems like such a simple and innocent thing, but it can really wreck havoc on your entire body.

In order to properly explain why this habit is bad for your health, I need you to imagine your core is a tube of toothpaste.

If you were holding it with the cap facing down toward the ground you could imagine the cap as your pelvic floor, the top end of the tube as your diaphragm, the front and sides of the tube as your abdominal muscles, and the side facing away from you as your back muscles. Something like this…

What the Fittest Moms Do At Night

You know that exercise is good for you.

Studies show it makes you think kind thoughts about yourself, puts you in an awesome mood, helps you feel less stressed, and gives you more energy.

But I don’t need to tell you that. You know this. And you know – especially as a mom – how important all these positive benefits are.

But according to some research, only 56% of women exercise once a week or more.

Add to that the fact that 43% of women say they skip exercise when they’re stressed and you’ve got a whole lotta ladies not benefiting from all the physical, emotional and mental goodies that exercise has to offer.

If you’re one of these women, I get it.

Mom life is crazy busy, super stressful and totally unpredictable.

You have 532 things to do that seem so much more important than hitting the gym (and you have all sorts of wobbly bits that didn’t used to be there so putting on tight workout clothes can make you feel uncomfortable about your body).

So what can you do?

You know you should exercise. You know you want to exercise. You know you can get all sorts of great benefits from exercise. So how can you make sure you actually get at least 2 or 3 workouts in a week?

You take a page out of the Fit Mama Manual.

When Breastfeeding Doesn’t Make the Weight “Fall Off”

It can be so frustrating, hey?

You were told “Oh don’t worry about the baby weight. It’ll just fall right off when you breastfeed.”

But apparently your body didn’t get the memo because you’re not losing the weight you gained during pregnancy. Maybe you’ve even gained some weight since baby was born.

So what’s going on?

6 Postnatal Core Exercises (That Aren’t Heel Slides)

Getting sick of heel slides, clamshells and squats to help heal your diastasis and get a stronger core and pelvic floor?

Mix things up by adding some (or all) of these exercises into your core and floor healing routine.

There’s not a crunch, plank, or v-sit in sight which means that they’re designed for your postnatal body – even if you have diastasis recti or other pelvic floor and core issues.

(Just obviously check in with your physio or physical therapist before you dive in if you’re dealing with a severe diastasis, prolapse, or extremely weak pelvic floor and core).

And yes – even though they may not look like your traditional core exercises – all these movements are working your core and pelvic floor.

You can add a couple of them to your current strength training routine, or do them all together for a full body workout.

Are Babywearing Workouts Safe For Your Body?

You see your local barre studio has a Mommy and Me babywearing workout class and you think, “Great! I can get a workout in while snuggling with my munchkin. Win-win.”

And yes, it is awesome to have the option to get a workout in while you’re getting some skin-to-skin love with your little.

But is it safe for your body?

It could be. Or it may not be.