How Soon After Delivery Can I Start Exercising While Breastfeeding?

Exercise is good for everyone. After delivery, a woman often asks how soon she can start to exercise. This all depends on how complicated her delivery was. Did she have a C-Section delivery or natural one? Consult with your doctor because you may begin to exercise sooner than six weeks after delivery. However, most women are advised to wait until you have the six-week postpartum check before beginning to exercise. Together with your doctor, you two will decide when the right time is for you to begin to exercise. If you are breastfeeding, you need to keep your energy, as well as your nutrition up, inorder to keep your breast milk flowing.Therefore, you need to eat a well-balanced diet rich in nutrients for you and your baby and begin to exercise moderately daily. Furthermore, breastfeeding helps burn off 500 calories a day. In fact, most studies show that exercise does not affect your milk supply. Eating a healthy diet is step one to getting back to your pre-baby body. Next, you will need to start by doing moderate postpartum exercises. Moderate exercise improves a mom's health and has a positive effect on her emotional well-being. Some examples of exercises that fall into moderate exercises are stretching, yoga, walking, casual pace tennis, dancing, water aerobics, slow running/ jogging, bicycling slowly and light gardening. You can put the baby next to you while yours stretch. Don't do vigorous exercises until you heal internally. Ask you, doctor, before switching to vigorous exercises. Some examples of vigorous exercises are race walking, jogging, running, swimming laps, tennis (singles), aerobic dancing, bicycling fast or up hills, jumping rope, heavy gardening, hiking uphill or with a heavy backpack. It is recommended by the US Department of Health and Human Services, 2008, the physical activity guidelines for Americans are that you should get a least 150 minutes of moderate activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week or an equivalent combination of both. Staying active burns calories, which can help you lose weight. So, begin by taking your baby outside for a walk. Work exercise into a regular activity that you enjoy. I know sometimes it is hard to find the time to exercise having a new baby because I have been blessed to have eight children but once you get out, you feel so good and refreshed. You can start by taking short 10 to 20-minute walk daily. Homemade meals are often healthier than eating out. First of all, you know what ingredients you put into the food. You can control your portion size. Drink plenty of water.Slowly, try to get back down to a healthy weight. Remember, it took nine months to have this beautiful baby so gives yourself some time to lose the weight. Be patient and your weight will come off. In conclusion, diet and exercise is important for a healthy lifestyle. Moderate exercise should resume after delivery when you feel ready and your doctor has told you that it is the right time to begin to exercise. The key to weight lose after delivery is to stay active and eat healthy by eating a nutritious diet. Remember, because you are breastfeeding you can eat a few more calories, 500 calories a day.Enjoy this time you have with your baby and this beautiful breastfeeding journey together.