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Home › Articles › Fitness › Battle of the Baby Bulge

Battle of the Baby Bulge

Returning to Your
Pre-pregnancy Weight

By Carma Haley Shoemaker

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

The Keys to Weight Loss
According to Kromer, there are three aspects to losing weight:

  • Cardiovascular exercise
  • Strength training
  • Flexibility

"Different types of exercise will offer different effects on the body," Kromer says. "Cardiovascular exercises such as aerobics or walking are great for burning those extra calories while you're actually doing them. Another goal is to build more muscle mass. A lot of times when women are pregnant they may lose muscle mass which causes the body to burn [fewer] calories throughout the day. Building the muscle mass will help the body lose the extra weight."

woman with bike No need to buy every infomercial-advertised fitness machine for strength training; do push-ups using the kitchen counter, stretches, leg extensions (either in the chair or lying on your back), squats, lunges, or even hold soup cans or sugar bags in your hands as weights. And remember that doing the exercises slowly but properly is much better than doing them quickly and incorrectly.

"When doing abdominal crunches, pretend you are holding an orange or a tennis ball under your chin, don't lock your fingers behind your head, and pull with your abdominal muscles – not your head," says Kromer. "Doing crunches correctly will offer results that can be seen much [more] quickly than if they are done by the hundreds but done wrong."


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