Featured Fitness Professional

"Post-Pregnancy Fitness: A Personal Trainer and Mother of Two Provides 6 Tips to Help You Get Started on an Incredible Post-Pregnancy Transformation"

By Roxayn Daniels

Although pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding can certainly take a toll on your body, a good post pregnancy fitness and nutrition program can help you get back in shape after baby. “Is it possible to get my former body back?” is a question I hear often from women who are surprised at the condition of their body after pregnancy. Believe me, I was one of the surprised ones!

After being fairly careful about what I was eating throughout my first pregnancy and continuing to exercise moderately right up to my delivery date, my body weight was already the same as my pre-pregnancy weight only a few weeks after delivery. I thought slipping into my favorite jeans again would be a cinch, until the first time I tried and they wouldn’t budge past my knees! Although my weight hadn’t changed, my body composition certainly had. I had lost a lot of muscle and gained body fat. The combination of a scaled down weight training program and those darn pregnancy hormones had taken its toll.

Although it certainly didn’t happen overnight, I did “get my body back” – and in fact, it was better than ever at 38 years old and within a year after my second baby. You can do it too if you are prepared to do a little work and set up your lifestyle for success. Here are SIX quick tips from a personal trainer to help with your post-pregnancy transformation:

1. Take Your Time! I am always suspicious when I see women who are back in ideal shape within a month or two after baby. The first few months with baby are very special and extremely exhausting! Between constant breastfeeding, sleepless nights, and a much busier lifestyle, I personally had little extra time or energy to get back to my regular workout program for months after baby came into my life. In the meantime, I did what I could to stay active… mostly going for walks with baby.

2. Have Realistic Expectations. Let’s face it. Pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding is hard on a body! It can certainly cause some irreversible changes such as stretch marks and some saggy skin and body parts here and there. Yet somehow baby makes it all so worth it! Here’s what you need to keep in mind though - many women get in the best shape of their lives after having a baby. There is no reason you can’t become optimally fit, healthy, and energetic despite the changes your body may have undergone.

3. Use being busy to your advantage. Your first few years of being a mommy will involve a whirlwind of activities and responsibilities. With a lack of time, some women resort to fast food and processed snacks but this will only work against you. Since there’s not much time to “live to eat” why not “eat to live” and go for maximum nutrition?

“Superfoods” like green drinks (ask at a health food store if you don’t know what this is!) and protein shakes provide you with maximum nutrition and energy with minimum calories and preparation time. For other quick snacks on the run try “nature’s fast food” such as a handful of raw nuts and seeds or a piece of fresh fruit, An organic low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese sprinkled with muesli, or a raw food energy bar are also quick and easy. A consultation with a nutritionist to fine-tune your nutrition program and give you more snack and meal ideas is a great investment.

4. Smart Women Do Dumbbells! Weight training whether done at home or at the gym is one of the most time efficient ways to achieve your best body. Just two or three 20-30 minute sessions per week can create very worthwhile results. Even a few sets of bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, dips, sit-ups, squats and lunges performed at home when you have a few free minutes during your day will make a noticeable difference.

Not only does strength training burn plenty of calories and boost your metabolism for hours after your training session, but it builds muscle. And muscles are your fat burning engines! Each pound of muscle you add to your body will burn about an extra 50 calories per day. That means your metabolism will be higher even when you’re sitting on the couch! Adding 5 pounds of muscle for example, won’t make you look big and muscular, but it may give you some beautiful athletic curves and burn an extra 250 calories every day. And the best part? Being stronger will enable you to carry baby in one arm and 4 bags of groceries in the other! Train for life.

5. Include your children in an active lifestyle. A jogging stroller, baby back pack, wagon, and chariot or baby seat for the bike are invaluable investments for the first few years. I have all of these items and because they are fairly expensive to purchase new, have found most of these things second hand or at garage sales. Many years ago, I used to race bikes – now I do interval training (sprints) or hill repeats on my mountain bike with my youngest child sitting on the back.

My son loves it and I’m sure people witnessing our creative exercise session are entertained as well. Both my daughter (12) and my son (now 3) love to be included in outdoor exercise sessions, whether it’s "mommy bootcamp" at the track, a forest workout, stair climbing at the beach, or scooter races. I have found creative ways to involve them in workouts and keep it fun for everyone. Good luck in your post-pregnancy transformation and remember that you can feel and look great again. In the process, you will discover that being a good role model for a healthy fitness lifestyle and teaching your children by example how to take care of yourself – body, mind, and spirit – is truly one of the most valuable gifts you can give them.

About the Author:

Roxayn Daniels is a certified Personal Trainer, Registered Nutritionist, and Life Coach in Vancouver, B.C. Her latest book, the Total Transformation Challenge ® is a unique 10 week fitness and wellness program for women. This program, complete with extra motivation and prize incentives, contains a 3 phase fitness program, a nutrition program that guarantees outstanding results, and the most effective transformation tools, strategies, and personal training “secrets” to help you achieve your fittest, healthiest, and most energetic body ever!

Visit for a variety of free "transformation tools" and resources or more information on the Total Transformation Challenge.

Personal Training site: www.transformationsfitness.ca