A common question we are asked at The Healthy Mummy is, “how do I lose weight from bums, hips and thighs when I am trying to lose pregnancy weight?’

Of course, as we have covered before, spot fat removal in weight loss is not possible but there are a number of approaches and exercises you can do to help target specific areas and help the toning of those areas.

It is also worth highlighting that you will be more successful in reaching your health and weight loss goals is you see your body as something beautiful to embrace and work with rather than battling bulges. Slow and steady is the way to go – especially if you’ve just given birth.

Pregnancy is a tough time on any woman. Your body changes and therefore it is important to adjust or alter your pre and post pregnancy exercise routine in order to support and assist your body, as well as your mindset throughout the journey of pregnancy.

Throughout pregnancy, we all gain pregnancy weight – which is healthy and needed for your body to support your growing baby. The weight distribution also changes – you gain more pregnancy weight on your tummy and breasts, as well as your hips, which means that your body will be under strain from supporting that new weight.

Your back will need extra support, due to the increased weight of your breasts and tummy, as will your core muscles, due to the weight of your baby – so make sure you don’t overdo it in pregnancy and that you follow a sensible and healthy post pregnancy exercise and weight loss plan post pregnancy – such as The Healthy Mummy Plan

Nurture your body throughout your pregnancy, and you’ll find that post pregnancy, you’ll be better equipped to nurture your new baby.

Benefits of Pilates Post Pregnancy

Post pregnancy exercise such as Pilates, is known for improving your core strength, stability, muscle balance and body awareness and great to start after you have had your baby. And yoga is known for improving your mindset and for keeping you supple – so also a great one to do

When we are aiming to lose our pregnancy weight we are often concerned about the stomach area.

Many mums complain or ask about this area and one of the key areas to achieving a strong tummy is focusing on your core. This will assist in losing your pregnancy weight an also toning this area – you can read more about everything you need to know about stomach fat here.

People often think their core is strong if they have a rippling six pack. In fact, this is the superficial and least important part of your core strength. It is your functional core which is more important in decreasing your waist measurements, toning up and healing any separation of you abs.

If you do have a muscle separation post pregnancy, sit-ups could in fact be doing more damage then benefit and could even make you rectus abdominus bulge and separate even more (it’s also the muscle that separates – which is why doing sit-ups until the cows come home to help you lose your baby weight would be a terrible idea and make your rectus abdominus bulge and it could separate even more and is why you should avoid crunches and standard Pilates 100?s).

This is why building your core from the inside out and starting with your muscles closet to the bones is the best way. This is what Pilates will help you focus on.

You should also examine yourself to find out what degree of muscle separation you have experienced before undertaking any post partum-exercise (needs to be under 2cm) or receive clearance from your Doctor.

How to examine yourself

Step 1 – In a lying position with knees bent, place your right hand behind your head.

Step 2 – With your left hand position your index finger and middle finger together and place them horizontally in the centreline of your stomach between your abdominals.

Step 3 – From this position slowly raise your head slightly off the floor using your right hand (positioned behind your head) for support. Make sure not to simply lift your head with your hand as this is a comman error – you must perform one basic crunch to fully contract your abdominal muscles to get the best assessment of your separation.

Step 4 – Your abdominals will now be slightly contracting allowing you to see exactly how far your abdominals have separated.

Step 5 – If your index finger and middle finger (on your left hand) can still fit between your abdominals you will have Diastasis Recti of between 2 – 2.5cms. For every additional finger you can place inbetween your abdominals you should add 1cm extra to your total abdominal separation number. If you can only fit one finger between your abdominals you effectively have 1cm of separation and will be nearly healed.

If you discover you have more than a 1 – 2cm separation you should refrain from doing exercises such as crunches, sit-ups or pilates 100?s all of which can put too much pressure on the abdominal muscles which have become separated during pregnancy.

Sol’s post and video this week will about the pelvic floor. This area of your exercise and pregnancy weight loss plan in incredibly important for all women, especially mothers.

You might familiar with the infamous Kegel exercises from the 80s and 90s? They were super popular and then suddenly disappeared. Maybe it was because people associate the pelvic floors with peeing and “holding it midstream”. However uncomfortable the discussion makes you, your pelvic floor is crucial to regaining the functionality of your core.

Today we get to see our new trainer’s post on exercise post pregnancy.

There is so much pressure with the media for mothers to lose all of their baby weight using extreme weight loss diets. Not only will you not get long lasting results. it is foolish. This is why at the Healthy Mummy we advise a healthy and safe weight loss post partum with plans like the Healthy Mummy plans.

Supermodels, celebrities, we can not  compare against them. We cannot compare their dramatic weight loss and body transformations in a matter of weeks, as they have chefs, nutritionists, nannies, cleaners, housekeepers plus a whole entourage of minders. But what they do do, is make time for themselves.

Check this out. We are thrilled to announce that we will have an additional post pregnancy exercise expert on our Lose Baby Weight & The Healthy Mummy Team. Yep! Your own personal trainer for FREE!

With her help we will be bringing you new and fresh content, advice and videos to show you the safest exercises to do post pregnancy, when to start exercise and how you can get your body looking FABULOUS for summer.

Many mothers can start exercising too soon which can lead to some dangerous injuries. Therefore the focus on all our exercises will be on safety, especially with the post pregnancy exercises.