Search:

Home | Pregnancy - Prenatal | Pregnancy


Trim your Tummy - Boost Your Metabolism

By: Teresa Brown

Pregnancy is a life changing experience in and of itself for a woman. But life after pregnancy also comes with the expectation to lose weight after giving birth within a few months or the first year. This expectation is to be taken with a grain of salt because it twists the reason to lose weight, which is to not to get thin but to get healthy.

It is easy to ignore the fact that every single cell in our body is a part of us. How we assist the biochemical symmetry that goes on inside of us to keep us alive has a huge impact on our success in losing pregnancy weight and keeping the weight off. An important piece of this "symmetry" is our metabolism. It is responsible for controlling the efficiency at which our bodies can utilize our energy to keep you the busy Mom that you are. You can get on the road to proper weight management by boosting your metabolism with the following actions.

Eat to Live

It seems like everyday we wake up to some "new" research about health and nutrition. Nutrition will always be a news worthy topic because how, what, when and why we eat has a huge impact on our health and quality of life. This is why losing the baby fat can be possible when you eat foods that are considered "fat burning foods". Your body uses more energy than the food contains to digest it and this is why it will help you to burn the baby fat.

Some of these foods you already eat and when you want to lose your tummy, this is a step in the right direction. Foods high in lean or low-fat protein and high in fiber are the target foods to aid your fat loss. Also, increasing your dietary fiber also lowers your risk for obesity, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders and heart disease. Thus, these foods should be included into your diet simply for maintaining good health.

Train in Intervals

Be thankful for interval training. It is the answer to how you can trim your tummy with a 15-minute workout. In order to harvest the fat burning benefits of this type of training, you must be able to give each exercise your maximum effort. Essentially, your workouts should begin with a brief warm up followed by a series of short burst of exercise at high intensity followed by short interval of rest. This "fast-slow-fast-slow" method keeps your heart rate elevated and your metabolism humming to increase and sustain your metabolism above its resting rate.

Strength Training builds lean muscles

Losing the baby fat is a feasible goal but you won't get there if you are only doing cardio. Lean muscles are fat burning tissues and can be developed by working your muscle groups with a form of strength training called resistance training. Resistance training uses any outside force of resistance to work against your muscles. And when done in intervals, it is an efficient way to get faster results.

You can trim your tummy and the rest of your body so that you look toned in a bikini with a few free weights and an exercise ball. The advantage of resistance training is that you can complete a workout within 30 minutes at home. Also because muscle burns fat and you are building back your lost muscle tissue, you will be able to increase your resting metabolic rate and burn more calories to lose the fat.

Upkeep your Physical Fitness

One would think that all the running around that a Mom does would make her lose pregnancy weight fast, but this is not the case. Try to expand your physical fitness to include your family by encouraging them to participate in more physical activities. Take a power walk with the baby in the mornings or go play some basketball with your son or daughter or you could take a family bike ride on a Saturday afternoon. The possibilities are endless and the time spent with loved ones priceless.

Choosing to eat fat-burning foods and to include resistance interval training into your daily schedule will increase your metabolism to melt the pounds and inches off your body. You should seek to maintain a healthy lifestyle in your emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. In this way you will be able to stay lean and fit for the long-term and be a healthier Mom for it.

Article Source: http://www.health-fitness-for-all.com

Teresa Brown is a dedicated advocate for women's health and wellness. For more information about losing the baby fat and on losing pregnancy weight the right way for the long run, visit Teresa's blog.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Pregnancy Articles Via RSS!

Powered by Article Dashboard