Hi everyone. I've been all over the country this last week and am also in the process of moving house again, but I thought it was about time I wrote something new in this blog as I know many of you have been reading it. If you have any questions for me please send me an email via the 'ask the experts' section and I'll be happy to answer whenever time allows. I can't offer medical advice as I'm not qualified to do so, and you should speak to your doctor before starting an exercise programme, but I can give the benefit of my knowledge and experience in the field of ante and postnatal exercise. Let me give you an example of the sort of thing I mean.
A week or so ago I received an question via email from a lovely lady who's name I won't mention, and she was wondering if she'd ever have a flat tummy again. She'd just had her 2nd child and he was a very large baby (over 10lbs). She's motivated and exercising regularly by running for 20-30 mins, and doing 'toning exercises' but not getting a flat tummy yet. She feels as if she's flogging a dead horse.
Well I can tell her that she's probably not the only one reading this feeling the same way? Am I right? Do let me know and I'll see if I can help you. This was my reply:
Dear ********
No, you are not flogging a dead horse and you can certainly have a flat tummy again, but it won’t happen overnight. You don’t say how old you are, but at any age at least 75% of losing weight/getting in shape is nutrition related. It’s great that you are motivated and doing exercise, but without getting your diet right you won’t get the results you deserve. Although it may be difficult, many smaller snack type meals at regular intervals will stimulate your metabolism and help you lose weight, especially if protein is included. Eat lean meat and poultry, fish, and fresh fruit and veg, along with brown rice, baked potatoes and wholegrain bread (not too much). Try to avoid processed foods whenever possible. If it comes in a bag or a box don’t eat it! (Thanks Craig)
Regarding exercise, have you got an exercise ball? If so there are some good exercises on our website here that you can try. Because of the instability of the ball any ball exercises stimulate all your core muscles, and not just the abs. This helps to tighten the whole waistline and to alleviate back pain by developing the muscles that support the spine. Sit-ups aren’t great as they can stress the lower back quite a bit. You mention toning exercises. By that I presume you mean weight training which is great. The more muscle you can develop the more calories you can eat without gaining weight as muscle burns calories all the time. Don’t worry, you won’t get big muscles as you don’t have the hormones required.
Running is great and 20 minutes is what I’d actually recommend. It’s what you do in the 20 mins that counts. Rather than just jog at comfortable pace, try and run fast for a minute or two every few minutes or so. We call this interval training and it’s been scientifically proven to burn more calories over the course of the day than just regular cardio. So, warm up thoroughly, run for 3 minutes, sprint for one minute to get your heart rate right up there, slow down until you recover and repeat until the 20 mins is up. Aim for 4 or 5 intervals over the 20 minute period. I don’t know your current fitness level but it will increase rapidly with this type of training. If you can’t manage the sprints then just increase your pace by what is comfortable until you can. It won’t take long.
Finally, start with the end in mind. So although it may seem silly, visualise the way you want to look. Before you even start working out have a picture in your mind of how you want to look, and ‘feel’ how you would feel if you were there already. Keep this picture and this feeling in your mind as much as possible, and it will help you to achieve your goal faster. All athletes do this as it programmes the subconscious mind to believe that’s the way you are already. Don’t ask how it works, it just does! Another important thing regarding this is to eliminate negative thinking. Change ‘I can not shift my belly’ to ‘my belly is getting flatter every day’ and say it over and over. Your subconscious mind cannot differentiate between fact and fiction, and if you go there in your subconscious mind you’ll eventually get there for real.
I'm checking out now. I hope that helped some people and I'm looking forward to your questions. If you are into running then be sure to pick up a copy of 'women's fitness magazine' this month and look for my article on running during pregnancy.
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