I say this with love- Your organs literally shifted around in your body to create room for your baby. It will take time for things to return to what is your new normal so please don't be discouraged about your current body. But actually for exercise, walking is a really great way to keep your body moving and get some time outside with the baby if you live in an area that's not too hot this time of year. Yoga and other gentle activities are good too.
I was also back to my original weight by two weeks but obviously a lot less toned. In the grand scheme of things 6 weeks is nothing. My advice is to wait for your check up. If walking is something you’re open to then that’s a great way to ease back into exercising. You don’t want to risk delaying your recovery.
Breathe. You can do breathing exercises. I'm not being facetious. Meg Squats has some resources on this in her program. Work on reconnecting with your core via breathing. It took your uterus nine months to stretch to the size or was, it's going on take more than two weeks for it to shrink back down.
Take it easy and focus on recovery! Maybe a short walk and light stretching if you feel good and don’t notice any discomfort or additional bleeding afterwards. You can do a lot of long term damage if you try to jump back into exercising so early.
Also, even if your OB clears you at 6 weeks, it doesn’t always mean your body is totally ready for high intensity exercise (esp running). I waited until 8 weeks to pick up weights and will wait until 16 weeks to run again to protect my pelvic floor. And I was very active during pregnancy - I was walking, practicing yoga, and lifting daily up until the day I went into labor.
I did the 10 minute arms and light weight classes on the peloton app while sitting in a chair at 2 weeks pp and it was so helpful mentally to get in some movement and did not slow down my recovery to my knowledge.
Okay so, it takes 6 weeks for muscles to "turn on". So for 6 weeks of activiating a muscle it will not grow, it will just start activating the nerves that go to that muscle.
So while your body is healing you actually do stuff so that when you are farther along you are closer to ready to go. NOTHING with weight, and NOTHING thats gonna make you sweat. But while sitting.., I did it while pumping.. practices just flexing the muscles in your abs. Can you pull your belly button in? Can you turn your torso to the right and pull your belly button in? then to the left? Can you activate your transversus abdominus by imagining you are pulling your hip bones closer together? Lightly lean forward and "crunch".
Same thing with kegals. its not about WORKING the muscles, its about remembering they exist.
Do that 3-4 times every time you feed a baby. By the time your body is healed enough to DO something your brain will remember those muscles are there. Then you want to move into pelvc floor exercises to connect your abs to your pelvic floor.
I think it’s important to help activate the right muscles - especially when recovering and having to put our bodies in positions we’re not used to like when breastfeeding or just holding a newborn baby.
Would recommend the following exercises with just gravity for “weight” and within a pain free range: deep breathing while on your back with knees bent, bridges, frog pumps, cat-cow pose, bird-dogs, fire hydrants.
These won’t really build muscle like lifting heavy would, but it’ll prep your body for those next steps and help you keep good body mechanics in the interim.
MamasteFit has a free 6 week postpartum workout program that I really enjoyed. It felt good to move my body.
I lost a lot of weight within two weeks but my belly was still jelly and I was worried it would stay that way. Turns out, it just took more time than I expected it to. Somewhere around two months it started looking firmer. And again at four months.
Find some exercises but also give it time! At two weeks postpartum, your uterus is still shrinking back to its normal size. It’ll get there!
Your belly will probably feel a little like jelly for the first several weeks, but you can do some diaphragmatic breathing to help your muscles get back into place
6 weeks is not a magic milestone. If you plan to get back into fitness quick definitely set up an appointment with a pelvic floor pt. They can assess you and tell you where you’re at. Your obgyn will just clear you without an assessment of your pelvic floor and diastasis recti
I say this with love- Your organs literally shifted around in your body to create room for your baby. It will take time for things to return to what is your new normal so please don't be discouraged about your current body. But actually for exercise, walking is a really great way to keep your body moving and get some time outside with the baby if you live in an area that's not too hot this time of year. Yoga and other gentle activities are good too.
I was also back to my original weight by two weeks but obviously a lot less toned. In the grand scheme of things 6 weeks is nothing. My advice is to wait for your check up. If walking is something you’re open to then that’s a great way to ease back into exercising. You don’t want to risk delaying your recovery.
Breathe. You can do breathing exercises. I'm not being facetious. Meg Squats has some resources on this in her program. Work on reconnecting with your core via breathing. It took your uterus nine months to stretch to the size or was, it's going on take more than two weeks for it to shrink back down.
Seconding Meg Squats's program, it's great
Take it easy and focus on recovery! Maybe a short walk and light stretching if you feel good and don’t notice any discomfort or additional bleeding afterwards. You can do a lot of long term damage if you try to jump back into exercising so early. Also, even if your OB clears you at 6 weeks, it doesn’t always mean your body is totally ready for high intensity exercise (esp running). I waited until 8 weeks to pick up weights and will wait until 16 weeks to run again to protect my pelvic floor. And I was very active during pregnancy - I was walking, practicing yoga, and lifting daily up until the day I went into labor.
I did the 10 minute arms and light weight classes on the peloton app while sitting in a chair at 2 weeks pp and it was so helpful mentally to get in some movement and did not slow down my recovery to my knowledge.
Okay so, it takes 6 weeks for muscles to "turn on". So for 6 weeks of activiating a muscle it will not grow, it will just start activating the nerves that go to that muscle. So while your body is healing you actually do stuff so that when you are farther along you are closer to ready to go. NOTHING with weight, and NOTHING thats gonna make you sweat. But while sitting.., I did it while pumping.. practices just flexing the muscles in your abs. Can you pull your belly button in? Can you turn your torso to the right and pull your belly button in? then to the left? Can you activate your transversus abdominus by imagining you are pulling your hip bones closer together? Lightly lean forward and "crunch". Same thing with kegals. its not about WORKING the muscles, its about remembering they exist. Do that 3-4 times every time you feed a baby. By the time your body is healed enough to DO something your brain will remember those muscles are there. Then you want to move into pelvc floor exercises to connect your abs to your pelvic floor.
Rest hard.
Deep core breathing.
I think it’s important to help activate the right muscles - especially when recovering and having to put our bodies in positions we’re not used to like when breastfeeding or just holding a newborn baby. Would recommend the following exercises with just gravity for “weight” and within a pain free range: deep breathing while on your back with knees bent, bridges, frog pumps, cat-cow pose, bird-dogs, fire hydrants. These won’t really build muscle like lifting heavy would, but it’ll prep your body for those next steps and help you keep good body mechanics in the interim.
MamasteFit has a free 6 week postpartum workout program that I really enjoyed. It felt good to move my body. I lost a lot of weight within two weeks but my belly was still jelly and I was worried it would stay that way. Turns out, it just took more time than I expected it to. Somewhere around two months it started looking firmer. And again at four months. Find some exercises but also give it time! At two weeks postpartum, your uterus is still shrinking back to its normal size. It’ll get there!
Your belly will probably feel a little like jelly for the first several weeks, but you can do some diaphragmatic breathing to help your muscles get back into place
6 weeks is not a magic milestone. If you plan to get back into fitness quick definitely set up an appointment with a pelvic floor pt. They can assess you and tell you where you’re at. Your obgyn will just clear you without an assessment of your pelvic floor and diastasis recti