Many pregnant women have asked me if it’s safe to work your abdominals.  With healthy pregnancies it is typically safe to do traditional ab work (i.e. lying on your back) up till week 12.  After week 12 it is no longer recommend to lay on your back.  However, you can still work your abdominals without laying on your back. 

Try this simple exercise to strengthen your abdominals:

On all your knees on all fours, head in line with the spine bring one knee in towards your chest.  Hold for 2-3 counts.  Release and repeat 10-15 times.  Then repeat on the other side.  Work up to 2 sets of 10-15 reps.

Many new moms want to lose the baby weight, but just don’t have the motivation to do it.  One thing I often remind my clients is to think about how good they feel after they work out.  After each workout I talk about how much stronger and toned their muscles are becoming, and how much better they feel about themselves in body and mind.  The more you equate working out to feeling and looking good the more motivated you’ll be to exercise.

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There is so much emphasis on weight gain when you’re pregnant, it can be quite consuming.  My suggestion is to listen to your body and “fuel” yourself and your baby with nutritous foods when you feel hungry.  It’s normal to have cravings.  Listen to them, just chose wisely!  Cravings for sweet foods can be satisfied by eating fruit, a glass of juice (orange juice is a great choice since it’s high in folate, which is good for baby’s development), or a fruit smoothy.  Salty cravings can be satisfied with nuts, whole grain crackers with cheese, or a bagel with peanut butter. 

Achieving weight loss is not that easy. It needs a good strategy, planning and motivation to lose weight. Some of the weight loss tips, which can be followed at ease, are listed here to stay healthy as well as to stay fit with a perfect body figure.

Eating the right way helps achieving weight loss goals. Taking meals in smaller amounts, frequently helps in being energetic all the day and prevents from eating more.

Eating out is often associated with obesity as when dining outside, most of the people don’t check what they eat. Hence, to achieve weight loss, it is better to avoid dining outside.

Break fast should not be skipped as it has been found out that, people who do not skip their break fast are very successful in losing weight. If break fast is skipped the bodily metabolism slows down and when food is taken during lunch, it results in increased insulin levels and in turn weight gain.

It is good to stay away from beverages rich in fat and sugar as they will increase the insulin levels in the blood, while caffeine content can lead to dehydration.

Diet strategy can be planned in such a way that, without having to cut the favorite foods, they can be consumed in smaller portions along with healthy fresh vegetables or fruits to get a filled up feeling. By this way, the nutritional value of the food consumed is increased and fat rich foods are minimized.

Increased consumption of protein helps in burning the calories and avoids the storage of fat in the body. Protein supplements also help in building and preserving lean muscles.

Water plays an important role in weight loss as water hydrates the organs and the body. It suppresses hunger pangs, and can be taken in more amounts to get a filled up feeling.

Plan how you want your diet plan to be, adhere to it strictly and it is advised to keep a log for noting down what you eat and the amounts you eat with the weight measurement every week to analyze if you are progressing or not. Stay motivated while going through weight loss measures to attain success.

If weight is lost the healthy way, it benefits the person with a lower blood pressure, being able to be energetic in spite of controlled intake, healthy heart and organs, better body figure, less stress made on the bones, joints and muscles, and the most important of all stress free.

The myths about weight loss are making rounds everywhere and they never cease to end, as the people are very much concerned and are in the look out for easy way to lose weight, hence lots of wrong theories going around. Listed Below are some weight loss myths along with corresponding facts.

Myths Pertaining to Physical Exercises:

Myth: Exercise when done on an empty stomach results in more fat burn out.

Fact: The weight loss is said to be effective when the calories consumed are burned the same day no matter, how they are burned. Hence the impact of exercising with an empty stomach is the same as with a full stomach. Studies have revealed that the increase in metabolism seen in anaerobic exercise is reduced after a full meal. It means that more energy is used for digestion than to repair muscles.

Myth: The more the exercise the more the benefit.

Fact: It is not true. Even though every exercise session is good for an individual, there is a required level and frequency to get optimum results. After the optimum level, the exercise done will have an opposite effect by not allowing the body to cope up with the stress created by the exercise, which can be actually detrimental towards weight loss.

Myth: Muscle turns into fat once the exercise is stopped.

Fact: It is not true. Muscles, as a matter of fact, cannot be converted into fat as they are entirely different kinds of tissues. When the exercise is stopped, the muscles shrink but do not disappear. If the calorie intake is more, which is not burned it actually deposits as fat.

Myth: More the Sweat, More the hard work is done.

Fact: This too is not true, as sweating is the body’s cooling ability. Sweat can be due to lot of factors like body temperature, type of exercise done, fat deposition of the body, room temperature, the kind of clothing used for exercise, and the intensity of exercise done.

Myth: Drinking water while exercising might lead to cramps.

Fact: If more litres of ice cold water are drunk in one go while doing exercise may result in cramps. Hence, it is good to drink water consistently before, during and after exercises in order to replace the fluid lost and to avoid any discomfort being caused.

Myth: exercise done to tone the abdominal muscles also tones potbelly.

Fact: When exercise is done for the abdominal region only that region gets toned up. The fat deposits are not burned, reducing the potbelly. Fat reduction happens uniformly throughout the body and there is no possibility for spot reduction.