by Teresa Brown

If only we could all be blessed with perfect metabolisms, the diet and fitness industries would be small fish in the big sea of commerce. But life is not that way and Moms have to see to it that they burn the baby fat because it is the first important step towards a healthy lifestyle for them and their family. Moms can get their pre-pregnancy bodies back by focusing on increasing their metabolism with a few “natural” tricks to the trade.

In our haste to lose pregnancy weight fast, we often forget that short-term gain doesn’t necessarily lead to long-term gain. And this is especially true with regards to the quick fix diet or diet pill method because the weight lost is always short lived. Your goal should be about achieving wellness and from that being able to manage your weight from month to month, year to year. In order to do this, you need to focus on fine tuning your metabolism.

Eat to Live

We all know that we have to eat right and the “spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. You try to instill healthy eating habits in your family but alas, you are a busy Mom and it’s so easy to cave into the conveniences of frozen dinners, fast food take-outs and deliveries. But this time it’s about you and you need to lose your tummy and recover your pre-pregnancy body.

Foods high in protein such as lean meats, fish, poultry; low-fat dairy products, beans and legumes should be a stable part of your diet. Foods high in fiber constitute generally most fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods such as bran, bulgur, and oats. They are to be purchased and prepared in the most natural way possible so that you will receive the most nutritional and fat burning benefits.

Interval Training at maximum Effort

Wouldn’t it be great to have a workout session that could burn the baby fat at minimum cost to your precious time? Well, you can burn the fat effectively with a 15-minute workout done in intervals. Interval training is basically repetitively doing an exercise at high intensity with short periods of rest or low intensity after each set. Studies show that this method of training is more effective at burning body fat compared to just training at a low to moderated level of intensity for the same time period. Varying the intensity of your workout makes your body burn more calories because it has to work harder.

Strength Training builds lean muscles

Most women tend to shy away from the very thing that can give them that lean, toned look that they want, and that is strength training. We forget that the toned bodies we see passing us by on beach are lean muscles. Thus, losing pregnancy weight requires adding some resistance interval training to your workout, which will strengthen your muscles to become lean.

The strength training that can accommodate your needs is called resistance training. Resistance training is a form of training that strengthens your muscle groups by applying an external force of resistance to work against them such as dumbbells, water in a pool, an elastic exercise band, or your own body weight. You can workout at home and lose the pregnancy weight with a 15 minute interval training workout.

Keep on Moving

An active Mom, who is determined to lose the pregnancy weight for the long-term, will have to keep the momentum going by staying physically active. When the weight has come off, your new goal will be weight management. This can be done if you recruit your family into participating in physical activities such as a hiking, biking, swimming, skiing, rollerblading, etc. Not only will you be living a healthier lifestyle and keeping the weight off but you will have quality time with your loved ones.

A healthy lifestyle will keep the weight off but it will take time to break the unhealthy habits to make the transition to healthy ones. Helping your metabolism in its efficiency to burn calories by eating and exercising right will help you to lose the pregnancy weight and gain the accompanying health benefits for your body. You will evolve into a natural beauty instead of a talk show makeover.

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