Prenatal Fitness Tips

Female: This is diet.com video and I am Sarah your host. Today, I am joined by Darisal Kelly, a perinatal fitness expert, you might have seen her in some of our fitness videos for prenatal fitness and so today, thank you for joining us once again. First off, let us start with the basics, can you exercise when you are pregnant.

Female: Of course, you can exercise, that is one of the first questions that I always get. I did not know that it was safe for me to exercise. Would I not hurt the baby if I am jumping around too much? Will I lose the baby and the answer is shortly no. Actually, not the more exercise you do but if you are physically active throughout your pregnancy, you are going to have an easier time throughout your pregnancy, you will be stronger, you will have more energy, you will be more fit and you will be more ready for labor and what comes after labor. So we always say yes, most definitely, keep up that physical activity during pregnancy.

Female: So it is okay to do abs?

Female: It is definitely okay to do abdominal exercises and there are different variations of the abdominal exercise that we give the prenatal woman. We do not want you lying on your back after the first trimester or so. Generally after 14 or so weeks, so we tend to have you an inclined position doing crunches either on the ball or we have you doing some planks or bridging, different types of core exercises that will really focus on strengthening the abdominal and lower back muscles and keeping you strong throughout your pregnancy.

Female: What is the recommended time that you should wait after you give birth to start getting back in exercise and losing that baby weight and on the other side, how soon are these celebrities working out after they give birth?

Female: We do not really know the true answer to that and let me tell you, if I had a team of people working round the clock for me, a private chef, a personal trainer, a personal yoga instructor, someone to stay overnight with the baby, so that I am getting adequate sleep, all of those things factor into a more expedient recovery.

That is not to say that all celebrities are doing that. We do have some very healthful and health minded celebrities who are taking things slow and that is good so the general rule is six weeks postpartum. That is after you see your doctor, you have a six week checkup postpartum and they will give you the okay to begin your exercise routine again. In terms of celebrities, starting back, yes we do see pictures of them out running a couple days after giving birth. We really do not know. Who knows actually when the picture is taken? Things are portrayed in the media actually much differently than they might be in reality so you can never really gauge too much. So do not take celebrity fitness to heart.

Female: Also I will say breast feeding burns off calories, correct?

Female: It burns about 500 extra calories a day so people who are nursing sometimes tend to see a quicker weight loss than those who may not be but that is not to say that it is the ultimate weight loss, it is not the miracle drug for weight loss postpartum. Of course, not and you know bottle fed babies do just fine as well and the moms, their bodies react differently and they will get into shape on their own time as well. But nursing is generally pretty good for everybody for baby and mom.

Female: Good to know. Thank you for stopping by and giving us these fabulous tips and for all you guys, I am not pregnant, I am just asking her for all of you. Some of my reactions to your comments, you might want to make some fun comments but no. It is another 10 years away. So thank you and if you guys want to check out our fitness videos with Dar for some safe exercises while you are pregnant, log on to diet.com or check our diet health channel. We hope to see you guys next time.