So many pregnant women are concerned that they’re going to gain a bunch of weight and never lose it.  Some even count calories.  This is not the time to diet.  The key is to focus on nourishing your baby and yourself.   Visualize your beautiful, healthy baby in your arms.  The food that you eat goes to your baby and will help him or her grow, so eat when you are hungry and chose foods like whole grain breads, cereals, pastas, fruit, and greens.

The key to feeling great and looking good stems from taking care of yourself- you are valuable!  For more information check out my article on Baby TV about how to “Stop the Frumpy Mom Cycle”. http://www.babytv.com/articles/Stop-the-Frumpy-Mom-Cycle.aspx?cid=news-01_0807-5

What new momma doesn’t want to lose the baby fat and flatten her abs?  Here’s a simple exercise you can do that will boost your heart rate so your burn more calories and fat plus tone and flatten your abdominals.  The move is a kickboxing exercise called ‘knee strike’.  Here’s how you do it:  Standing with your feet shoulder width apart bring both arms straight up over your head with your fingers pointed towards the ceiling.  Inhale then as you exhale bring your right knee towards your chest, and at the same time lower your arms.  Repeat the knee strike on the right leg for one minute then switch to the left leg for one minute.  Work up to 3-5 minutes on each leg. 

Who says you can’t tone your booty when you’re pregnant?  Here’s a simple exercise you can do to firm your buttocks.  Standing hold onto the back of a chair.  Extend your right leg straight back behind you- your right toe is pointed and touching the ground.  Inhale then exhale lift your right leg up straight as high as you can without leaning foward.  As you lift your leg tighten your buttocks.  Work up to 3 sets on each side-10 slow lifts, 10 pulses, 10 slow lifts.

If you want to lose weight, but you don’t have a lot of time, I recommend incorporating power moves, also known as “polymetrics”.  An example of a power move are exaggerated jumping jacks, meaning jumping up high as you bring your feet together.  Work up to 8-10 sets of 2 min. powermoves.  Rest with a 3-5 min. walk in between each powermove set.

When you’re pregnant there may be times when you ate a couple of hours ago and you’re hungry again.  Listen to your body and EAT!  Just chose healthy snack foods like a few handfuls of Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal, or carrots, or grapes with cheese.  When you listen to your body, you’re nourishing yourself and your baby and that means you’ll have more energy, better mood, and you’ll lose the baby weight quicker.

If you’re trying to lose weight it’s really important that you eat when you’re hungry.  Do NOT deprive your body, instead chose foods that will nourish your body.  When you deprive your body, you’ll be “starving” your body and your body will hold onto fat.  At your next meal you’ll be so hungry that you’ll most likely eat large potions.  So when you feel the rumbling in your tummy chose a healthy snack such as low-fat string cheese and apple, bananas with peanut butter, or a couple of handfuls of nuts.  When you nourish your body vs. deprive it, you’ll eat smaller potions, feel better, have more energy, and your weight will come off naturally!

Ever noticed that when you’re really stressed you take a nice deep breath?  Our bodies have a natural way of calming our minds through this automatic breath of relief.  Once you learn the yoga breath, you can incorporate it into your day to reduce stress and tension in both your body and mind.  To do the yoga breath, get in a comfortable seated position.  Inhale in through your nose then exhale the breath completely out through your nose.  As you exhale press your tongue gently against the roof of your mouth.  You will hear a loud “darth vador” sound.  Repeat the breath as long as you like.  As you breath keep the focus on your breath.  For more information about how to do the yoga breath listen to my podcast:  http://fitbysaratip.fitbysara.com/ 

A great postpartum weight loss exercise is what I like to call the “sideways hurdle”.  This move is a short power move to be used as an interval between power walking or light jogging.  The “sideways hurdle” will get your heart rate up so you burn a bunch of calories in a short period of time, plus it tones the thighs.  To do the move pretend that your jumping over a barrel sideways.  Pump your arms as you jump one leg at time up and over the pretend barrel.  As you jump bring your knees up as high as you can.  Repeat for approximately one minute then resume powerwalking or light jogging.  Repeat the “sideways hurdle” interval between every 5-10 minutes of powerwalking or light jogging.

Here’s a simple pregnancy exercise you can do to tone your quads (top of thigh) and inner thighs.  I call the exercise “Squat and Sweep”.  How to do the move: Hold onto the back of a chair with your feet approximately 3-4 feet apart and your toes slightly turned forward.  Bend your knees into a pilee squat (make sure your knees never go over your toe) and keep your back straight, head lifted.  As you press back to stand bring your weight towards your left leg and slide your right foot on the ground (i.e. “sweep”) so it crosses over your left supporting leg.  Next sweep your right foot back into a pilee squat.  As you press to stand, sweep your left foot across your right leg.  Repeat 10-20 reps each side.