More summer fashions for nursing your wee one in style this summer.
Archive for August, 2009
My Workout Plan
Aug 14
It’s 7 weeks after the delivery of my second child. I’m 30 years old and I gained about 40 pounds during my pregnancy. Now, 7 weeks later, I still have 25 pounds to lose. But really, I wasn’t exactly at the right weight before my pregnancy, so to get back to my healthy weight I’ll need to shave off about 40 pounds in total.
I met with my personal trainer. Here is the workout plan she gave me to start. This is my plan for the next 6 weeks when I’ll meet with her again to revise my plan based on my success.
- Cardio
Cardio that makes you sweat – 5 days per week. For me this will be step class since this is my favorite, but it can be treadmill, bike, or anything else you enjoy.
- Weights
Work out my muscles 3 days per week. Do different types of muscle workouts to keep those muscles growing. I’ll be alternating between a “Power” class at my gym (which is basically a 50 minute muscle workout where we do all major muscles) and the weight machines.
Here is the plan for the weight machines. The idea is to work out the biggest muscles since those are the ones that help to keep you buring extra calories even when your sitting.
To start I’ll be doing 2 reps of 15, increasing to 3 reps of 15 once I get better at it:
- Chest Press – 20 pounds
- Back Row – 50 pounds
- Shoulder Raise – 20 pounds
- Ab Crunch
- Quads – 50 pounds
- Leg Extension – 40 pounds (for hamstrings and butt)
- Triceps – 10 pounds
- Eating Healthy
My Personal Trainer said that getting in shape is 60% eating healthy and 40% working out. Her advice for eating healthy – drink lots of water and eat frequent small meals every 3 hours or so.
It’s 7 weeks after the delivery of my second child. I’m 30 years old and I gained about 40 pounds during my pregnancy. Now, 7 weeks later, I still have 25 pounds to lose. But really, I wasn’t exactly at the right weight before my pregnancy, so to get back to my healthy weight I’ll need to shave off about 40 pounds in total.
Problem # 1 – I’m breastfeeding.
My number one priority is to maintain a healthy milk supply for my baby. So, I did some research online about losing weight while brestfeeding. The most common thing I read was that while breastfeeding you need an extra 500 calories, so how does that factor in to losing weight? One expert mentioned that not everyone needs exactly 500 extra calories during breastfeeding, some need more, some need less – it depends on how often your breastfeeding, if your supplementing, and many other variables. In the end I got buried with information overload on the internet, there is just too much information out there!!
I made an appointment with my public health nurse who is also a lacatation consultant. I asked her if I was allowed to excercise, eat healthy, and lost weight. Her answer – YES! She says do whatever makes you feel good because that is most important. According to her the three most important factors affecting your milk supply are:
Top 3 factors affecting Milk Supply:
- Stress – mothers with higher stress levels produce less milk
- Sleep – mothers who don’t get enough sleep produce less milk
- Water – mothers needs to consume enough water
Next, I spoke with my personal trainer. Her tops points for losing weight:
- Cardio/Weights – 3-5 times per week
- Drink lots of water
- Eat frequent small meals
Check out my full workout plan.
Combining this advice here are my thoughts on losing weight while breastfeeding (keeping in mind I’m not a professional, just a regular mom trying to lose some weight):
- Excercise as much as you feel comfortable
- Eat healthy but don’t starve yourself
- Drink lots of water
I see all these factors working together. Working out makes you less stressed and less stress means more milk. Drinking lots of water is important for losing weight as well as for milk supply. Excercise helps you get better sleep which helps you produce more milk. And lastly, eating healthy never hurt anyone so I’m sure it can’t hurt my milk supply!
So, I’m off to losing weight… hopefully! I’ll keep you posted.
Send us your feedback!
Aug 11
We love interacting with our customers and receiving feedback that helps us to improve our store. Here are some ways we have improved based on your feedback:
- Per Item Shipping – some customers were reluctant to order only 1 item from our store due to the high cost of shipping from Canada Post. As a result we have implemented a new shipping option ($5 shipping per item) that customers can use when purchasing fewer items.
- New Nursing Styles – We would like to thank especially those customers who have given us valuable feedback regarding their likes and dislikes about various styles as it has helped us to order new inventory based on what customers like the best.
- Size Filter – some customers were finding it difficult to find an item in their size. As a result we implemented a new filter on each page where our customers can select their size and the website will display only those items that are in their size.
Some examples of feedback we love are:
- your experience with BumbleWee
- our customer service
- your shopping experience on our website
- our clothing
You can email us feedback at customercare@bumbleweenursing.ca or leave a comment on this post.