Showing posts with label dieting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dieting. Show all posts

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Exercise, Diet and Weight Loss For The Breast Feeding Mom

Exercise, Diet and Weight Loss For The Breast Feeding Mom by Donovan Baldwin

If you are concerned about such things as weight loss and fitness, particularly after a pregnancy and during the breast feeding period, you are a normal woman. Many new moms just like you want to know how diet, exercise, and a weight loss program will affect their ability to effectively breast feed their baby. Here's a few pieces of information and tips on the subject. For particular advice concerning your plans, your baby, and your breast feeding program, talk to your doctor.



Diet



While your particular diet has less impact on the breast milk you provide your baby than you might think, it is important for YOU to be healthy during this period. You are going to be losing a lot of sleep and experiencing a lot of stress anyway, and it will be a difficult time to add the burden of "going on a diet" to everything else"going on a diet" to everything else. The last thing you need at this time is more stress, and trying to maintain your energy level and enjoy your new baby while you are cutting your own personal nutrition is not a good choice. Fad diets in particular, tend to shortchange the dieter in terms of necessary nutrition, and even if these things do not directly affect your baby, it affects you, and whatever affects you can ultimately affect your child"diets", particularly those of the fad sort, tend to shortchange the dieter in terms of necessary nutrition, and even if this does not directly affect your baby, it affects you, and what affects you can affect your child.



If you must "diet" as part of your personal weight loss plan, look into NutriSystem, the South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers, or similar weight loss programs as they stress proper nutrition, exercise, AND have a support mechanism which will put your in contact with others like yourself...often including new moms! If you don't want to get involved with such organized program, then at least make sure that you are following a healthy eating plan and getting regular moderate exercise.



Exercise



It is normally perfectly okay to exercise during the breast feeding period. You'll be happy to learn that research has shown that regular, moderate exercise may actually help milk production. As always, in the face of particular circumstances, check with your doctor first. Here's a few things you might want to think about.



One thing that is always a consideration but which is even more important at this time is to protect your breasts. Injury or stress to them can result in conditions such as infection or mastitis which could interfere with your ability to feed your baby and might even result in more extreme health problems. So, always start with a good fitting, comfortable, effective support bra. You should be careful to cut out exercises which may cause direct or indirect stress to the breasts or pressure on, or impact to, the breasts. Here's where I make my usual plug that for many women, yoga is an excellent fitness choice.



If you were previously an exerciser, ease back into your routine. You may have to modify your routine, providing low-impact alternatives to your familiar high-impact exercises. Don't overdo it. Don't stray from that healthy eating plan you've got going, and drink lots of fluids. Nurse before exercising. It's no good to be hot and sweaty, or in the middle of your favorite exercise routine and have to stop everything to take care of a hungry baby.



Exercise does not have to be a scheduled rigid routine. That walk with your new baby in the stroller may be just the physical activity you both need at the moment. Of course, having to stop for all the compliments on your beautiful new child may interrupt the proceedings a bit.



Weight Loss



After your pregnancy, you will certainly be interested in losing the weight that seems to have appeared from nowhere. As always, one big key to healthy weight loss is going to be what you do in two main areas; physical activity and nutrition. If you are following some of the advice above, are getting some regular moderate exercise and have a healthy eating plan firmly in place, there is a good chance that most of that unwanted weight will disappear. However, if it is not going away fast enough, or that last little bit is sticking around, maybe you will need to ramp up your exercise a bit. However, stick with the plan, make your adjustments in bite-size increments, and don't overdo it.



After all, you are trying to live healthy for the both of you.



Donovan Baldwin is a Texas writer, and a University of West Florida alumnus. He is a member of Mensa, and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. He regularly publishes articles on health, fitness, yoga, weight loss, and related subjects. You can find more tips and informaton on breast feeding a newborn baby at http://breast-feeding.web-home.ws/

Friday, March 16, 2007

Something Every Dieter Needs to Know

Something Every Dieter Needs to Know by

Did you know that 75% of dieters actually put on more weight in the long term than before they started dieting? No jokes about it. No only that but there's health concerns as well?



According to Miller Jones, a professor of nutrition and food science at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota...



4th graders are aware of the word diet, especially the girls.



Recently a massive worldwide study concluded that diets don't work long term for the majority of people on them and it might even put your life at risk.



This type of yo-yo behavior is linked to many health problems. Because of the strain on the body of repeated weight loss and weight gain, the researchers found that the dieters would have been better off not dieting at all.



Research has shown the repeated rapid weight gain and loss associated with dieting can double the risk of death from heart disease, including heart attacks, and the risk of premature death in general.



For starters...



When you think 'diet' you are actively engaging in short term thinking. When you start to think of it as something you go on and then off again, that's the wrong direction.



Some of the BEST resources on nutrition are not diets. They are eating plans. They are the basics of eating correctly for the rest of your life. Eating for everyday living is something you can be taught. There's nothing short term about them.



"The benefits of dieting are simply too small and the potential harms of dieting are too large for it to be recommended as a safe and effective treatment for obesity." -Dr Traci Mann



A quick test is to simply look at any given plan and immediately ask yourself...



Can I eat this way for the rest of my life and not fall prey to hunger cravings or temptations?



Frankly...



If you are overweight, then thinking in the short term is exactly why you could be doomed to fail! As you bounce from one plan to the next, you become more and more frustrated.



FACT: Many diets that use a severe calorie restriction just makes it harder to lose the weight the next time.



FACT: Some studies show that repeated weight loss and regain actually increase the changes you'll gain even more weight the next time.



FACT: It shouldn't come as a shock that people who exercise report the most long term weight loss.



Now with all this in mind...



No matter what eating plan you choose or what your goals, just drop the word 'diet' from your vocabulary and pick a plan you can stick with for life. That encourages slow weight loss or weight gain. That doesn't "demonize" foods but helps you pick and choose from healthy alternatives and explains the reasons why.



If you are always changing your eating habits for special events or every 8 weeks, you might be dieting. Before you start your next diet, that's the time to step back and ask yourself if you know all you can about proper, healthy nutrition. Learning how to eat correctly is something you can stick with for life and avoid the common frustrations.



Learn exactly how to eat, what to eat and when to eat it. No more dangerous and frustrating diets. Marc David has many bodybuilding tips and author of the, Beginner's Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding. Learn about fitness weight loss programs and the 6 Simple Steps to Successfully creating your personal nutrition plan.



Article Source: ArticleBazaar.net