A new Mom’s main priority is taking care of her baby and her family but she always has the priority to lose weight after giving birth lurking in the wings. Unfortunately, this priority can be put on hold or delayed if she has the following misconceptions regarding weight loss.

Losing pregnancy weight can be challenging for a busy Mom. What if you have been committed to losing the weight and after all the hard work and sacrifice, you end up not getting the expected results and decide to “throw in the towel”? You will have to assume that something was not quite right or that something was missing. It’s time to right some of your wrongs and find the missing link.

1. Cardiovascular exercise takes you only so far.

Cardiologists love cardio because it is the exercise that is best for strengthening our heart and keeping it healthy. It also builds up your muscles endurance. Even though cardio burns calories, its overall effect, when done too much in tandem with a diet can result in losing your muscle mass. Therefore, you will get slim but have no muscle tone.

For the determined Mom who is trying to burn the baby fat with spending her valuable workout time only doing cardio such as running, the disappointing news is that your body eventually adjusts to the type of cardio that you perform and you will not lose any more weight. This means that your 45 min run 2 months ago would have burned more calories than the same activity today. This is a possible piece of the puzzle as to why you are not getting “there”.

2. Weight training is good, very good.

As they saying goes, “if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it” and the same applies to our muscles. And to make things worse, our muscles naturally deteriorate as we age. However, we can re-build our “unused” muscle mass to get our muscles lean and toned if we include some resistance strength training into our workout routine. Resistance training is the strength training that is used to tone and strengthen your muscles.

Compared to other forms of strength training such as power lifting or bodybuilding, resistance training does not make your muscles bulky but it does increase your muscle and bone density. Rest assured that using weights as part of your workout will not bulk up your muscle unless you are willing to undergo the intense diet and exercise regime of people who want to big muscles.

Rest easy Mom, you won’t be able to get bulky using free weights or an exercise ball to trim your tummy. When you work your muscles using some form of resistance, you will get a lean, toned body and have more energy to see you through your busy day. You will look and feel great.

3. Weight training is User Friendly.

Resistance training is a good ally to have on your side in the war to lose the pregnancy weight. The techniques for each exercise are easy to master and the equipment is inexpensive. The workouts can be done at home within 20 minutes with very little equipment such as dumbbells or an exercise ball.

Spending time in the gym can be intimidating and time consuming. So why make your efforts to lose weight after giving birth more unpleasant? Losing pregnancy weight can be more attainable when you can do it at home. A resistance workout is easy to learn and convenient for the busy Mom.

Focusing on only one form of training to lose pregnancy weight fast is like putting all your eggs in one basket. Combining your cardio and resistance training will certainly speed up your goal to get back into pre-baby shape and then some. You need to diversify your workouts to get the body you want and be the better off for doing it.

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