I hear a lot of moms talking about “losing the baby weight” and “getting their body back” after giving birth. For the love of our bodies and our lifelong health, we need to switch the focus from weight loss to healing and reconnecting with our bodies in postpartum.
YOUR BODY NEVER LEFT
Your body has been stretched and perhaps cut and stitched during the birth process. In the days following birth, you might find yourself feeling engorged, leaking or achy. You may even feel like your body is not your own, or that you don’t look like yourself. To be honest, I struggled with many of these feelings after my first child was born. But now, after birthing 3 little humans in 4 years, I get it. Your body grew and birthed a child into this world: it will NEVER be the same. I know this is hard to hear. I was angry when I first heard this. How can my body never be the same? But then I realized… It doesn’t mean my body won’t ever feel strong or powerful again. It doesn’t mean I won’t feel like myself again. Your body never left; it went through a transformation. You are now a mother and that’s pretty amazing.
MY VIEW ON GETTING YOUR BODY BACK POSTPARTUM
“Getting your body back” doesn’t mean looking like you never had a baby before. It means that you should feel connected again. It means that you should feel strong again. Getting your body back “means that you should be able to bend over a crib, pick up a car seat, or sprint after a toddler without leaking urine or being in pain. It means being aware of your breath, and being able to engage your deepest core muscles. Additionally, It means feeling confident in your body, and in control of your movements. The best way to do this is by reconnecting your brain to the muscles in your core and pelvic floor after birth.
No matter what type of birth you have, it’s beneficial to spend some time, ideally in the early weeks after birth, purposely making new brain-muscle connections. But what does it mean to make new brain-muscle connections?
MAKING NEW BRAIN-MUSCLE CONNECTIONS
In pregnancy, your body goes through a lot of changes as things shift to allow for your baby to grow. Your support system is made of muscles, ligaments and connective tissues holding your pelvis and spine together. As you grow your baby, your support system is not as stable as it once was because of all these changes. Your brain starts to lose some connections to certain muscles. This can result in muscle weakness, aches and pains, and even injuries if not addressed properly.
AVOID PROBLEMS DOWN THE ROAD
Many of the muscle weakness issues common in postpartum will not just magically resolve by themselves. Often times, women go on with their lives and will end up with injuries in later years that can be linked back to core weakness that was never addressed after birth.
Re-establishing the brain-muscle connections in your deep core and pelvic floor muscles is the first step in postpartum to create the support your body needs for a strong foundation and future.
BOTTOM LINE
Do you want a body that feels good, strong, and stable? Spend time reconnecting your brain and body in early postpartum! Don’t worry so much about “getting your body back” but focus instead on having a well-supported and functioning body that will age gracefully. Trust me, you will feel like your body never left. Check out my FREE Postpartum Guide: 4 Exercises Every Woman Needs to Know to Heal her Body After Birth.
My online program Fourth Trimester Restore will help you rehab and strengthen your body from the inside out after birth. What your doctor and most fitness professionals don’t know or don’t tell you is IN THIS PROGRAM. If you want to feel like yourself again after birth and get rid of leaking, aches and pains, and that mommy pooch, don’t wait any longer! Check out Fourth Trimester Restore here.
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