Why We Need To Move More
Movement is an important component in creating the energy deficit needed to lose weight. Along with burning calories and increasing your metabolism, it releases endorphins, which are the feel good hormones our body makes during exercise. These hormones give us a feeling of well-being, relieve stress and can help us to avoid any postpartum blues.
Walking is one of the easiest ways to lose baby weight. It is a gentle exercise that is natural and safe - perfect for mums of all fitness levels. You don’t need trendy classes, expensive gyms or complicated online workouts. Walking has the added benefit of being an exercise you can do with your baby – which makes finding the time to do it easier! Most babies enjoy a ride in the pram or carrier, so if you have trouble settling your baby, taking a walk will not only make your baby happier, it will make you feel better. You can even turn your walks into a fun social event – catch up with a friend or a neighbour for a walk instead of a coffee.
The team at In Shape Mummy understands the needs of busy mums who are juggling the demands of the whole family. We’ve designed our exercise program to be easy to do and easy to stick to. Our exercise program is based on walking as this is the easiest and safest form of exercise for mums of all fitness levels.
To make calorie burning fun, we’ll be holding virtual walking challenges around exciting new destinations all around the world! Join other mums from around Australia by logging the number of steps you take or the time you walked each day on our website. We'll track your progress on a map. Every step you take or every minute of exercise equates to many meters travelled around the map. Enjoy photos and tourist highlights along the way.
To track the number of steps you take you can use a pedometer or activity tracker (if you have one) or a free pedometer app on your smartphone. Alternatively, you can purchase a pedometer for only $24.95 from the shop page on the In Shape Mummy website - coming soon in December.
Pedometers are great motivators to move more. It's surprising how addictive it is to watch your steps add up over the day! Even moving around your house and hanging out the washing counts – it all adds up! If it’s too hard to carve out a thirty minute block for exercise, try fitting in three ten minute walks.
The first In Shape Mummy virtual walking challenge starts on January 1st. Come and join us as we walk our way around Australia!
