7 Easy Ways to Burn Calories with a Baby
Finding time to exercise while tending to an infant can be challenging. But burning calories to lose some of your pregnancy weight and re-tone your body is still possible nonetheless. It just takes some creative thinking to incorporate an unconventional workout into your day. We’ve come up with 7 easy ways to burn calories with a baby that will help you drop the pregnancy pounds ands get fit without hitting the gym.
1) Baby-wearing: There are many benefits of baby-wearing including bonding with your baby and calming her with closeness and constant movement. A huge bonus is that carrying around extra weight makes your body work harder and burn calories. Baby-wearing only lasts for a short window so try wearing your baby throughout your daily activities before she gets too big. Switch up wearing your baby in the front and back (when she’s old enough) to work different muscles. Strong muscles burn calories! The stronger your muscles, the more calories you’ll be burning.
2) Breastfeeding: Nourishing your baby through breastfeeding should be rewarding enough on its own, but an added advantage is that your body has to use a ton of energy to do it. In fact, your body requires 25% of its energy to breastfeed which means you can burn between 300 and 500 calories per day just breastfeeding. That’s major burn for not even moving!
3) Strenuous Strolling: Walking is great medium-impact exercise and pushing a stroller while walking makes it an even more rigorous physical activity. Look for parks and neighborhoods with lots of hills that will require extra strength to push your little one uphill and muscle control to go downhill. If the weather is cold, rainy or too hot, try mall walking. Many mom groups organize stroller walks if you’re looking for some company on your strolls. And don’t forget to wear your sport nursing bras for easy breastfeeding wherever you go.
4) Mommy & Me Yoga: Striking a yoga pose can be hard enough but what if you add your baby to the mix? Enroll in a mommy & me yoga class or buy a video that you can do at home. You’ll be using your baby’s weight as resistance to make your poses even more challenging.
5) Housecleaning: Vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing and dusting can all be done with baby in tow. Housecleaning is a great time to wear your baby to increase the physical workload. Babies often love the repetitive motions and may even enjoy the sound of the vacuum. If you don’t have time to get in your workout because you have so much housework to do, make a workout out of housework with a little help from your baby.
6) Baby-lifting: If you need to incorporate some strength exercises into your baby workouts, use your baby as an increasing source of resistance. Test all of your favorite weight-lifting moves – bicep curls, tricep dips, chest pulls, overhead presses – using your baby as your weight. She’ll probably love the movement and watching her face light up in delight will make the time fly.
7) Steps & Stairs: Intentionally keep your changing table and other supplies you need regularly away from your main play spaces so you’ll have to walk further every time you need them. For example, if your baby’s bedroom is upstairs, don’t set up a separate changing station downstairs. Rather, take the time to walk upstairs to change diapers. Climbing the stairs more often will increase your caloric burn.
Your little one will give new meaning to the phrase, “burn baby, burn.” Enjoy your time together with these easy ways to burn calories with a baby.
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