Postpartum Exercise Motivation Tips that Never Fail
How to Get Motivated to Work Out Postpartum
Starting to workout postpartum can be so hard! You’re exhausted, you’re breastfeeding, you have no free hands and no free time. Learn how you can get started exercising postpartum when you so aren’t feeling it.
In this post you will learn great tips and tricks that will help you get back on that workout wheel. These tips and tricks will help you lose the baby weight postpartum, feel good in your skin again, and fill your cup that you are constantly pouring into everyone else a little bit.
**This post may contain affiliate links to items that I own and love and am confident will benefit you immensely. Read full disclosure here.**
Getting Motivated to Work Out After baby is Hard
I’m a mama to three. It seems that getting yourself to exercise postpartum gets even more difficult after each pregnancy.
I’m sure it’s because the exhaustion is even more after each pregnancy. After all, by the third you are not just coming home to snuggle that cute little bundle and figure out how the heck to keep them alive!
Nope, now you are also chasing after a toddler, reading to your big kids, and the like. While breastfeeding and still figuring out how to keep that tiny little human alive.
But whether this is your first baby or your fifth it doesn’t matter. We ALL need these tips and tricks to get moving again after having a baby.
Postpartum Recovery is Important
You need to let your body heal and rest. Even if you had a vaginal delivery with no tearing, a C-section, or something in between you STILL need to rest and recover.
For at least two weeks. Let your hubby help with the laundry. Let your mom cook you some meals. And let your older kids pick up their own toys.
You need to rest, recover, and heal while your body repairs.
If you are suffering from diastasis recti or pelvic floor disfunction be sure to work on repairing those areas first prior to beginning any more vigorous exercise. I have a post devoted to each that will really help you out if either of those are troubling you:
- Physical Therapy Exercises to Strengthen your Pelvic Floor Postpartum
- How to Prevent or Repair Diastasis Recti (written by a doctor of physical therapy)
If you are looking for even more step-by-step abdominal recovery, I went through a program called Postpartum Ab Rehab that is a gem created by a doctor of physical therapy.
Dr. Jena DPT walks you through exactly how she helps women repair their cores postpartum so that they are ready to take on more vigorous exercise an really get into losing the baby weight and feeling like themselves again.
You can do this program, mostly laying right next to your baby, in the comfort of your own home. Beyond amazing, right? Check out Postpartum Ab Rehab to strengthen your core first!
It’s critical to get clearance from your doctor and repair your core and pelvic floor if they are weakened from pregnancy and childbirth prior to beginning an exercise regime.
You’re so smart for being here mama! During pregnancy your body changes so fast, it can be tough to keep up! But before you know it, you will be holding that little bundle of joy in your arms and not your stomach.
Getting back to feeling like yourself again postpartum can be tough. And the easiest way to do that is by learning how to repair your core from a Doctor of Physical Therapy.
You have all these prenatal appointments and then you get ONE postpartum checkup… maybe two if you’re lucky. That’s why you absolutely need to take your postpartum rehab into your hands. And grab some help from the hands of a knowing doctor and mama of four who can walk you step by step through the gentlest and most effective way to restore your core!!
Get it now because the program starts while you’re still preggo= even more amazing! Postpartum Abs is what every mom should be handed at their postpartum checkup, and maybe one day they will be! Get your copy now.
repair after all they’ve been through!
Postpartum Weight Loss While Breastfeeding
There is one struggle that so many moms have postpartum, knowing how to lose the baby weight safely while breastfeeding. Can you even do that? How can you diet and breastfeed? How can you lose the excess weight and not lose your milk supply?
For years I’ve been asked by my mom clients these same questions in different ways again and again. So as a certified online health coach, fitness trainer, maternal nutrition specialist, and mom of 3, I decided to compile the proven successful postpartum diet and exercise plan that I created for my breastfeeding mom clients into a program that now anyone can have access to!
It’s called the Milky Mama’s Postpartum Plan and it is built for you! To teach you everything you need to know to be successful at postpartum weight loss while breastfeeding!
Check out my 28 day plan now to help you regain strength postpartum with short effective workouts, increase your milk supply with loads of delicious recipes, and finally lose that excess baby weight at the same time!
How to Get Motivated to Work Out Postpartum
1. Put on Your Workout Clothes
Normally I advise to sleep in your workout clothes because it really takes out all the excuses. You rise and shine in your workout garb so you might as well squeeze in that workout. Or even if it’s later in the day when that free 20 minutes rolls around, you are already ready!
But sleeping postpartum can be messy. Once all that afterbirth is gone you still are leaking milk, probably extra sweaty, and if you cosleep, there’s all that inevitable baby pee that will find it’s way out of that diaper somehow.
Waking up any time in the postpartum months is rarely refreshing at all.
So now I’m changing my typical advice to just put on your workout clothes! Even if you do not feel like working out in the least, plan on taking a nap, and have other things to do.
When you’re wearing them already, when you do find that burst of energy, or that sudden motivation, you are already set. No more excuses.
2. Have a Workout Playlist
We all have some sort of music app on our phones these days. Youtube, pandora, prime music, spotify, etc. Make a playlist, actually make a couple that get you jazzed!
Things you can bob your head to and sing along and not realize the time passing or the burning in your legs as you rock out ten more squats.
You don’t have to use your playlists all the time, but when you need them, they’ll already be there! Because searching for songs is not conducive to a good workout. Get yourself set now!
I say make multiple playlists because your mood might be different or your workout might be different. When lifting weights I might feel inspired by Imagine Dragons and those hard beats while I’ll ride an extra half mile on my exercise bike if I’m jamming out with ACDC. Everyone’s taste is different, but make a few different lists for your different moods and workouts.
3. Get Enough Clean Protein
Your breastmilk supply and your postpartum recovery are directly related to your protein. If you weren’t recently postpartum you need to focus on protein when working out to help build and repair your muscles.
But for you mama, it is of the utmost importance! You need to be eating enough protein (at least 70 grams a day) while breastfeeding. Every cell in your body is made up of protein so while repairing them postpartum, you need more protein.
And now you are adding exercise on top of that, which requires more protein to repair your muscles.
If you aren’t fueling your body properly, you will not find the motivation for a good workout. You will drag, crave sweets, and feel exhausted.
Taking a high quality protein shake that contains superfoods, adaptogens, and enough nutrients to have replaced my prenatal (because you’re supposed to take that while breastfeeding too) really motivates me.
I feel energized, satiated, and ready to workout whenever I start my day with my Shakeology drink. It replaced so many different things I was taking like digestive enzymes (because somehow childbirth always messes up my digestive system bad), my greens drink, and my prenatal!
Postpartum you’re tired and busy, anything that can take remembering all that health out of your day when you are already exhausted, get you pumped to exercise, and fuels your body with clean protein should be included! Oh and you can make it with one hand. Since you pretty much are always one handed right now!
I like vanilla whey shakeology the BEST because whey helps women to rebuild muscle, and postpartum that’s exactly what you need to do! The whey shakes are also the ones that are fortified with all the nutrients of your prenatal including the right kind of folate!
4. Use Motivational Mantras
Have you ever read fun fitness quotes online? Maybe seen someone’s fitness T-shirt and it totally made you smile or motivated you? That’s what I’m talking about.
You need to find some that work for YOU. Those ones that you find totally relatable, that pull at YOUR heartstrings and make you want to get up and move.
To do it for you to be the best healthy version of yourself and to do it for your kids to be the best mommy you can. If you don’t take care of yourself, it’s really hard to take care of others and genuinely enjoy it.
You can look some up on Pinterest and write them down, pick up a couple workout tees with some or get my free printable ones (along with my library of other freebies to help you along your postpartum fitness journey).
5. Follow Along with Videos
Hitting the gym is not an option right now and to be honest, it’s really hard to do as a new mom anyways.
One beautiful trick to learn as a postpartum new mommy is to workout at home! Workout with and around your kids!
As a personal trainer and coach that has always been my specialty, helping mamas learn how to get that workout in even in their busy mom lives.
One epic way to find motivation is to follow along with real trainers online! There are some great fitness channels on Youtube like Popsugar Fitness that provide lots of different workouts.
Personally I have a subscription to Beachbody On Demand which is for an entire YEAR at a time and saves me the time scrolling through youtube searching for something new at a third of the price of a gym memebership.
As I mentioned, anything that saves you time and brainpower as a new mom should be invested in. You are caring for a tiny human all day and all night, help yourself out because you deserve it. Fill your cup to be healthier and happier and your family will benefit!
Plus BOD provides tons of the top trainers, every kind of program you’d want, challenges, and more all in one simple app. It’s my go to to keep me motivated to workout!
6. Get a Nice Baby Carrier
When you’re a mother your entire approach to working out has to change.
Maybe your baby will only stay in the stroller 5 minutes without screaming. Or maybe they are just so much more content in mamas arms. Mine are always that way. I’m typing one handed with a sleeping baby on my shoulder right now!
Exercising as a new mom is a whole new ball game!
Whether you babywear already, or the idea is pretty foreign to you, babywearing can be a busy mom’s best friend for exercise! It was pretty life changing for me. Some days I literally can only get in 5 minutes of workout before baby needs me.
Some days they just want to be held ALL day! You can use that adorable little weight, take out any ballistic movements, and still get in an awesome workout!
Be sure baby’s head is strong enough to be the way you put them in the carrier.
Here are 5 great babywearing workouts to get you started.
Babywearing while exercising is my secret little trick to always staying motivated to workout with my kids. It eliminates my excuses!
I’ve found with doing babywearing workouts (as well as teaching babywearing workout classes) with a newborn and then toddler on board that the ability for her to face both directions was extremely valuable.
Most babies are far more content being worn on mom than anywhere else. I recommend getting a high quality ergonomic baby carrier. Some of these are extremely high priced and while I’ve heard MANY moms tout their amazing love for their carriers, more affordable options work quite well too.
7. Get a Rockin Support System
Whether it be your husband, your best friend, a support group online, a personal coach, or some combination of them. Support makes all the difference. It gives you more motivation than anything else, having your own personal cheerleaders who care about your goals.
I’m so excited I’ve opened up direct coaching to help more mamas reach their health and fitness goals. It is invaluable to have someone in your corner cheering you on.
Pointing you in the right directions for your workouts and nutrition and having it all laid out for you. I was a Certified Personal Fitness trainer specializing in helping mamas reach their postpartum fitness goals!
That’s why I started this blog, to help more moms do exactly that so I could stay home with my kids. But now I’m meeting somewhere in the middle. Still home with the kids and running the blogs, but also helping mamas who want a little more hands on guidance to lose the baby weight, learn to love their skin again, and truly find their happy place in motherhood.
Plus my group already has hundreds of women on their own health and fitness journey’s there to cheer you on, share sweaty selfies, and hold each other accountable. Sound like something you’d like to chat a bit about and see if it’s a good fit for you? Email Allie anytime at vigoritout@gmail.com I’d love to be on your team!
Wrapping Up How to Get Motivated to Work Out Postpartum
When you are tired, up all night, just healed from birthing a human, and don’t know how to start nor feel like it, exercising after having a baby can be hard! You might not know what to do, and probably don’t feel like doing it even if you do.
That’s where these tips and tricks can be motivational lifesavers. Because you will feel better if you workout. You will get endorphins, better body image, repgain strength postpartum, and the list just goes on.
Print some mantras, drink your protein shakes, and find some support! You got this mama!
