Good work out?

sarahblain19

I need to find a good workout that I can do at home with no equipment I'm trying to lose my pregnancy belly (I'm not pregnant)
Can anyone steer me in the right direction please

AnnPT77

If your goal is just losing extra fat weight, then exercise is optional. Losing fat can be done purely through the eating side of the picture.

Exercise burns some extra calories so we can eat a bit more while losing at the same sensible weight loss rate, and of course it's good for health and appearance in other ways.

The sweet spot for maximum exercise calorie burn tends to be figuring out how much time a person can spend exercising while maintaining good overall life balance, then spending that time doing steady-state cardio that's manageably challenging, but not exhausting. There can be maybe a few minutes of "whew" right after the exercise, but a person should be energized for the rest of the day, not exhausted. How intense or what type of exercise that is depends on the person's starting fitness level.

For beginners (or nearly so), walking is great. If that's you, and you have a baby/toddler, and the weather and location is OK, you could take them out for walks in the stroller or something. If you want to stay indoors, many people seem to like the free Leslie Sansone walking videos on YouTube.

If not a beginner, then other exercise may be viable, but without knowing more about you, it's hard to say what, other than maybe "more intense stuff on YouTube".

If appearance is a major goal, then including some strength training will be good for that, even though that doesn't burn many calories. There are bodyweight programs you can do at home with minimal or no equipment, and despite the title, some of those are cited in this post:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Strength training is good for other reasons, too, like bone strength, which is very important for us women as we age. Also, strength is useful in daily life, right? So, take part of that time budget, do some strength training, too: That's what I'd recommend.

There's no exercise that will spot-reduce certain body areas. It can tighten some up a little, but the effect tends to be fairly minor in the big picture. Losing fat and increasing strength/muscle are controlled by our diet and exercise, with some genetics in the picture, too. Where it happens on our bodies is up to our bodies, more than up to our hopes, unfortunately.

If part of your pregnancy belly is from diastasis recti, there are specific physical therapy exercises for that. If your doctor would refer you for in-person physical therapy, that would be ideal. If not, Bob & Brad, real physical therapists who have a huge set of YouTube videos, have some videos about that, too.

Finally, if loose skin is part of the picture, the most effective interventions are probably losing any residual fat that's conspiring with gravity to keep skin stretched, then relying on patience and time. (My loose skin kept shrinking at least into year 2 of maintaining a healthy weight after loss, maybe longer). Some women use compression garments post-pregnancy to help counteract the gravity effect, but I'm not sure whether that helps or not, because I haven't tried it. I'm sure losing the residual fat would still be necessary.

To help skin shrink, all those things that keep other organs healthy also help skin be healthy, more elastic, thus willing to shrink over time: Good overall nutrition, getting regular exercise, avoiding smoking or much alcohol, not losing weight too fast (because fat loss causes unnecessary, destructive physical stress), managing stress, hydrating adequately, and in skin's case specifically, avoiding sun-tanning.

Long run, if the issue is true loose skin - which is thin wrinkles, not larger folds, generally - surgery is an option. One clever person started saving money for this from the very start of the weight loss/exercise effort, figuring she'd have a good start on the surgery cost when the time arrived, but if she didn't need it, she could take a nice vacation instead. I think most people end up with less loose skin than they fear up front, or during the weight loss/fitness process. It takes time and patience.

Best wishes - you can do this!


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