5 Mums share their postpartum fitness journey with The Healthy Mummy (2024)

Read real life stories from Mums who did the 28 Day Weight Loss challenge postpartum and how they made it work for them.

The 5 star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Rated Healthy Mummy App contains a nutritionistsdevelopedPregnancy Meal Plan– fully customisable to suit your family, expert fitness trainerPregnancy Workoutsfor the different stages of pregnancy before and after. My Coach in-app to keep you motivated, plus complete libraries with 6,000+ Family Friendly Recipes and over 500 Guided Workout Videos.

5 Mums share their postpartum fitness journey with The Healthy Mummy (1)

A Customisable Postpartum Program from home developed by experts. Postpartum safe exercises, recipes and 24/7 support so you can get back to what you love.

– Pelvic floor & baby wearing exercises
– Postpartum core strength recovery
– Nutritionally balanced meal plans
– 24/7 Support from our motherhood community

Read postpartum stories from real mums below who share their own experience with The Healthy Mummy Postpartum program.

  • Tips
  • Favourite recipes
  • Advice for other new mums

Amy Harper’s postpartum fitness journey

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Amy shares, “I’m currently embarking on my 2nd postpartum Healthy Mummy journey. and had a successful experience after the birth of my 1st baby too.”

Amy’s top tips!

In the postpartum phase, make sure you are ready! It’s ok not to go all in straight away, baking a baby is a huge job and making sure you’ve had time to recover is important, but you will know when the time is right.

I think it’s important to make changes gradually. Luckily I was using the recipes already and had some freezer stock so my nutrition was relatively easy to maintain. You need plenty of yummy and healthy foods after giving birth to help healing.

I recommend stocking up the freezer when you are able to, the nesting phase is great for this, or just cooking extra to freeze when you cook regular meals on the lead up to having your baby.

Start with walking and the postpartum exercises to get your groove back on. The post-natal program is great for focusing on pelvic floor in a safe way!

Why Amy chose the Healthy Mummy?

I think the Healthy Mummy is a great program to follow, the community is so supportive and having everything you need on an app is so motivating and leaves next to no excuses!

There are also great family-friendly recipes, that are toddler approved in my house as well.

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Amy’s favourite Healthy Mummy recipes

We love the Spicy Pork Noodles, One Pot Spaghetti, Pizza Scrolls and Peanut Bubble Crunch as a treat! It also gets my girls in the kitchen with me learning about food and getting excited for what they are eating.

Amy’s advice for other new mums on how to succeed and keep at it

I am a stickler for routine and the app gives me all the tools I need to be organised. Especially this year since my 2 year old takes a packed lunch to kindy. It makes so much difference to be able to organise meals and plan out my week ahead.

If I didn’t have the Healthy Mummy app for my postpartum journey, I know for sure I would feel very unprepared.

Having easy recipes to make means I always have healthy snacks and meals to reach for, meaning I have a full tummy and can better manage my days running after 2 under 2 and running a business.

Claire Ellen’s postpartum fitness journey

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Claire shares, “I had great success last year with a 9kg loss in 6 months postpartum pregnancy.”

Claire’s top tips

Start with calculating your BMR.

Really think about your ‘why’ and write down small micro goals – steps, water intake, pick a meal time to focus on, increase energy

Why Claire chose The Healthy Mummy?

It is a holistic lifestyle program that works for the whole family. You can do little parts of eating or focus on refining all aspects of your life. It gave me something positive to focus on postpartum and I felt better for moving and nourishing my body with other like minded women.

What worked for Claire

Adapting the Meal plan to suit our budget, time availability and setting up realistic expectations around what I could achieve, especially meal prep wise with a new baby.

I loved being able to conveniently have a smoothie and also track my water intake.

The app workouts can be done at home and I felt better for keeping myself accountable. Even if I didn’t close all my rings every day, I knew I was on the right path and had the support of the Healthy Mummy community.

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Claire’s favourite Healthy Mummy recipes

Claire’s favourite Healthy Mummy recipes include Snickers Mousse, Enchiladas, Cashew, Chicken and Broccoli stirfry. ANY cheesecake recipes! Zucchini Slice, Stovetop Lasagna, and Spicier chickpea bowl.

I also really love the Super Greens for extra energy at the moment with baby number 2.

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Claire’s advice for other new mums on how to succeed and keep at it

Just start small and put one foot in front of the other with a meal plan and some sort of movement each day.

Check in with the Healthy Mummy FB community support page (even just to see what others are up to).

Show yourself some kindness and compassion and know that you are worthy of living a healthy life. Pick a few meals to try and even some Smoothies, you’ve got this!

Jess Magill’s postpartum fitness journey

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Jess’ top tips

Just start! Every single healthy choice is a step closer to where you want to be, you don’t need to start with a whole lot of pressure on yourself for everything to be perfect, just do what you’re able to do.

Start with a healthy breakfast every morning and drinking water like it’s your job. Once you’ve nailed that, tackle healthy lunches and snacks.

Dinner is always the last thing to change for me – It’s the trickiest to change in my opinion when there’s multiple people’s needs to meet so I focus on the easier-to-control meals first.

You’re playing a long game here, it doesn’t all need to be perfect from day one!

Why Jess chose The Healthy Mummy?

Breastfeeding was super important to me and no weight loss was worth compromising that, I loved that everything was feeding-friendly and I wasn’t on a ridiculously low-calorie intake that would affect my supply.

The Healthy Mummy support group was also a HUGE draw card for me – It was amazing seeing all these other mums working hard and smashing their goals and supporting one another!

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What worked for Jess

For me, “guessing” doesn’t work. I need to measure and weigh out my portions to make sure I’m not overeating. I do not have time to do this every day, which means I need to be organised and get it done the night before/on Sunday when our groceries are delivered.

Prep is crucial for me to stay on track, if I don’t have snacks or a lunch that I can grab and eat (usually on the go), then I will likely skip meals and binge later or eat snacky junk instead.

Jess’ favourite Healthy Mummy recipes

Choc Chip Banana Bread is always in my freezer, as is the Caramel Slice. I love the Southwest Chicken Salad or Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna for lunch. Dinners we have on repeat are: Sausage and Veggie Pasta Bake, Easy Chicken Nachos, Meatball Subs and Chicken Tikka Koftas.

I am a big Healthy Mummy Smoothie fan and have used them for 8+ years! I also really like the metabolism supplements.

Jess’ advice for other new mums on how to succeed and keep at it

Brush off bad meals/days and keep going. Also, prep is key!

Rae Willingham’s postpartum fitness journey

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I’ve had two Healthy Mummy postpartum experiences and they couldn’t have been more different if they tried.

I used the Healthy Mummy to regain my fitness and reduce my weight after my 3rd baby and it was a relatively easy experience.

I felt really ready very soon after birth and slipped back into my pre-pregnancy habits very easily.

My 4th was a whole different experience and it really messed with my head.

As much as I tried, I just couldn’t find my groove, and it made me feel very sad and frustrated for a long time.

The difference between the 2 experiences was my access to foundational resources I needed to be able to put effort in to my weight.

Health is a much broader umbrella than just weight loss and fitness and my second Healthy Mummy pregnancy (my fourth pregnancy) really taught me that.

Putting pressure on myself was very unhelpful and affected my mental health greatly. Your baby needs a healthy mum, not a slim one.

Rae’s top tips:

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Focus on your sleep. Not necessarily the amount of sleep you’re getting, because that’s tough for most new mums, but the actual quality of sleep.

This can look like monitoring your water before bed, we all know the pelvic floor takes a beating when pregnant so avoid drinking too much water before bed.

Magnesium and DHA’s are great for helping you to get good quality sleep. Both are safe for pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The meditations on the app are really helpful for calming yourself before bed too.

Rae’s favourite Healthy Mummy recipes

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Make bliss balls. And lots of them!

They’re truly the easiest one handed snack and you can pack them out with nuts and oats to hit those higher pregnancy and breastfeeding calories. They take only a few minutes to whizz up and most varieties can be stored in the pantry (or side of the bed!) for quick grabs. The Weetbix balls are a personal favourite of mine.

Make double batches of everything! Why make one when you can make one for dinner and one for lunch?!

My ultimate go-to’s were the Mexican Lasagne, Zucchini and Bacon Slice and the Stovetop Lasagne.

Get yourself a tub of Healthy Mummy Smoothie mix, or many!

I lived on the Healthy Mummy Smoothies at breakfast for the first few months.

They are so quick to make up and are a fab one handed snack. It was lovely to know I was nourishing myself without having to expend a lot of effort.

Rae’s advice for other new mums on how to succeed and keep at it

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My biggest piece of advice would be to make the effort.

I know it can feel like a stretch to make yourself a priority when you have a baby around but it’s truly worth it for all concerned.

We women are terrible at asking people to help us, but help is exactly what’s needed.

It doesn’t make you a failing Mum to need support, it makes you a wildly wonderful human for knowing that we were never supposed to do the postpartum journey alone.

It was meant to be done surrounded by others.

Take up space and ask to be included in a meal train, to have 30 minutes a day for a bath all to yourself, or to simply catch up on sleep.

Go gently with yourself whilst keeping your number one priority firmly connected to being the healthiest version of yourself, mind, body and soul. Not for your baby; but for yourself as a woman first. Because YOU matter. The mother matters.

Jacqui Gubb’s postpartum fitness journey

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Jacqui’s top tips

Start small, make little changes that are realistic like focusing on water and food intake and tracking it. Do the same with exercise, I started with walking not even a kilometre, then gradually went further and further each time I went for a walk.

Why Jacqui chose Healthy Mummy?

“I love that it’s so real, with other mums just like me. And because it’s such a huge community there are other women who have similar body shapes to me so I know it’s achievable”

What worked for Jacqui

Spending a whole day meal prepping isn’t realistic in my house so I just try to meal prep when I can which might include making extras at dinner or when I’m chopping up veggies chopping up extra so I can have as a snack throughout the week.

Jacqui’s favourite Healthy mummy recipes

Curried sausages are a fave in our house and pretty much all of the Mexican inspired ones. I also love most of the smoothie recipes.

I love the Healthy Mummy smoothies, I’m not a morning person so being able to have a smoothie for breakfast is a big help and I know I’m getting the right nutrients to start my day.

Jacqui’s advice for other new mums on how to succeed and keep at it

It’s a rollercoaster of a journey, some days you’ll smash it and other days may feel overwhelming (especially when juggling work and mum life) but just start everyday a fresh and keep working on those little changes that may not seem major but in the long run it’s a massive help!

Everyone’s journey is different so try not to compare yourselves to others, just keep doing what’s best for you and your family.

5 Mums share their postpartum fitness journey with The Healthy Mummy (14)

Thanks so much for sharing your stories ladies, we really appreciate your tips and advice for other new mums just starting on their postpartum journey with The Healthy Mummy.

Join the The Healthy Mummy New Mum & Pregnancy Support Group HERE

Developed by experts. Postpartum safe exercises, recipes and 24/7 support so you can get back to what you love.

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5 Mums share their postpartum fitness journey with The Healthy Mummy (2024)

FAQs

What is the best exercise for postpartum? ›

Walking is a good way to get back in shape – all you need is a pair of comfortable shoes. It is free, and you can do it almost any place or time. You can also take your baby along. Include your baby, lying next to you on the floor, while you do abdominal exercises.

When can you start exercising postpartum? ›

If you had an uncomplicated pregnancy and vagin*l delivery, it's generally safe to begin exercising a few days after giving birth or as soon as you feel ready. If you had a C-section, extensive vagin*l repair or a complicated birth, talk to your health care provider about when to start an exercise program.

What exercises should I do at postpartum week 2? ›

Week #2. “Light walking is a great activity to do with your new baby. Go slow and do short distances at first as you begin to regain strength,” says Nicks, adding that it's good for mom and baby to try to get outside, as well. Kegel exercises are also a great exercises to begin with, she notes.

What does a woman need after giving birth? ›

Women in the postnatal period need to maintain a balanced diet, just as they did during pregnancy. Iron and folic acid supplementation should also continue for 3 months after birth. Women who are breastfeeding require additional food and should drink sufficient clean water.

What are upper body exercises for postpartum? ›

Upper Body Exercises

Raise your hands until your elbow is bent to 90 degrees, keeping your wrists straight. Lower and repeat. Shoulder presses: Start with arms bent so your hands are near your shoulders, palms facing out, with a weight in each hand. Extend your arms up to vertical, then slowly lower and repeat.

What is the 5 5 5 rule for postpartum? ›

The 5-5-5 rule in postpartum can help new mothers manage their wellbeing. It suggests taking five days in bed, five days on the bed, and five days around the bed, to be sure you're getting adequate rest. The first five days are intended for a mother to rest in bed, and have skin to skin bonding time with the baby.

How can I get fit after having a baby? ›

After having a baby, you should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week. You can divide the 150 minutes into 30-minute workouts on 5 days of the week or into smaller 10-minute sessions throughout each day. For example, you could go for three 10-minute walks each day.

Which exercise is best for normal delivery? ›

The Best Exercises to Prepare for Labor
  • Walking.
  • Butterfly Stretch.
  • Kegel Exercises.
  • Pelvic Tilt.
  • Squatting.
Jan 31, 2024

Does exercise help postpartum belly? ›

Regular pelvic floor and deep stomach muscle exercises can help to reduce the size of the separation between your stomach muscles. It's also important to stand up tall and be aware of your posture.

How to start running postpartum? ›

We recommend patients start with no more than three 20-minute sessions a week. Those should break down into intervals of 20 seconds jogging, followed by two minutes of walking. You'll run about three minutes and walk about 17, laying a solid base of continuous movement.

What workout can you do 4 weeks postpartum? ›

A postpartum exercise routine can safely include: Pelvic tilt exercise to strengthen your abdominal muscles. Kegel exercise to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. Belly breathing to help re-coordinate your breathing throughout your core.

What are 5 needs that a mother has during the postnatal period? ›

The core care that you need to provide to the postnatal mother includes measuring her vital signs at every visit, washing her genital area and checking for tears, blood clots, cervical prolapse and bleeding, helping her to urinate, eat and drink, and giving her micronutrient supplementation (vitamin A, iron and folic ...

What are the 5 importance of postnatal care? ›

The care includes prevention, elimination, early detection and cure of health complications (if any), counselling on breastfeeding, immunization, an interactive session on the importance of birth spacing and maternal nutrition, and so on.

What do moms need postpartum? ›

Postpartum Essentials For Mom
  • 1) Pads. This is a part of postpartum that no one likes to talk about, but it's super important! ...
  • 2) Witch Hazel Pads. ...
  • 3) Peri Bottle. ...
  • 4) Sitz Bath. ...
  • 5) Heating Pad Or Ice Packs. ...
  • 6) Pain-Relieving Spray. ...
  • 7) Nursing Pads. ...
  • 8) Breast Pump And Breast Milk Storage Bags.

How can I flatten my tummy after giving birth? ›

Here are some moves that will help you get your body ready for regular exercise.
  1. Walking. You can do some workouts with your baby. ...
  2. Deep Belly Breathing With Abdominal Contraction. ...
  3. Head Lifts, Shoulder Lifts, and Curl-Ups. ...
  4. Kneeling Pelvic Tilt. ...
  5. Kegels. ...
  6. Bonus Workouts for You and Your Baby.
Nov 28, 2023

What is the best cardio after giving birth? ›

Walking or running.

Porsch recommends “walking at least ten minutes a day, several times a day and progressing as tolerated during the first three weeks after delivery.” Experts recommend waiting until 12 weeks postpartum to try running, but to limit it to no more than three 20-minute sessions per week.

How to get in shape after having a baby? ›

After having a baby, you should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week. You can divide the 150 minutes into 30-minute workouts on 5 days of the week or into smaller 10-minute sessions throughout each day. For example, you could go for three 10-minute walks each day.

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