Keeping fit and healthy after childbirth

Pregnancy is perhaps one of the most significant changes a woman will ever experience in her body. While it’s natural for new mothers to want to get back to “their normal body”, now that they are no longer pregnant, it’s a process.

Without paying heed to the pressure around new mothers to “jump back” to their pre-pregnancy bodies, these mothers are embracing staying fit and active over everything else.

Kriti Walia, mother of 20-month-old Rehmat Walia, who runs her own fashion label, says her fitness routine before childbirth consisted solely of walks. But during her pregnancy, she started doing yoga and squats. “Right after childbirth (during the lockdown), I got back to my working schedule within two months and also looked after my infant by myself, which helped me feel and look fit,” says Walia.

For 40-year-old Pooja Uchil, she has lived an active lifestyle all her life, which includes doing cardio at home and walking about 12,000 to 15,000 steps per day. After child birth, a lot changed due to a C- section delivery, but she ensured to walk for at least five hours for her body’s blood circulation.

Uchil says, “I started climbing stairs from day three. I took it slow but I honestly didn’t have much of an option. Making time for a workout is not easy, but what works is being back at my job. Other than that, I walk my dog for an hour every day, do gardening, cook, and clean a two storey home, and that’s how I get my 40 flights of stairs a day.”

Before her daughter Noah was born, for 34-year-old Rubina Kharas, fitness was never her focus and was often side-lined and taken for granted which is not the case anymore.

Kharas explains, “After my C-section delivery, I felt like a different person. I looked after my child, ate clean food, worked from home and at the end of the day, I did 20 minutes of workout without fail. This helped me get my energy back and feel positive”, adding, “New mothers should learn to prioritise their health in the midst of looking after their little ones.”

For media professional, Radhika Seth, staying physically fit has always been her agenda even before she conceived her little one. Seth says, “Before pregnancy, I would do cardio for about 40 minutes a day with occasional swimming. However, I had a tough pregnancy as I was on bed rest throughout the conception phase. So, post-delivery, I had to take baby steps with slow walks to get back on my feet. I increased my walking by the week and hit the 40 minutes cardio mark again, in about six months post-delivery.”

She further adds, “It’s not easy to look after yourself and the little one but it is important to have a good support system at home. Now that offices have resumed, there’s barely any time for workout, so I try to take small steps such as standing during the two-hour train commute everyday and taking the steps whenever possible. I also make sure I eat right.”