Workout DVDs
 

As I'm sure most of you know from my posts, I will be having my baby within the next month or so. Once I have her, I'll have about 35lbs I'll need to lose. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions of some DVDs that are good for working out. I'm pretty bored with pilates, so I'm looking for something fun that I can do while the baby is napping (I'm hoping she'll nap). Thanks for the help!

best sources for researching workout video DVDs

www.collagevideo.com You can even watch a 60 second clip of the video

also www.videofitness.com

I like Cathe Fredrich and The FIRM

hope this helps

Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease Workout DVD set!

I was just going to suggest that! Great workout( depending on the DVD).

You do realize that you're going to be extremely sore after labor and will have some activity restrictions for a while? You need to talk to your doctor about how to get in shape after the baby. You're going to want to start with walking kegels and some basic ab exercises. Your abs will be totally stretched out and you won't be able to use them for a little while. Getting out of bed is a trip. You'll be getting a couple hours of sleep at a time and it is usually advised that you try to nap when the baby naps because you're going to be more tired than you ever imagined you could be. You'll be having the heaviest, longest period of your life and you may have stictches in the netherlands. If you're nursing, you'll burn an extra 500 calories a day so that weight may come off much faster than you think. At my 6 week post partum checkup, I weighed less than I did when I got pregnant. If you haven't gone hog wild eating while pregnant, the weight will come off pretty easily. Take baby for walks. It will be the easiest and best way to start out. Even your hip/pelvic muscles are loose now in preparation for spreading some so baby can get out of the birth canal. Take it easy! But start the kegels as soon as you can so you don't lose your bladder control.

I was under the impression that you couldn't exercise until you got permission from your doctor, usually about 6 weeks after giving birth. Is that right? I'm hoping to go back to pilates after I give birth in April, but it will take me a while to get there. I've lost all strength in my stomach, it's amazing how weak I am. I already can't get out of bed. At least I think the majority of my weight is the baby, everything else looks pretty much the same. We'll see if it stays that way!

This is a great question, thanks for asking. I may hide out in the house to do my exercising for a while until I'm fit enough to feel comfortable going to the gym again, so tapes will be good. My gym right next to Tufts, and there's tons of pretty, super skinny people. I know I won't go if I feel like a tank when I'm there!

Good luck with your new bundle of joy!

Once you get the go ahead to exercise, I would start with Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds. Its easy, and she has 1-mile, 2-mile, and 3-mile walks, which are roughly 15, 30 and 45 minutes long. So its easy to squeeze in a workout if you have some downtime.

Yes, I do realize that I have to wait awhile before I start working out. I just wanted some early suggestions so I can decide how to go about losing the baby weight once I feel better. Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm hoping once I start losing I can take it off pretty fast because I have a wedding to plan!

I've gained about 40lbs or so. It's a LOT for someone like me to have gained during pregnancy. I'm naturally a small girl, usually around a size 2 or 4, so my body is not use to the extra weight at all. I feel like a tank for sure, I just hope I can get back to my normal size for my wedding!

If you don't gain too much more, you should only have about 10 pounds to lose once you've had the baby and lost all the water weight.

Some parts of you will never be the same size/shape though. Your hips and ribs have spread to make room for baby and that doesn't usually go back. I don't want you to be discouraged, you can be in great shape and look great, but things may be a little different. I know women whose cup size stayed up permanently too.

My mom told me the same thing. I won't be too upset, but I just want to be able to be at or close to my pre-pregnancy size. It would be nice to have some hips! Hopefully I don't gain much more, my due date is Feb. 7th, but my doctor said I could go sooner!

Good luck with the baby things & all, I really know nothing about it. But as for DVD's, I own about 4 pilates DVD's that I love. Pilates for Dummies, & then most of the Crunch pilates DVD's (like Pick Your Spot Pilates, Burn & Firm Pilates, etc.) I've attended pilates classes which definitely helps with most of those DVD's 'cause I already know the basics, but the Pilates for Dummies DVD would be great for beginners. Pilates is great for toning & flexibility, I think you'd like it!

Omg, if my ribs don't go back, I will freak out. I've gone from a 34 to a 40, and those new 40 bras are tight. I'm thinking of buying those bra extenders just to give my diaphram a rest.

uksparkle, when is your wedding? I'm sure with a little work you could get down again. And even if you can't for some reason, brides always look great no matter what their size.

I have to say, reading these responses really, really freaks me out about being pregnant. It sounds like the most horrible thing that could possibly happen to your body. My clock isn't ticking (actually, I don't think I even have a clock) so I just can't relate to any of it.

That said, I do enjoy Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease.

Oh, lauralaylin, I checked out your blog - funny stuff on there.

We hadn't set a date yet when I found out I was pregnant, so right now we're waiting until we get settled with the baby and I lose the weight;)

I have a Belly Dancing video that's fun. It's Neena and Veena I think. It's basically 30 minutes of cardio and stretching. I had fun when I was working out. (I'm just lazy.)

Or get one of those baby strollers that runners use. I see those everywhere in parks in the mornings.

That's good that you can wait to get married. I think it'd be stressful having to plan one right after the baby was born and having a timeline to lose weight. You may be in pretty good shape after the 6 weeks! If it's only 10 pounds, you could lose that in a few months if you try hard. I've done it before. It's not fun, but it's definitely managable.

Thank you RedRose SAI! I love my blog!

Cosign honey...I swear it almost scares me. Maybe I'm *not* old enough yet, but seriously, everytime the subject of having kids comes up, it makes me want to cringe. The time that I see sweet well behaved kids does not make up for the time that I see the screaming brats in the grocery store, or whatever.

I'm still in school, not getting married until october 2007. I hope by then that the clock will start ticking, cause if it dont, I'm gonna begin to think there's something seriously wrong with me. I know deep down, I WANT kids - but everytime I think about it it makes me want to hurl.

I'll be 30 in a few months, and it still makes me cringe. I wouldn't mind having a family, but I'm not interested in having babies. ::sigh::

Nothing wrong with that. You can have a great family without children! If you don't want to have a baby, there's always adoption!

Has anyone tried the Yoga Booty Ballet or Turbo Jam workout videos? I'm thinking of getting one and wanted to see if anyone had a recommendation.

I'm in great shape, i just need something fun to do when I'm burned out from the gym - so I have no unrealistic expectations to lose 150 lbs and get 6-pack abs, haha!

Thanks!

Turbo Jam is fun yet at the same time is very repetitive...not sure if that would be a problem for you. But it starts out with an introduction but it does increase. It's cool if you stick with it. They have an eating and exercise regimen for you to follow. I recommend them.

I also recommend the FIRM workout series. They give you visible results in ten days. The key is ... you must stick with it.

I just started using one of Denise Austin's workout DVD's...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...v=glance&n=130

I love it b/c you can customize your workout :) And she is also a very happy person too.. it almost makes me want to smile too while doing crunches :P