How do new parents stay fit inspite having a new baby?

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   jpcmcposted 12 years ago

   Taking care of a new baby changes routines.  Sleeping habits and patterns change, eating habits change just to name a few.  How can a new parent stay fit with the new responsibility of caring for a new babay

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      Shadesbreathposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You don't. You try for a while, but then you realize you just sold off 18 years of your life. You will try to keep going to the gym, but you just don't have that kind of time (or money anymore), so you determine to jog and do stuff at home. That fails too, and after a while, the very sight of those videos and home equipment you bought will infuriate you to the point you either throw it away and don't even bother with a yard sale, or you just throw it in a shed or a corner and do the denial thing of "I'll use it again some day."
      
      After this faze, as they get older, you start to see the pattern of throwing out  old clothes that don't fit in favor of ones that do. At first you kind of shrug and figure, well, that's life, but then you actually start to notice sagging or stretch marks. You will blow those off for a while. Then, you will freak out and rejoin the gym. This will again fail after 5 months to a year. However, you will buy through your efforts another year of fitting into your older "thinner" clothes, and you will throw away your "thickening" clothes.
      
      THen you will gain it all back and then some, making it so that having those old fat clothes doesn't matter anyway because you need fatter ones.
      
      You will start to realize that there is a reason that your parents, and their parents and every set of parents going back into the dawn of time were all jacked up and unattractive. You will hate realizing that you are one of them. However, you will be old enough to start aging with dignity, and you will accept it.  This often comes with heavy drinking.
      
      Drinking will make you fatter.
      
      You will gain three clothing sizes. This will freak you out again and you will have another spasm of gym membership and subsequent failure.
      
      You will finally just buy clothes that fit you, realizing that you are old and have kids and you will never be a sexual creature again. You begin to be happy and actually enjoy life.
      
      Then your kid has a baby and someone calls you "grandpa" or "grandma." You have another gym thing. You get over it. You decide drinking really does only have upsides despite what your stupid doctor says.
      
      You die happy, somewhere between 65 and 102 depending entirely on genetics and having nothing to do with anything the insurance industry or medicine-for-profit cabal tries to sell you to the contrary.
      
      Good luck.

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      1. 89

         jpcmcposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         So having a baby can cause additional fats.  LOL

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            Shadesbreathposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Yup. But they'd have you believe it's something way more complicated... and that you can stop if you buy stuff... health care stuff, treatments, drugs, memberships, etc.
            
            It's a progression of human experience. The only reason people think it isn't is because companies that market various vanity products and "health" stuff try to create the illusion that for $X you can do this thing or buy that or take this other thing and stave off what every other human in the course of time has gone through. And, as a cool side-effect, the stress of all this trying to avoid reality had been a real financial boon for not just the medical establishment but the mental health and related arms of pharmacology.

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            1. 89

               jpcmcposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Well, good thing I'm not into that 6-pack drop dead gorgeous body thing.  All I'm looking for is a way to be healthier and fit.  I don't mind the addition flabs on my side, but I do want to climb stairs without having to catch my breath every 3 floors.

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   tirelesstravelerposted 12 years ago

   My grandson (4 months) gets fussy and we head out for a walk. He quiets immediately and I get exercise. They are little for such a short time. I can't believe that my baby will be 20 this year.
   Practice little things like good posture when lifting baby.
   Abs tucked when you pick kiddo up will help avoid the punch that comes from bad habits.

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   1. 89

      jpcmcposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I guess it's in the small things that we do that we get the exercise we need.

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3. 74

   Lady Wordsmithposted 12 years ago

   I find it really easy, because I play with my kids, and take them for walks, play football in the park with them, all kinds of stuff.  Getting fit doesn't just happen in the gym (in fact it never happens in the gym for me - so boring!), it happens in the whole of your life.  Yes, you do have to make lifestyle changes when you have a baby - but it's not written anywhere that those changes all have to be negative.  Having kids was the best thing I ever did - I've never been fitter in my life, what with all the lifting of babies who get heavier by the day, and pushing of the pram when we walk into town; you should see the muscles in my arms after teaching my kids to ride their bikes without stabilisers! 
   
   It's easy to stay fit with kids - if you're a positive person!  You take your lead from them - kids naturally want to play (not all of them, I'll admit that), and you should play with them.  If you don't want to play with them, why on earth did you have them? 
   
   My kids are still small, but we're really looking forward to getting out on bikes and going for long rides with them soon.
   
   Get outside - that's the way to stay fit with kids.
   
   Lx.

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   1. 89

      jpcmcposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I appreciate your insights.  Of course I want to play with my baby.  Recently she discovered walking - or at least the attempt to walk.  It can be tiring.  Every weekends we go to the park and spend lots of time. 
      
      I agree with you that getting fit does not happen Also, I never went to a gym.  I had my own routines at home and outside.

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   Eric Newlandposted 12 years ago

   It's difficult the first year. Then, once they start walking, you'll suddenly see your own activity level increasing.

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   1. 89

      jpcmcposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm getting a prelude to the walking stage of my child.  It's really tiring.  They have so much energy.

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5. 67

   Melindas Mindposted 12 years ago

   I've never mastered this myself, so I'm just speaking from what I've seen. My sister in law, who is a size 1 (not a typo, she's literally a size one), and has three children, two of whom are twins, would strap the twins in their highchairs with their breakfast and let the toddler watch a movie every morning, while she did a half hour exercise video. I've known other women who'd get up a half hour earlier than their kids so they could do an exercise video. There are exercise video's you can get that incorporate your child, found here.

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      jpcmcposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the fascinating site. The yoga DVD looks neat.

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         Melindas Mindposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You're welcome. It's a pretty cool idea.

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