Proven Reasons Walking Is The Best Exercise For Breastfeeding Moms
Walking outside is great for everyone, but let’s talk about why it is the best exercise for breastfeeding moms. Keep reading if you are a mom, have a mom, hope to become a mom, or know a mom. In this blog post we will be talking about all of the amazing benefits of walking and how they can specifically improve a mother’s life physically and mentally.
According to mayoclinic.org, this is a list of some of the benefits of walking regularly:
- “Maintain a healthy weight and lose body fat
- Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer and type 2 diabetes
- Improve cardiovascular fitness
- Strengthen your bones and muscles
- Improve muscle endurance
- Increase energy levels
- Improve your mood, cognition, memory and sleep
- Improve your balance and coordination
- Strengthen immune system
- Reduce stress and tension”
Let’s break some of these down and talk about how they can benefit nursing mothers.
Walking outside (the best exercise for breastfeeding moms) helps maintain a healthy weight and promote loss of body fat.
I started walking daily a few months after giving birth to my second daughter. After having two babies one year apart, I had been pregnant for what felt like an eternity. I gained about 50 pounds while pregnant with my first, lost about 30 of those post partum and then BAM positive pregnancy test. Consequently I started gaining weight again, and that was a little hard for me mentally knowing that my starting point this pregnancy was about 15 lbs. heavier than with my first. Throughout the duration of my second pregnancy I only ended up gaining 30 lbs. All this to say, in just one years’ time my body experienced massive fluctuations in weight. I was ready to no be pregnant, to regain strength, and lose some of that baby weight.
Because of the drastic weight changes a mother’s body experiences with pregnancy, many are looking to accomplish this exact same thing. Lot’s of times women struggle leaving their children for even a 30 minute workout and for a vast array of reasons. Maybe they don’t trust strangers to watch their children, maybe they’re a single parent, or maybe they just really enjoy their children’s company and don’t want to go a single minute without them!
Thus moms are left to explore limited options for exercise, ones that allow them to remain with their sweet babies. Walking provides the perfect solution to many a mom’s exercise struggles and allows them to work towards their goals of fat loss or weight maintenance. The best way to accomplish this is with a good Jogging stroller.
Below are 3 double strollers and their single counterparts that I would recommend, plus some honorable mentions.
My Personal Favorite:
Thule Urban Glide 2 Double Jogging Stroller
Thule Urban Glide 2.0 (pictured above, I own this one)
Highly Recommended:
BOB Gear Revolution Flex 3.0 Duallie Double Jogging Stroller
Budget Friendly:
Baby Trend Double Jogging Stroller (Also pictured & I own this one)
Honorable mentions:
Jeep Destination Ultralight side x side Double Stroller
Baby Jogger City Mini GT2 All-Terrain Double Stroller
Walking can also Strengthen Bones and Muscles
In order to perform the daily physical demands of being a mom, we need to have strong bones and muscles. And yet, our bones and muscles are likely much weaker after childbirth, than before. In fact, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) “…decreases in bone density are a normal part of pregnancy and lactation…” So after 9 months of pregnancy, and during breastfeeding, walking is extremely beneficial for regaining strength and bone density.
The best exercise for breastfeeding moms increases energy! Moms need it more than anyone else.
Another reason walking outside is the best exercise for breastfeeding moms is it can actually help increase your energy! It sounds like the opposite should be true, but in fact it does provide you with more energy; even at a cellular level!
Furthermore, according to Toni Golen, MD and Hope Ricciotti, MD from this Q and A article in the Harvard Health Publishing paper at Harvard Medical School, “cellular-level changes occur inside your body when you exercise. Exertion spurs your body to produce more mitochondria inside your muscle cells. Mitochondria are known as the powerhouses of cells, because they create fuel out of glucose from the food you eat and oxygen from the air you breathe. Having more of them increases your body’s energy supply.”
All the more reason to walk outside. The fresh air provides you with more readily available oxygen and therefore one could assume more energy, as compared to walking on a treadmill inside a stuffy gym or house. A diet rich in macro and micro nutrients helps to support this process. My favorite way to fuel for walks is a cliff bar and a salad for lunch. This is one of my go to salads to make at home.
It improves mood, cognition, memory, and sleep
The number one reason I have been working so hard at staying consistent with my walking is to improve my mood. Even though some walks don’t always go to plan, I am considerably happier when walking and immediately after. Besides that, I also have so much more patience with my kids and I find myself yelling less if I have had my daily walk. Who doesn’t want a happier home?
Thus, according to sleepfoundation.org, “…moderate to vigorous exercise can increase sleep quality for adults by reducing sleep onset – or the time it takes to fall asleep –…”
Before I started walking daily, I was having many sleep troubles. I experienced insomnia some nights and interrupted sleep others. I still wake up multiple times a night, due to a breastfeeding baby, but I have not had a bout of insomnia since.
Walking Outside Strengthens Your Immune system
One way walking outside is the best exercise for moms because it contributes to a healthy immune system. It can do this by improving sleep as mentioned above. It’s that time of year that kids go back to school, are exposed to more bugs, and the weather slowly gets colder. This is when we catch every single virus that enters our doors the minute kids come home from school. Somebody needs to stay healthy to take care of everyone else in the house, and that’s usually mom. To be frank, that’s mom’s job even when we are sick, so we might as well be feeling good for it. If we are able to keep ourselves healthy, nursing will naturally provide the antibodies our babies need to stay healthy.
The #1 reason why walking is the best exercise for breastfeeding moms is…drumroll please… it reduces stress!
Being a mom is the most taxing and stressful job in the world. There are so many responsibilities that we have to take care of that most people overlook. Whether or not the people in your home eat, have clean clothes to wear, and learn to be kind human beings all fall under the responsibilities of a mother. That is stressful! Not to mention just the overwhelming amount of stimulation lol.
Walking outside needs to be part of the weekly meeting for the overstimulated moms club. With the reduction of stress that this exercise provides, I am able to manage my own emotions when my toddler is absolutely losing control over theirs. I know it can, and will, help you with that too!
All of these reasons, and MORE, are a testament to WHY walking outside is the best exercise for breastfeeding moms. Let me know if you can think of any other benefits to moms that come from walking outside in the comments!
