My Exercise and Weight Tips Post Baby

Question from Kiki: "Salaams sis! I was wondering if you could do a post on physical exercise and post baby weight. InshaAllah I pray I will one day have a beautiful little one like you, but I still have a bit of winter weight I want to get rid of. Is it hard wearing niqab? Do you go to a gym?"

Answer: Wa alaykom salaam ramatullahi wa barakato sis, lol, I am TOTALLY the wrong person to ask about excersise. I have been a size zero almost my whole life and gaining weight is more the problem for me as my weight can go to scary skinny with just a simple flu and then I have to go to the hospital ASAP to be hooked up to a glucose drip or I pass out. So, admittedly, I eat alot more carbs and butter and sugars than other people need to. Since I have an iron deificiency also, and live in a warmer climate, I can eat more salt than a girl in Canada ect. .And my husband is a sports teacher, so I get a little extra push than most to keep on it.
But that aside, I do have tips for staying healthy. Staying in a good shape for one's husband and self is part of taking care of what Allah gave us;). During my pregnancy I ate my cravings but watched my weight carefully and didn't just use it as an excuse to eat whatever junk I wanted, which meant alot more iron and calcium rich foods than I'd normally eat, and like, a GAZILLION plums and slices of watermelon. I definately didn't eat bigger meals than I had before until the eighth month of pregnancy. My meals were smaller but I had more of them. Maybe eight small snacks a day, as the baby liked.

After the baby breastfeeding helped me naturally get the weight off, and I ate alot of foods with honey in them, a soooooooooooooooooooooo much chicken and tomatoe pasta sauce.

I am not a gym girl, even though my non-Muslim BFF is a personal trainer in famous gym back in my hometown and she always tried to trick me into those places with free memberships;) and my husband loves 'em.

I like to walk and I walk EVERYWHERE that I can. I find taking a camera along with you inspires you to walk farther and explore ordinary things. I don't find this a problem with niqab. I also go iceskating and rollarblading when I need to get my heart rate up. And I like to take the stairs.

Always walk 10 minutes after a big meal like the French do;)

After the baby the stomache needed firming up so I did sit ups and crunches and stretching. I lost ALOT of flexibility during pregnancy.

One thing I PROBABLY should work on is my arms which are too weak to hold my own baby for long ammounts of time. I used to horseback ride and play tennis and badminton and when I did this didn't seem a problem but I am still waiting for stables to be built near where I live to get back into horse riding.

In Oman wearing niqab is only difficult for work in certain sectors, and for running outside. If a niqabi is running here people think she is in danger and stop to offer help ect... which makes running a bit of an inconvenience.

But I wear good quality light-weight niqabs from Al Motahajiba for this. So they are alot more breathable than any I could find online while I was in Canada.

Don't know what else to say?

The only diets I've known friends who had issues with their weight used that worked was a combo of counting calories while taking spinning classes at the gym ect (womens only) if that works:) , I have an Auntie who lost 60 lbs and kept it off doing that. I think it works as long as you have a healthy body image and a reasonable goal.

Comments

Kiki said…
JazaikAllah Khair! You are so inspirational sister<3

Lots of love for the sake of Allah

Kiki