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You’re Back, Baby – 4 Tips to Getting Your Pre-Baby Body Back Post-Partum

May 15, 2019 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

You don’t have to resign yourself to gazing longingly at your pre-pregnancy jeans, remembering the good times when you could wear them comfortably—you can absolutely get that pre-baby body back! It may look and function a little differently this time around, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go after it. Give yourself room to be “new and improved,” and check out these 4 tips to help you on your way back to your pre-baby body.

1. Exercise

Exercise is key after having a baby (once approved by your doctor). It is essential as much for your mind as for your body. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, which boost your mood and help to ward off post-partum depression while you get yourself back in shape. If you aren’t sure where to start with exercise, or what your body can handle, don’t be afraid to sign up for some personal training sessions with a professional who specializes in post-pregnancy training and can help you find the appropriate routine. You can also look for “Mommy and Me” fitness groups in your area that incorporate baby into your exercise routine.

2. Self-Care

Exercise forms part of the broader concept of self-care. It is easy to forget about yourself, and focus solely on the needs of your new baby and your family. If you want to return to that pre-baby body, you need to make sure that your mind is in the right place so that you can make good decisions about food, exercise, and sleep. If you didn’t practice self-care before, here are some ideas for how to do so now. Many gyms will help with your self- care by watching your child for 2 hours when they are as little as 3 months old.

3. Nutrition

Most pregnant women are aware of what foods are off-limits while they are pregnant, but few pay the same attention to their diet once the baby is born. The most important thing you can do to get your pre-baby body back is to pay attention to what you eat. Your nutritional intake can affect not only your body but also your mental health and your sleep. There is no doubt you will be pressed for time and distracted, so keep a few different healthy snacks on hand and in the diaper bag for those hungry moments when you don’t have time to make a meal. If you divide your snacks up into portions in advance, you won’t have to worry about overeating.

4. Sleep

There is no way around it, sleep is incredibly challenging during your baby’s first year. That being said, getting adequate sleep is a huge factor in weight loss. When you don’t sleep, your body craves sugar and carbohydrates and tells you it is too tired to exercise. Your metabolism also becomes groggy and does not process food the way it usually would, causing it to allow fat to hang around in your body longer than it normally would. Combat these adverse side effects by taking every opportunity to sleep. When baby naps, put aside that desire to do something “productive” and grab some precious shut-eye.

You do not need to initiate yourself into the world of motherhood by purchasing a new, larger wardrobe. You can get your pre-baby body back! Don’t be afraid to invest in the health of your own body through a little self-care and exercise. Set yourself up for nutritional success by keeping healthy snacks on hand, and take advantage of every opportunity you can to get some sleep.

Rapid Recovery – 5 Ways to Speed Up Your Recovery From Injury

May 15, 2019 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Injuries have a funny way of striking right when you’re in your prime. Your heart breaks, not so much from the pain but from the realization of what lies ahead: a long road to recovery along which much of the progress you’ve made towards your fitness goals will be lost.

While your body does need time to heal, it’s not all bad news. There are some key things you can do to get yourself back up and running in record time. Read on to discover the five essentials to rapid injury recovery:

1. Bring the Professionals to You

It’s not until you have an injury that you realize just how much strain everyday tasks can place on the affected joint, muscle or bone. Even the seemingly simple process of getting into your car or taking public transport can become a mission that puts you at risk of re-injuring yourself. The best way to save yourself this drama is to sign up for mobile physiotherapy. You’ll get a trained therapist delivered to your door along with all the necessary equipment to take care of your rehabilitation safely at home.

2. Get Plenty of Sleep

While physiotherapy is key to rapid recovery, if you’re not getting adequate rest, you’ll be hampering your progress. It can be hard to sleep when you’re going through the pain and discomfort of healing an injury. However, finding a way to do so is vital as it’s when your body is at rest that it does the bulk of its healing. Talk to your doctor and physiotherapist about pain management and bed set-up options that will optimize your chances of getting quality sleep consistently throughout your recovery period.

3. Stay off the Booze

It’s easy to get a bit down in the dumps when your life has been put on hold by an injury. However, the last thing you want to do is drown your sorrows in a beer (or seven). It may help your mood in the moment, but alcohol can be problematic during the healing phase in a number of different ways. Putting aside the potential for re-injuring yourself (or scoring a brand new injury) if you get legitimately drunk and your coordination goes out the window, there’s also the simple fact that alcohol increases inflammation in the body.

4. Cut Back on Sugar and Caffeine

While sugar and caffeine won’t have you stumbling around like alcohol will, they too are known to create inflammation in the body while interfering with sleep quality. In everyday life, most of us are pretty well equipped to deal with a few extra bursts of inflammation here and there. However, when you’re recovering from an injury, your body’s resources are already heavily taxed.Therefore, anything you can do to take the pressure off will allow for the full force of your natural healing capabilities to be directed towards your injury.

5. Stay active

The way you do this depends on the nature of your injury. However, it is vital for both your physical and mental health to stay as active as you safely can during recovery. If you create a workout plan with your physiotherapist and stick to it, you’ll keep your active habits and healthy mindset going throughout your recovery and will be ready to hit the ground running as soon as you are able.

Sustaining an injury can feel like a monumental setback. However, if you enlist the help of medical professionals, ensure you get plenty of rest, cut back on inflammatory substances and stay (safely) active, you’ll be back on track in no time.

Cozy Cooking – 5 Ingenious Ways to Save Space in a Small Kitchen

April 22, 2019 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Photo by Brooke Lark on Stocksnap

If you live in in a small home, a studio apartment, or a big city where space is at a premium, and you love to cook, you may feel frustrated some days by the minuscule size of your kitchen. There is hope! Instead of allowing the size to discourage you, you could flip your perspective and enjoy the creative challenge of a small kitchen. Below are five ingenious ways you can kill it in the kitchen when the space is tight.

Don’t be Afraid to Hang Things

Get out the hammer, nails, and ruler and prepare yourself to hang everything you can. Get your knives up off the counter onto magnetic strips, capture potholders on wall grids, and scoop up your measuring spoons into little containers that you can string off of racks with hooks. When shelf space is a struggle, don’t be afraid to hang your cookware from your ceiling above your stove. Another way to save space and make cooking more convenient is to attach your most commonly used utensils on the wall above your stove.

Get Vertical

What can’t fit in drawers could go up! Vertical shelving could be your ticket to additional storage on your counters, above your appliances or in any open space. If you remove the doors, you can add an artistic flair to your kitchen as you thoughtfully decorate with pieces like mixing bowls and mugs. If you do incorporate open shelving, consider investing in either matching or purposefully mismatching jars to store your various flours, grains, and spices—your kitchen will look attractive, clean and organized!

Roll Whatever You Can

Your small kitchen most likely does not include a kitchen island, so consider purchasing a rolling island to create some additional counter space anywhere in the kitchen. Another option on wheels is a tiered storage or bar cart that you can seasonally decorate and scoot from place to place easily if company arrives. Finally, if you are feeling crafty, you could consider making your very own rolling pantry.

Enlarge your Cutting Board

If you are struggling for space to chop your vegetables or roll out your pie dough, you may want to invest in a cutting board that fits over the top of an open drawer, your sink or the stove. You will immediately gain counter space instead of your cutting board monopolizing precious real estate.

Fold Up Your Kitchen Table

Don’t worry, this is not where you go back to your early twenties and eat off a folding card table—instead, it is where you might consider adding a table that can fold up into your wall, similar to the functionality of a murphy bed. Instead of a typical kitchen table chair, you could use a soft bench to create a seamless flow to the room when the table is folded up and make the absence of the table less obvious.

If you enjoy cooking you are going to spend a great deal of time in your kitchen, so why not create something that captures your style while strategically allowing you to save space? When shelving is tight, don’t be afraid to add more and go vertical. Maximize your counter space by hanging whatever you can, finding a cutting board that fits over your sink and adding a rolling island or bar cart. You can even throw tradition to the wind and put in a kitchen table that folds up into the wall. Allow your small kitchen to morph from your nemesis to your most significant accomplishment.

How To Calculate Your Due Date And How Many Weeks Pregnant You Are

April 16, 2019 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

In ancient Egypt, the Egyptians used a woman’s urine to establish if she was pregnant or not. They would urinate on certain grains and if the grains germinated, the woman knew she was pregnant. Imagine having to wait a few days for the result. Fortunately for us, times have changed, now we simply pee on a plastic stick and we have the results in a matter of minutes.

When you do find out that you’re pregnant, one of the greatest joys is knowing exactly when to expect your baby’s appearance into the world. This gives you a sense of control so that you can plan everything in advance and prepare yourself for your little one’s arrival.

Continue reading to find out how to calculate your due date so you can be prepared for your little one’s grand entrance into the world.

Using Dates

Most women are not 100% sure when they ovulated or when conception took place. To help in ascertaining the due date, science has made it quite easy. Your due date or EDD, Estimated Date of Delivery, is calculated by adding 280 days or 40 weeks to the first day of a woman’s last menstrual period. This might seem a bit odd because you were not pregnant on the first day of your period, but this helps the medical field to calculate your due date as precisely as they can. You can, therefore, take the date of your last period and use a diary and start adding 280 days to find your due date.

Ultrasound

Another way to calculate your EDD and therefore how many weeks pregnant you are is by asking your doctor to do an ultrasound. This is done in the first trimester, and the earlier the better. This is because the measurements provided in the first trimester are the most accurate estimation of your baby’s age because all fetuses tend to develop at the same rate.

The doctor will measure the baby from one end to the other, also known as the crown-rump length (CRL). Due to decades of research on many embryos and their crown-rump length measurements, the doctor will be able to give you a precise due date. Determining the EDD is generally not done this way in the second and third trimester because babies development rates are different in these gestation periods.

Due Date Calculator

But what if you can’t get to your doctor just yet and you really want to know your due date and how many weeks pregnant you are? Then, the due date calculator is the easiest way to calculate your due date. There are loads of apps and websites that you can use. All you have to do is enter the first day of your last period date and it automatically calculates your due date.

These handy tools use Naegele’s rule. This rule states that if you add one year from the date of your last menstrual period and subtract 3 months and add 7 days to that date, it will give an accurate due date. But instead of you having to figure it out, it does it for you automatically.

Accuracy

Very few babies are born on their projected due dates. They either make their appearance a few weeks before or a few weeks after the EDD. There are some other factors which may influence your due date, for example, if progesterone levels climbed more slowly in the first weeks of gestation, the baby can take longer to come. Also, the longer the embryo took to implant, the longer the gestation period.

Basically, the baby’s development rate causes late or early birth. In other words, the baby will come when he/she is good and ready. Think of it this way. Parenthood is a great way to work on the patience aspect of our personalities. Baby is just giving you a sneak peek of what’s coming.

It’s All Good

Whether your baby is early or late, try not to fixate on that date. Rather start daydreaming of the birthday parties, hugs, and kisses that you will share with your baby. And enjoy your pregnancy. It really is a miracle from heaven. You were chosen to be this baby’s mother and you are going to be a great one!

Looking Good – 5 Tips to Look and Feel Great in 2019

April 16, 2019 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Sometimes, you can get to a point in your life when you’re tired of the “same old” you. You don’t feel all that good about who you are, lack confidence, and you’re merely going through the motions of what feels like a drab and lackluster existence. Life is for living to the fullest, not for stagnating. If you want to start being at your best so you can feel better and have more confidence, then consider these five tips below.

Source: Mark_Mook_Fotografie/Pixabay

Look at Cosmetic Dentistry

Did you know that much of your confidence comes from your smile? If your teeth are yellowing or stained, then you are going to be more likely to remain tight-lipped. One way to feel far better about yourself is by taking care of that problem with teeth whitening. Within a few hours of sitting in a dentist’s chair, you can be grinning from ear to ear with confidence.

Get Fit

More than 35 percent of US citizens are obese, which means around that many are not getting enough exercise. If it has been a long time since you pounded the pavement, don’t you think it might be time to start? Choosing to get fit and healthy can be a monumental decision and one that helps you to feel better about yourself and look better too. What’s more, it’s something you can do with friends, expanding your social horizons. If motivation is a barrier, get yourself an exercise buddy, or hire a personal trainer to help keep you focused and accountable.

Passion for Nutrition

The average woman will work almost eight hours a day, with the average man around eight and a half. By the time you come home, do your chores, feed the pets, and help the kids with their homework, you’re slapping dinner together at the last minute – be it nutritional or not. Draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough.

If you want to feel and look good, you need to be more conscious of what you are putting in your mouth. Get that old cookware out of mothballs and start whipping up more fresh meals, rather than relying on processed food. A new diet coupled with exercise can transform both body and soul.

A New Wardrobe

When was the last time you went shopping and bought yourself a full new outfit? If you can’t remember, then it was too long ago. However, when you hit the mall, don’t stick with the same old garments you always buy. Become a new, confident version of you. Draw upon the experience of shop assistants so you can walk out with an outfit that enhances your figure and suits your personality.

New Year, New Hair

Whether you’re a man or a woman, there’s something cleansing and exciting about changing your hairstyle. However, men will only do it around four times in their peak adulthood, with women more likely to do it every 18 months. If you’re tired of looking in the mirror and seeing the same face and style, then take a trip to your local salon. Try something new, exciting, or even drastic that will see you looking and feeling great in the new year.

Not everyone is comfortable or confident with the skin they’re in. However, it can be hard to make a change. When you’re stuck in a rut, or you’re used to doing things a certain way, you can forget that another way exists. Make 2019 your year.

Look at cosmetic dentistry to grin with confidence, change up your hairstyle, invest in a new wardrobe, and get fit and healthy. You’ll then glide into 2020 looking every fit as fabulous as you feel.