1. Walk Regularly
Walking is a great way to lose weight and start to tone up. It is free, can be done anywhere and you can take your baby with you. In order to gain benefits from walking, you need to walk briskly enough to get your heart rate up and break a light sweat. Walking at a pace of a fifteen minute mile is considered a good fitness pace. You should aim to walk for thirty to forty five minutes on at least five days per week.
2. Do Abdominal Crunches for the Upper abs
Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Bring your hands behind your head and just touch the fingertips to your head. Try to avoid clasping the hands so you do not pull on the neck. Tighten your abdominal muscles and press your low back into the floor. Lift your head and shoulders off the floor and straight up to the ceiling. Keep your elbows back and open so you can not see them. Make sure you lift straight up and do not curl forward. Then lower slowly back down. You should feel this exercise in your stomach, not your neck. If you feel it in your neck focus on pressing the back into the floor, tightening your abdominal muscles before you lift. Also do not lift up too high. Only lift up until you feel the abdominal muscles contract and then stop. Coming up too high does not isolate the upper abdominal muscles as effectively. Repeat for three sets of eight to 12 repetitions.
3. Try Reverse Crunches for the Lower abs
Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Bring your hands behind your head. Bring both knees into the chest and then straighten your legs and press your feet to the ceiling. Tighten your abdominal muscles and press your low back into the floor. Lift the feet straight up to the ceiling and lift your buttocks a few inches off the floor. Be careful to not swing the legs back and forth, just lift straight up. If you do this exercise correctly you should feel it in your lower abdominals after just a few repetitions. If you do not feel it, try doing smaller movements to really isolate the muscles. Repeat for three sets of eight to 12 repetitions.
4. Perform Oblique Crunches for the Waist
Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Bring your hands behind your head and just touch the fingertips to your head. Try to avoid clasping the hands so you do not pull on the neck. Then roll both knees to the right. The further you drop the knees to the floor the more challenging this exercise is. Tighten your abdominal muscles and lift your head and shoulders off the floor and straight up to the ceiling. Keep your elbows back and open so you can not see them. Make sure you lift straight up and do not curl forward. Then lower slowly back down. You should feel this exercise in your waist, not your neck. If you feel it in your neck focus on tightening your abdominal muscles before you lift. Do not lift up too high; only lift up until you feel the waist muscles contract and then stop. Repeat for three sets of eight to 12 repetitions. Then drop the knees to the left and repeat.
