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Look like a million bucks!

Young mothers today would give any singleton a complex with their fighting fit physique, writes Manju Latha Kalanidhi

GEN NOW MOMS A young mother shows how you can get back to your radiant, fit self with some effort Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

Thank God, Bridget Jones is still single. She would've been puffing out air in vigorous strokes of awkward gasps and tormenting her diaphragm trying to do Kapalabhati breathing as part of her detox yoga sessions had she been a new mom. Obviously Bridget would have got positively bewildered left with a helpless flailing infant to take care of, sleep deprivation, puffed up face, stretch marks, flabby thighs, a mushy tummy, a career on hold and most importantly, the one-track-thought: When-Will-I-Get-Back-To-Shape.

But then, the new-age Indian mom is no Bridget. She is deftly handling all her roles with ease to get her life and body back in shape. While she is playing the conservative role of a nursing mom on the verge of exhausting her PLs, ELs and MLs in her leave record, she is also finding time to slink in a treadmill session in the morning, a pilates class in mid-afternoon and some power-walking when her baby is having her nap. After the baby's health and growth, postpartum fitness (or weight loss post-pregnancy), is the single most important concern for new moms, an international research reveals.

One of the first questions gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr. Sandhya Acharya encounters from her patients and new moms is: Doc, when can I start exercising to lose weight? "Today, they not only enquire about nursing and feeding concerns, they also ask me to recommend weight loss regimens. Pranayama works best," she says.

Celeb moms

The need to look fit, slim and young started at least five years ago when popular showbiz girls like Malaika Arora, Mini Mathur and Twinkle Khanna returned onscreen looking slim and gorgeous eight months after they've had their babies. "Looking great is no issue. Looking like a million dollars even after your body has undergone a complete overhaul in the name of pregnancy is a feat," Malaika stated then.

Yoga instructor Sharmila Hirendranath says she has at least one new mom in every class. "They come back to me after about 100 days of childbirth (earlier in case of normal birth) to start off on their fitness regimen. I train them in inversions such as Shirshasana, halasana and Surya Namaskars to help them reach their target," she says. "Considering the new moms also have to handle their hotshot careers these days, I teach them lot of detox, breathing and meditation techniques to fight stress." After all, a radiant face is as important as a fit body. However, nuclear moms (a new term for moms who handle their kids without help from parents, in-laws and caretakers) who have no one to baby-sit for them are taking to newer forms of exercising. Strollercize classes allow the new mom to exercise along with her baby. As the name suggests, the moms use the strollers as their exercise props and even as their baby prattles and laughs, they go about their crunches and push-ups. Secretly, every mom wishes she were like Simone Singh in a popular soap ad, where her daughter comes running as somebody enquires, `Which college?" Well, the workouts better begin 100-days after the childbirth for that kind of an effect.

Fitness rules

Best time to start: Six weeks after child birth, whether normal or caesarean. If there are abdominal complications, a three-month or a 100-day wait is advisable.

Dos: Start moderately and increase gradually. Don'ts: Get over-ambitious and do drastic things that may affect both you and your baby's health. Cut down on junk not calories.

Online forums to motivate you: www.annecollins.com; www.indiaparenting.com; www.internetbasedmoms.com;

For stay-at-home-moms: Try breathing and meditation. Kapalabhati increases the heat in your tummy and aids weight loss. Doing household chores helps too.

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