Mums shouldn’t engage in any type of fitness activity too early after giving birth. In general, not earlier than 6 weeks post natural birth or 8-10 weeks post c-section. In addition you need a clearance from your doctor prior to commence. In the interim, if you feel up to it, pram walking is a great postnatal activity to begin with. By slowing or speeding up you can with ease control the intensity. The best thing is that baby is with you all the time. Pram walking got plenty of mental and physical benefits for new mums.
Choosing the right place for your walk is important. Nice scenic places in the Rockingham area to start postnatal pram walking are:

They offer good parking, public toilets and a lot of benches. Ideal if you need to rest and enjoy being out and about. They are popular walking areas with families. Some mums consider this safer than isolated parks. They offer shaded areas under trees. Great when you need a shelter from the sun on our hotter days. The paths around Churchill Park and Bell Park are flat. There are a few small raises in Rockingham Reserve. As you walk towards the Naval Memorial Park. This makes the area overall great for beginner mums and great for pushing a pram.

There is good parking, and public toilets available. However, not as many benches but still plenty to sit and rest. Parks are busy in the playgrounds and BBQ areas. However quiet in the North West sections. Shaded paths under trees provides shelter from the sun. Paths are flat in general with a few small raises, easy to push a pram. Overall good for beginner mums. I run my group fitness classes in Rockingham City Park.

Another great spot is Point Peron in Rockingham (NB Not for beginners). It offers good parking, no public toilets, very few benches to rest. Can be busy but sometimes you may be there on your own. So be mindful at the times you go. There’s only a few trees so you will walk your pram in full sun. Since the resurface of some paths, Point Peron become more pram friendly.However the paths are fairly steep in places. It is a good place for moderate intensity interval training. Small hint, you can tackle the hill in two ways. Clockwise and anti-clockwise. You can have steep short climb ups with flat sections and slow downhill walk. Or slower climb up and steep downhill walk with flat sections.

I wouldn’t recommend Point Peron in Rockingham to beginner mums. But keep it in the back of your mind when you are ready to make the next step. Be aware of wild life. I have seen snakes on some occasions.

When planning your walk with your pram remember that you will need to walk back. Going for a long walk in one direction is not the best idea. A good idea is to make shorter trips instead. Walking by s set marker and repeat the course a few times is a good option. Just in case you need to stop your pram walk. You don’t want to get caught kms away if baby becomes unsettled or hungry. Also you can get tired sooner than you may expect.
The Rockingham offers great pram walking areas perfect to begin with. Start off slow, enjoy the walk with your baby and listen to your body.

First step is to get a good quality bathroom scale. To track your results, you can get a fancy scale with memory, but a simple pen and paper will do the job too. To see your progress you should check your weight every day and write it down. You may make a simple table or just write the results down on a calendar
Scale set up. Firstly set up the scale on an even, flat and hard surface. Check manufactures instructions for specific details. If you move the scale or store it on its side it may require self-calibration depending on the type and model. The easiest way is to set your scale in position and do not move it. If you set your scale on an uneven or soft surface such as carpet the result will not be accurate.
Always use the same scale. Every measuring device makes mistakes. Two scales may give you repeatable results but they will be different. One of my clients checked their weight at home, and half an hour later on my scale, they were 1.5kg lighter. Both scales give repeatable results; you can step on and off multiple times and the difference will be only 0.1 or 0.2kg.

To get true accurate results you need to follow the process in the same way under the same conditions.
Feet location and your position. If you move your body weight to the front or back, to left or right, you will get different results. Try to place your feet in the centre of the scale every time and make sure your posture is the same every time. Stand straight, look forward and wait for beep every time. If you look down at the results do it every time.
Time of the day. Body weight does change during the day due to hydration levels, food eaten, toilet etc. You may observe even a few kg’s difference within the same day. Always check your weight at the same time. The most popular times are first thing in the morning after going to the toilet or before bed after going to the toilet. Whatever way, do it the same way every day.
Toilet, drinking or eating. All of those things will have impact on your results. Whatever you decide to do, whether it be weigh in before toilet or after, make sure you always do it same way. A full bladder may add approximately 0.3-0.5kg. Weight difference after a poo is about the same 0.3-0.5kg. Morning tea following a glass of juice and large breakfast or a large mug of coffee may add over 1.0kg on the scale.
Clothes. A pair of jeans weigh over 300g, so fully dressed you can easily add 2-3 kg. To get true body weight check your weight with as little clothes on as feasible.

Summary always use the same scale in the same place, stand on still in the same position at the same time of the day after the toilet before eating or drinking, dressed up identically and you will get reasonably accurate results.

When you try to lose weight, consumption of alcohol is not a good idea, but think of this… “Everything is poisonous, nothing is poisonous, it is all a matter of dose.”– Claude Bernard.
Firstly alcohol is high in calories. 1 gram of alcohol equals 7 kcal, this refers to pure 100% ethyl alcohol. Secondly some spirits, beers and wines contain other nutrients that will add extra calories. In addition soft drinks or juices, mixed with alcohol or snacks consumed, with alcohol also add more calories. Overall a good night out may cost you a lot of additional calories. Is it worth it? The human body perceives alcohol as a toxin and this takes top priority when removing it from our body, and at the same time the body shuts down the fat-burning processes.

In order to briefly compare some, I have recalculated calories per 100ml, as some information I found was for different volume or presented in kJ.
Pure blond 4.2% 30cal per 100ml
VB 4.9% 39cal per 100ml
Little Creatures Pale Ale 5.2% 47cal per 100ml
Jacob Creek Sparkling Moscato 8.4% 79cal per 100ml
Jacob Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 13.7% 81cal per 100ml
Vodka Smirnoff 40% 216cal per 100ml

If you look quickly beer appears to have the lowest calories per 100ml, vodka appears the highest calories per 100ml and two wines appear almost at the same level.
Someone may incorrectly think that beer would be the best choice as the calories are lowest per 100ml. Well it is not that simple! Those alcoholic drinks have different strengths and that should be also be taken into consideration to see true results.

It is not easy to compare as the alcohol concentration in common alcoholic drinks may vary from 2.5% for light beers to 40% for spirits. In order to compare calories in various brewage drinks, firstly we need to bring them to a common denominator: a standard drink.
In Australia a standard drink is any drink that contains 10 grams of alcohol, regardless of container size or alcohol type. A standard drink is calculated by multiplying Volume of container in litres by the percentage of alcohol volume and multiplying by alcohol specific gravity 0.789. For example 100ml of 13% wine is calculated as follows 0.1 x 13 x 0.789 = 1.03 standard drinks
1 standard drink = 285 ml of 4.8% full strength beer = 375ml of 3.5% mid strength beer = 425 mL of 2.7% low strength beer = 100 ml of 13%red wine = 30 ml of 40% spirits
I could not find anywhere on the internet information about comparison of calories in alcoholic drinks per standard drinks, so I decided to do some maths myself.

Lowest in calories per standard drink is Vodka: 68 calories in 1 standard drink followed by dry red wine, beer and sweet wine.

So overall the body treats alcohol as a toxin and when trying to eliminate it from the body, the body shuts down it’s fat burning processes. So the question was… Coach is it OK to drink alcohol on a fitness and weight loss journey? I think my findings answer the question. If you are on a weight loss journey it is best to avoid alcoholic beverages to achieve the best results and let the body eliminate fat in the fat burning process. Good luck on your fitness and weight loss journey.