Health advice: baby weight - Telegraph Exercising now will ensure you're better prepared for the birth itself - and more likely to regain your figure after. Pilates focuses on the core of your body, as well as your breathing and abs. Try lying supine on a mat, then bend the legs into a tabletop position, anchor the sacrum, deepen the abs in and up and lift the head and chest off the floor and pump the arms vigorously 100 times for a count of five pumps as you inhale, five as you exhale. The effects of pregnancy differ for everyone. But regaining your stomach muscles and pelvic-floor control should be the priority. A few sessions with a specialist physio prior to getting pregnant can help you learn how to contract these muscles. Strengthening the back of the shoulders is also important, as is general activity through pregnancy, such as swimming. And do moisturise the stomach - removing stretch marks is far harder than improving muscle control. The personal trainer: Joslyn Thompson Nutrition is key, and the fitter you are pre-conception, the more easily you'll bounce back afterwards. Try a strength-training regime at least once or twice a week, with large compound movements - deadlifts, squats and rows. This will also boost metabolism. Pregnancy is not the time to get fitter or stronger, it is a time to maintain, as best you can, the fitness and strength you have developed, so the more you achieve beforehand, the better. Send your health questions, for publication only, to stellahealth@telegraph.co.uk To contact any of our specialists: Angie Newson is at exploreyogapilates.com, Will Pressley is at Health and Fitness Solutions (hfs-clinics.co.uk), Joslyn Thompson is at fitgirlabouttown.com.