I’m Pregnant – Now What?
Whether this is your first pregnancy or your 4th, it seems like there are so many “rules”. Eat this. Eat that. DON’T EAT brie! Stay miles away from the alcohol. Exercise regularly. Don’t exercise if you’ve never done it before. Whole grains are your friend. Fruits and vegetables are your friend. Goat cheese is the enemy. It’s one thing to gain 30 pounds and for my feet to swell like a platypus but it’s another thing to take away my goat cheese.
When I was pregnant the first time, I thought genetics were going to save the day. When my mom was pregnant, she gained 15, 14, and 13 pounds respectively. I was thrilled, I wasn’t going to gain any weight and once I had my baby, I was convinced that I’d be 10 pounds lighter than when I got pregnant. I know this happens to some people, but not this people. Man, was I delusional. I was also going to eat nothing but fruits and vegetable, I was going to work out 5 times a week, I wasn’t going to need maternity clothes, and there wasn’t going to be a stretch mark to be found. The only one of those things that happened was the lack of stretch marks, genetics was truly on my side there. I gained 30 pounds, I’ve never eaten more dessert in my life than I did in those 40 weeks, and I worked out twice a week for 30 minutes, with a trainer, but that hardly counted as exercise. After I delivered I held on to the last 10 pounds for months, ok 13 months, but really, I was 15 pounds overweight when I got pregnant. Add that all up and I easily had 25 pounds to lose.
In mid-December I wrote a post in which I was disgusted with myself. I talked about the exhaustion and how I just couldn’t get it together. I couldn’t exercise, I was too tired, and I couldn’t stop eating all those desserts. And, it was the holidays and there was no way I was going to not eat the dozen cookies I’d baked or the bread fresh out of the oven. It was as if the calendar turned to 12/1 and I had a license to stuff my face. I’d seen the results that Bill and Kristen had had with the 30 Day Shred and that was it, I was doing it. And then hugely fortunate for me, they issued their January challenge and I was already 2 weeks into it and damn if I wasn’t going to jump on the band wagon. I was working out, my clothes were finally fitting, I was feeling good, I had stamina and muscle definition and I even went out and bought myself some skinny jeans! AND, I was down 10 pounds! I was pumped. And it turns out I was pregnant. I was SHOCKED!
One of the great things about this pregnancy is that I’m already in an exercise routine. I already have the motivation, the willpower, and most importantly, the people behind me who are keeping me honest and accountable. I’m not working out 5-7 days a week like I was before, maybe 3-5, and I’m not eating all those desserts. Over the next 25 +/- weeks, I’ll be sharing my exercise and diet (diet as in what I eat, not ON a diet) journey with you.
I’d love to hear from you, get your questions, help keep you motivated and more importantly, help keep one another moving.
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We’re trying to get pregnant now and I’ve just really gotten back into exercising after about a month hiatus for various reasons. I want to make sure I’m in good shape for myself but also for the baby. I also want to make sure that I keep exercising, within reason, during my pregnancy.
I’m excited to follow along and gain lots of tips!!
I’m not planning on that anytime soon, but it’s encouraging to see so many people exercising far into their pregnancy. Most RL people I knew just sat on their butts for 9 mos and (surprise surprise) never lost the weight after. Excited for you and to see how your next 25 weeks go!
OMG, this post comes just in time for me,. I’m only 7 weeks pregnant, but I am absolutely wiped out. I did the 30 day shred, then started doing Bootcamp at my local park when I found out I was preggers. Then, by about the 5th week it just kind of hit me like a ton of bricks! Sicky sicky tired leave me alone feeling. I use to be able to get up at 5am to get my workout done, but now I just want to sleep. When I do drag myself out of bed, by the time I make it to work I am completely wiped out. HELP!!
I hear that in the 2nd trimester you start to feel a little better. But I definitely do not want all my hard work to go to waste. Prior to becoming pregnant I cut out sugar, bad starches, and worked out 5-6 days a week. Now….I’m trying not to be too bad, but it’s so hard. I know I will inevitably gain weight, but after working for the last 2 years to lose 100 pounds I don’t know how to NOT diet.
Congrats! My advice is to keep that exercise up even through the periods of exhaustion, which it sounds like you are planning to do. Dial back the intensity, sure, but just keep at it. It will make your recovery so much smoother. I continued to exercise up to the births of both of my sons and felt pretty great during the pregancies– minus the very early weeks and the very last weeks– and bounced back physically very quickly (before I put on breastfeeding pounds, that is….). After witnessing me deliver my first son within 4 hours of going into labor (same with the second), without time for pain control to kick in, my husband, who is an anesthesiologist, started to notice that his OB patients who continue to exercise up to the end tend to have much faster/easier deliveries than those who don’t. Now, when a woman tells him that she has continued to exercise through her pregancy and looks fairly fit, he hauls serious ass if she says she wants pain control! Just thought that might serve as some motivation for you!! Enjoy the pregnancy.
Caroline
I am a very regular exerciser who has gotten mostly sidelined during my first trimester (second child). I ran a half marathon when I was 6 weeks along and it’s been mostly downhill since then. I’ve done a few things here and there to help maintain some fitness (push-ups and upper body strength, walking if not running a little)… but I know I need to get it rolling for real now as I get closer to my second trimester and get some of my energy back. I did the main section of BL’s Cardio Max on Saturday, and was very nauseated when I was done. I’m not gonna be discouraged by that though, and I took note of where I can modify this as my belly grows. I’m very excited about this series on here, thanks for doing it!
Before my pregnancy, I ran, walked, hiked, played tennis, and did yoga, working out 5 or 6 times a week. I was devastated when first trimester fatigue sidelined me, after everything I’d read about continuing to exercise in pregnancy. I just couldn’t move without being exhausted. During the second trimester I felt better, but sleeping and working still took priority over exercising. But at the start of the third trimester I got the gestational diabetes diagnosis and I had to slowly get back into exercising. Just some walking, but it’s been hard. For a couple weeks the exercise made me feel worse instead of better but I’m finally feeling like it’s a good thing again. I never did the Shred, but I’m thinking of starting it after the birth as something new to renew my interest in working out and get that baby weight off.
Does this mean you can do a high intensity workout like the 30 day shred even when you are pregnant??
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