36 weeks down. 4 to go!

I always have the best intentions when it comes to blogging. I get so excited about sharing my experiences, but then life gets in the way so to speak. As you can see, life has undoubtedly been busy and here I am almost three months later and practically finished with my first pregnancy!

Let me recap the last 3 months for you in one sentence. PREGNANCY IS THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY. With the holidays, trying to get everything ready for baby, and preparing for maternity leave, all while taking care of the day-to-day business has leant itself to mental and physical exhaustion. Growing a baby is hard work and I often have to remind myself of this and that its ok to kick my feet up and relax.

As far as fitness and nutrition, I have been relatively consistent working out at least 3 days a week. Still doing 30 minutes on the elliptical on an interval setting (1 minute moderate to hard work; 1 minute easy to moderate work) and doing some sort of resistance training at least 2 days a week. For the last 2 weeks and for the remainder of my pregnancy, I still choose a challenging weight, but do the majority of my resistance training seated and only do 2 sets of 10-15 reps. I try to pick 3 exercises that work my major muscle groups (i.e. air squats, knee-push ups, and seated Lat Pulldowns) Here are the top aspects of prenatal fitness/nutrition I have learned through this experience:

1. Warming up, cooling down, and rest periods between sets take longer: about ten minutes for warm up and cool down as opposed to 3-5 minutes before pregnancy. And at least 1 full minute between weight sets or exercises as opposed to 0-30 seconds.

2. It's uncomfortable; get over it. My back and pelvic region aches, my feet and ankles are swollen, and I'm tired all the time! But I feel SO MUCH BETTER after I exercise and it often eases the discomforts of pregnancy.

3. Eating well, drinking lots of water, and watching sodium intake makes a world of difference. Smaller, more frequent meals and at least 64-70 ounces of water have worked wonders for me in terms of energy levels and swelling. My go-to's lately have been pineapple, strawberries, bananas, anything with blueberries (this one is unusual for me), black beans (on or in anything these days), and homemade granola bars with dried cherries and dark chocolate. YUM.

4. It's ok to slow-down a little. When it comes to exercise, I have always enjoyed a challenge. I love getting my heart rate up and feeling my muscles burn. But when you're pregnant, your body has a different idea of what's challenging. Listen to your body! And I'm saying that as a reminder to myself as well. Feeling overheated, a rapid-uncontrollable heart rate, feeling faint or dizzy, or out of breath is a sign from your body to take it down a notch. I admit, I have overdone it a handful of times, but it has become my new goal to find a happy medium in each workout.

So there it is, a little pregnancy health wisdom for you. Remember to always talk to your doctor about prenatal fitness and nutrition. This blog is just that, a blog, and these are just things that have worked for me with clearance from my doctor.

Until next time! Which will hopefully be before this little girl enters the world:)p.s. Below is a picture of me at 32 weeks pregnant.

Maternity Active Wear

This one goes out to all my ladies! Athletic fashion has come a long way from leg warmers, unitards, and ratty sweat pants. As my job requires me to wear active clothing all day, everyday (no complaints here!), it has been a blast to shop for cute outfits. Until now.

My favorite brands generally include Lucy, lululemon, Nike, Addidas, and Underarmer. Luckily, some of these brands will give discounts to personal trainers, group fitness instructors, and PE teachers. Unfortunately, NONE of these brands have MATERNITY gear (tear). Thus, my search to find the perfect active gear was underway and here is what I have found to be the best "go-to" pieces after much trial and error!

GAP and Old Navy seem to have the maternity thing down. Although I still try to pull-off a size bigger in my favorite Lucy style pants, the GapFit gBalance pants have stolen my heart. Boasting a fold-over waist band, allowing you to go from "full panel" to "below the belly." Never in my wildest dreams would I ever think I would enjoy wearing my pants up to my bust (think Steve Urkel style), but having the ability to unfold these pants up over my belly has been heavenly. The full panel option gives just a little extra support for "the belly" and the lower back: almost like a gentle hug:) The best part of all is that Gap offers these in length sizes Short, Regular, and Tall. Being a shorty myself, having the ability to order the Short sizes has saved me money in alteration costs, hurray!

My favorite pick from Old Navy is the Maternity Scoop Rib-Knit Tank. Talk about versatile! Good for the gym or layering under your favorite tees and sweaters. The stretchy sides allow for belly growth and has worked with me for my entire pregnancy thus far (3 weeks away from the third trimester).

The two items I am struggling to find are sports bras and underwear! These things are VERY important to have. At the moment I am simply sporting a bigger size in both items, but they don't grow with you like other maternity wear does. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. This preggo lady is about to lose all her britches!

We're expecting!

The ultimate journey begins; the journey of pregnancy and parenthood! We will be welcoming a little girl into the world January 23, 2013! The photo on the left was taken at about 20 weeks. Keep reading to take a look into my pregnancy fitness journey so far...

Not gonna lie, weeks 8-12 were rough. Although I never actually vomited, I was definitely nauseas most of the time. The two things that really helped me were walks outside and saltine crackers. I was still able to do a lot of the same exercises I had been doing; jogging, weights, teaching fitness classes, and even boot camp! With the exception that I was moving a little slower and no longer doing jumping exercises.

The second trimester has been fabulous so far! I feel wonderful and definitely have the "pregnancy glow." Although I still get fatigued, it's not nearly as much as the first trimester and exercising most days of the week helps my energy levels. There are a few more exercise limitations now, besides having to modify exercises for my growing belly:) The doctor has prescribed that I keep my heart rate at or below 140, I'm not supposed to lay flat on my back, and shouldn't lift more than 25lbs. But this doesn't mean I can't exercise,  I just change a few things! 

Walking, elliptical, or indoor cycling has been my cardio of choice. I teach 2 weight training classes a week, one for upper and one for lower body, and try to spend a little more time stretching after exercise. My minimum goal is to exercise 3 days a week, but I feel so much better when I'm active most days of the week (5 seems to be the magic number). Light dumbbells and the stability ball are my go-to pieces of equipment!

I plan to keep teaching group fitness and personal training until my body says "no more!" As far as group fitness goes, I am hoping to make it to at least the 8th month, which is only 3 months away!

That just about sums up the last 5 months! I look forward to sharing my pregnancy fitness journey with you and hope that any other moms-to-be out there will find this helpful:) Happy exercising!

A Quick Full Body Workout

We are finally getting to the end of our week long winter storm! Unfortunately, I chose not to brave the weather and go to the gym until yesterday. Although I tried to be active indoors by running up and down the stairs with the laundry, or dancing around the kitchen when I was cooking (yes,i really do this), taking 4 days off of my regular exercise routine made my 20 minute jog a little harder than it should have been. But you gotta start somewhere! Today I wanted to get in a quick and efficient workout and thought I might share it with you! So here it is:

Warm-up: elliptical for 5 minutes. I ALWAYS perform a warm-up of some sort for 5 to 10 minutes. Never skip your warm-up!

Circuit 1 (10 reps, 2 sets. Little to no rest between exercises and circuits)

TRX pull up. TRX is a form of suspension training. YouTube it!

Single-leg step with unilateral overhead press. Sorry for the exercise lingo. Basically its fancy for using your opposite arm and leg. For this exercise I used a kettle bell, but you can use just about anything that's 5-10 lbs. And I mean anything (gallon jug, laundry detergent container, or even a small animal, haha) To perform this exercise, put your left foot on a 12inch step and hold the weight in your right hand, resting the weight on your shoulder. As you step up with your left foot, press your right hand overhead, then return to start. Do 10 repetitions then switch legs/arms.

TRX ATOMIC PUSHUP. If you have not yet tried this exercise, I highly recommend you do! If you don't have TRX bands, you can also use a stability ball. Check it out. http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/77/trx-reg-atomic-push-up 

Cardio: 5 minutes on the step mill. 1 minute going forward, 1 minute going sideways, 1 minute backward, 1 minute other side, and the last minute going forward. Make the speed challenging! No step mill? Go up and down regular stairs or try jogging for a minute, then sprinting for a minute.

Circuit 2 (10-15 reps, 2 sets. Little to no rest)

Barbell dead lifts

Barbell row

Bench tricep dips

5 minute cool down.

And there you have it! This workout took me about 30 minutes including the warm-up and cool down. It hits every major muscle group and by doing the exercises with as little rest as possible, you are keeping your heart rate up and the calories torching! For more of a challenge, try performing 3 or 4 sets of both circuits and add in 1-3 more rounds of cardio. Happy sweating!

i'm back!

Well, I took quite the hiatus after our show in April 2011, mostly due to the fact that I had gained back 20 pounds and was just plain burnt out. It has taken me 8 months to get back to my "comfortable" weight. Now, 10 pounds lighter, I am feeling much better (improved confidence, energy, ect.). I really struggled to lose those ten pounds (obviously as it took 8 months), but I wanted to take a healthy, slow approach so as not to get burnt out again.

So, how did I lose those 10 lbs? Very small changes on a daily basis. 

After the show I was so burnt out physically and emotionally that I just didn't want to be healthy. This was a horrible realization considering my job as a personal trainer is to help make others healthy. I let myself rest for a few months until I just couldn't stand the way I was feeling anymore (depressed, tired, no motivation). I was not motivated by going to the gym and hated the idea of being on a strict meal plan. So I threw the rules out the window and went with the flow. Instead of exercising at the gym, I laced up my running shoes and took it outside. I strove to find all the reasons I enjoyed exercise; the fresh air, the scenery around me, the release I felt from finishing a slow and steady jog with my dog at my side. When I wasn't in the mood for a jog, I would either take the dog to the park and race around with him, or I would do quick exercise videos at home using Netflix (30 minutes or less).

As far as nutrition goes I really focused on the small changes. Drinking more water, eating less junk and more veggies. I did NOT restrict myself, however, I did pay closer attention to portion size and wrote down the things I ate to review at the end of the day to make adjustments the next day. I have found it helpful to keep a few healthy frozen meals on hand for those nights I didn't feel like cooking or when I was craving something naughty. 

Stepping away from the gym and doing non-traditional exercise really motivated me to stay active and keep consistent. I am currently training for the Bloomsday 12k race in May. Having a specific goal and date to accomplish this goal keeps me going. My exercise routine is completely different than it was a year ago, which is why I am enjoying it so much!

No, I am not ripped like I was a year ago, and my body is not and never will be perfect, and thats the way I like it. I am accepting and enjoying my imperfections and I encourage many of you to do the same this year :)

In short, the best approach to weight loss, or any life-style change, is to make small changes on a daily basis. Sometimes it is the smallest changes that make the biggest difference. Making a drastic change may help you reach your goal short-term, but if you cannot continue to carry out those changes for the rest of your life, why bother?