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.
