Staying Fit While Pregnant

It seems that the one time in life when people are constantly encouraging women to eat more is when they are pregnant. If you have ever struggled with your weight, as I once did, this is not an eating pattern you want to adopt. In addition to eating more, women sometimes decide to take their health-off for nine months.

You know the saying, “eating for two” and taking that saying literally is often why it takes longer for women to lose their “baby weight.” It’s so important for a mother’s health and the baby’s health to eat well and exercise while pregnant. But, it’s also confusing knowing what you can and should eat and how much you can exercise.

Healthy eating during pregnancy provides your baby the nutrition needed to grow and become healthy, reduces your chance of having health problems like low iron or high blood pressure, helps you gain a healthy amount of weight, and helps you and your family develop healthy eating habits for life.

What you eat goes to your child and you want to avoid giving your baby too much sugar and saturated fats. An interesting fact to consider when making food choices is that a person’s fat cells are developed in three stages: during third trimester in utero, during adolescents and while pregnant. It’s certainly all right to give into real cravings as long as you eat them in moderation. Just make sure your cravings are true and you aren’t just justifying your desire for something high in fat


Getting through the first trimester
During the first trimester, I experienced what a lot of other women experience as all-day “morning” sickness. I was nauseous unless I had something in my stomach and found myself eating constantly to avoid feeling worse. While I was eating more, I choose healthy foods like whole-grain crackers, almonds, walnuts and peanut butter.

Everyday I carry around several small Ziploc bags of trail mix made up of ¼ cup all-natural granola cereal, six almonds or cashews and 2 Tbsp. dried raisins or cranberries. This is a great mix of protein and helps control your blood sugar. I also recommend all-natural peanut butter on whole grain crackers and non-fat cottage cheese with fruit. I’ve found that when I’m craving sugar, if I force myself to eat some fruit the craving goes away and I feel great instead of guilty.

Preparing your body for delivery and after
Every client that I have worked with that has exercised and ate well during pregnancy has had an easier labor and easier time getting back into shape. Eating well is just as important as exercising. Strong abdominals, inner thighs, upper and lower back, and shoulders are important to develop during pregnancy, the delivery, and after the baby‘s born.

When pregnant, your heart rate tends to rise more quickly. Make sure to talk to your doctor to determine your target heart rate so that you can be cautious of that number while working out. Wearing a heart monitor is also beneficial to ensure you do not exceed that number. You need enough time between beats to get blood to the baby, and as your heart rate goes up, you don't pump quite as much blood each time and the blood is not as well oxygenated.

Exercise that is good for you
Especially during that first trimester, getting motivated to exercise when all you want to do is crawl into bed can be difficult. The trick is to force yourself to do something. Tell yourself you just have to be active for 15 minutes. Once you get going, you may find your able to keep going for 30-40 minutes. But remember, some exercise is better than no exercise.

The best cardio workout while pregnant is walking. Walking at a low-moderate pace with 1-2 lb. hand weights gets your heart rate up, burns calories and helps tone in a low intensity manner that is perfect for pregnancy. Walking on a treadmill or using an elliptical machine is also good means of cardio exercise.

Resistance training is helpful for toning and maintaining your strength. I’m a huge fan of resistance bands. They are inexpensive, lightweight and can pack easily.

Here are some examples of good resistance band exercises to strengthen your core areas during pregnancy. For each exercise you can do 2-3 repetitions of 12-15.

Outer and Inner Thighs Exercises:
Tie the resistance band ends together to form a circle. With your feet shoulder length apart, place the band around your feet. Place a hand on something stable and lift one leg to the side using the resistance band to tone outer thighs. Switch legs. For inner thighs, lift leg to the front. Switch legs.

Shoulder Exercise:
Put resistance band under feet with feet shoulder length apart. Hold both ends of the band in each hand. Do front lateral lifts with the resistance bands.

Abdominal Exercise:
Put resistance band under feet, with feet shoulder length apart. Do side to side crunches using the resistance band to work oblique’s.

Don’t use your pregnancy as an excuse to take time off from your health. Avoid the attitude that since you are already gaining weight naturally, you can eat whatever you want. Knowing that what you put in your mouth also nourishes your baby will help keep you on track. You need to be healthy for not only the baby, but yourself. You need strength for delivery and after the baby’s born. Extra weight will slow you down and also make your pregnancy more uncomfortable.

You don’t have to be overly strict and regimented, but stay balanced with good eating habits and physical activity; you’ll find your pregnancy to be healthier, delivery to be easier and losing the weight after the baby is born to happen more quickly.