Before getting pregnant I had been a healthy person, running, working out, eating right has been a love of mine. I was always nervous to get pregnant because I had heard stories of women who were pregnant who gained a lot of weight and were never able to lose it or women who were able to run miles and miles and then got pregnant and lost that. I had worked so hard to get where I was at with running and it scared me to lose all that hard work. I found out I was pregnant in August and as soon as I found out I made it my goal that I would be as healthy as I could. I continued working out as much as I could, and then the morning sickness hit and hit hard. I felt sick all the time and it was hard for me to even get up and go to work let alone go work out. I decided that I would go workout only if I felt up to it and felt good enough to go. Although I wasn't working out as much as I hoped I still ate healthy. For my birthday and anniversary Kent surprised me with a trip to Houston to run in a quarter marathon with him, my sister and brother in law. I told myself I would go run it and it was ok if I had to walk a little bit, as long as I got out and did it. Race day came and I finished, it was a little slower then I would have liked but I was able to run and finish the race.
By that point I was about 14 weeks and the morning sickness was starting to go away, I got back into running about 5-7 miles per run and felt great! Not only was I running but I was also doing some resistance training. I had heard that delivering a baby is hard work and that I needed to prepare myself physically for it. I kept this up until about 27 weeks when I started to bleed. Kent and I went into the hospital and it turned out everything was okay but it made me nervous. I asked the doctor if running was a bad idea for me this far along. He explained that as the baby is getting bigger the baby will bounce more and that constant bouncing could potentially be bad for the baby. He said that he knew some women who would run marathons up to delivery and their babies were fine and he knew some who would run and end up having their babies earlier and have more complications. So he told me it was up to me what I wanted to do. I decided that I would play it safe and stop running so much and so hard. If you can run throughout your whole pregnancy then that is great! I just made the decision I would take a break from running for the remainder of my pregnancy. I was a little nervous about making this decision but decided that it was best for me and my baby considering the bleeding. I made some changes to my work outs and turned more towards biking and incline speed walking. I continued this up until the day before I went in to deliver. I would walk anywhere from 3 miles to 6 miles 4-6 days a week depending on how my body was feeling. I continued eating healthy and avoided greasy foods, lots of sweets, and just made sure to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Throughout my pregnancy I gained 28 lbs and delivered right on my due date. I was able to bounce back and I not only owe that to being lucky to have such a good pregnancy but also to my decision to stay healthy and to eat right and stay active.
23 weeks
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39 weeks
Now I understand that I was so lucky to have a healthy pregnancy, I know there are a lot of cases where women aren't as lucky and have complications come up that don't allow them to be active or have to be on bed rest and so on, that is completely different. However, the choice to eat right no matter the circumstance will make the difference. I know some women believe that because they are pregnant they can eat whatever they want whenever they want and however much they want. All I have to say is what you are taking in, your baby is getting as well!! I look at it as pregnancy should be the time you want to eat the most healthy because those are the only nutrients your baby is getting while growing such vital organs and growing his/her body! A healthy weight to gain, depending on your starting weight, is about 25 to 35 lbs. Again this can change depending on whether you are underweight or overweight and the type of pregnancy that you have.
I think an important thing to remember is every body is different, you know your body the best and it is important to listen to it. When I was working out if I was tired or started to ache I would listen to my body and stop. Your body is the best judge, so listen to it! It isn't worth over doing it to avoid gaining weight, a fact that you have to accept during pregnancy is YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT and that is totally fine! Pregnancy is a sacrifice and a very selfless act, you are allowing your body to go through changes in order to grow a human being. My body isn't perfect, there are flaws that I see, and I am not back to where I want to be post partum but I am healthy and that is what matters. I will always see flaws if I am looking for them, the best thing you can do is look for the good in you! I am able to go on runs and to workout, I enjoy eating healthy and I feel good! That is what is most important. You may not bounce back as fast as you would like post partum but that is okay, just be positive and stay healthy.
If you are going to workout during pregnancy make sure to get your drs approval. Working out is not the only way to stay healthy during pregnancy. Controlling your eating is the biggest thing you can do to maintain a healthy pregnancy. I will go into more detail in both working out, and a healthy diet while pregnant in other posts.
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