Working Out While Pregnant

Ahh, the gift of being pregnant. It's not so much a gift to you. It's a sacrifice, but to make that sacrifice a little easier, here are guidelines about eating and exercising during pregnancy...

In addition to the midnight runs of pickles and ice cream, chocolate chips, and watermelon; most women use the excuse that “I’m eating for two,” to justify extra-large portions of dessert. The truth?

You’re eating for one and a little living baby the size of a jelly bean. How many extra calories would you estimate you need to feed that baby jellybean? 1,000, 400, 800?

The answer is nothing extra until the third trimester for most women, and even then, it’s only 300 extra calories per day. So if you were recommended to maintain your weight at 1400 calories per day, at the end of your pregnancy, it would be only 1700 calories total, for you AND your jellybean.

This is why women gain too much weight during pregnancies. At appointments, you get weighed to make sure that your weight gain is on track (about one pound a week, for a total of 25-35 pounds). More than this increases risk for gestational diabetes, diabetes, and various other health risks.

How can you make labor easier and less painful? EXERCISE

Exercising During Pregnancy-General Guidelines

A lot of doctors say that pregnancy is not a good time to start exercising. I absolutely DISAGREE! If you want to maintain a healthy heart, blood sugar, and avoid gestational diabetes, exercise is pretty much the only way. While hitting the weight room with the rest of the gym rats is not recommended, walking, even running (depending where you are at with your general fitness prior to pregnancy) are completely acceptable and even encouraged.

Guidelines for pregnant women are not to exert yourself. You can still get moving, dance-based classes are great (zumba, modern) as well as water aerobics (and you’ll feel like you haven’t gained any weight at all in the water!), but don’t do anything you didn’t do before you were pregnant (unless of course that only consisted of sitting on the couch and eating oreos).

Sample workouts could consist of: yoga, water aerobics, walking, dance classes, weight lifting, etc.

After becoming pregnant, one of the hormonal changes is the production of a hormone called relaxin. Relaxin is aptly named; it relaxes the joints and tissue surrounding the joints (allowing for hips to spread to make room, etc.). Some weight lifting can be contraindicated for pregnant women for this reason. Resistance training can still be accomplished with exercise bands, lighter weights, medicine balls, a gallon of milk and anything else you can heave around.

Not to mention, carrying an ever-growing baby in your belly is like wearing a weighted vest. Pregnant women who exercise rock!

---