Right now I am 14 weeks pregnant. There are not a lot of blogs out there talking about working out during pregnancy, so I figure I'll share my experience. Leave a comment if you want more detail about something or have a question. I am no doctor, but I am happy to share what I am going through.
Exercises
Pre-pregnancy (I'll use PP for short) I worked out five days a week. My off season work out routine looked something like this:
3 to 5 mile run
Cross training day (which for me was my gravity class and an elliptical warm up if I had time)
3 to 5 mile run with speed training or hills
3 to 5 mile run plus lifting
6 to 9 mile run
I tried to keep up the same schedule. My doctor told me to just listen to my body and do what feels comfortable. She promised to let me know when I had to stop doing certain things. I quickly discovered my current schedule no longer worked. I did pretty well the first month, but my long runs became impossible. I have only been able to complete two six miles runs since I became pregnant. On both those runs the last three miles I had to stop to dry heave multiple times (this was on my way home, so there wasn't a way to cut it short at that point).
Towards the end of the second month I started to have less energy (equalling to little motivation) and started to feel more nauseous. If I felt good I could get out for a three mile run. If I did not, I would hit the elliptical. For some reason running really made me sick. Most of the time I could manage the elliptical or lifting just fine. There were a couple occasions I set out to run, started to feel my stomach turn and just went back home to lift. My five day a week work outs have been cut to four days a week. I just feel too tired and felt the need to rest. For all you girls out there who run full and half marathons into your second trimester I don't know how you do it. Props to you for sure!
Now being at week 14 I feel a lot better. I am noticing right now when I get my heart rate too high I start to feel sicker, so I am having to hold myself back. It is really frustrating, but I know if my body responds by wanting to hurl it is the best thing to do for me and the baby. I can run more during the week, but I haven't been able to run farther than three miles at a time. My goals was four to five last weekend, but there was an unfortunate vomit incident that made me cut it back to two miles. No good. Below is what my schedule looks like currently:
3 mile run
Gravity
3 mile run and lifting
3 mile run (hopefully more one week sometime here)
I do not think I will be able to do Gravity much longer. It is making me really motion sick. I cannot lay on my stomach any more and I will not be able to do ab exercises soon. Luckily, my trainer is awesome and she is thinking about changing her class so I can still take it. We will see what happens.
Diet
It took me a little while to get a good system down with my eating. At work sometimes I would go with out eating from 7am to 3pm. I would try to eat a snack at noon if I knew I had to take a later lunch, but if I did not get a chance to eat it, it wasn't the end of the world. I was also really good at not eating something if I knew it was bad for me just because I was hungry, like french fries, chips, candy, really processed stuff, etc. Now if I skip a meal I WILL shove a whole pie down my throat because I am hungry. I also had no ideas how many calories I should be eating. I figured I was pregnant, so I should be eating more, but I had no idea how much. I made several mistakes, but now I have a schedule down. Here is what my day looks like:
7am Breakfast
11am Snack (usually whole natural almonds or a piece of fruit)
2pm Lunch
4 to 5pm Snack (what ever I didn't eat in my lunch or some more almonds)
5 to 6pm granola bar
8pm Dinner
That has kept me from eating a whole pie or a plate of french fries. To answer the calorie question, here is what I read: 1st trimester 100 calories more, 2nd trimester 300 calories more, 3rd trimester 500 calories more. I am still tempted to eat things that are bad for me, but oh well. I'm pregnant I am going to enjoy it and not stress over a few splurges. Everything in moderation. Luckily my cravings have been pretty healthy, eggs and pickles. On my eggs I will take out one of the yokes to make them a little healthier. Last time I went to the doctor I had only gained four pounds so far. I am not sure if that is normal or not, but the doctor has not said anything, so I am sure I am doing just fine.
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