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So, I am due in less than a month to deliver my 1st bambino. I am super excited, and feel ready. I know that I can't jump right in with a extreme workout right away and to take it slow, but I was just wondering if anyone found a plan that slowly stepped up the intensity for post-pregnancy and that also went along with NF's ideas (clean eating, lift heavy). Thanks! Megan

I've done a few challenges in the past, but haven't done a challenge in quite some time. What better time to get my butt in high gear! I'm determined to have the healthiest pregnancy yet. My previous pregnancies have been medicated due to hypertension and full of heartburn and unnecessary weight gain and muscle loss. So here are the goals! Add a new vegetable into my weekly meal plans Diet is key to any healthy body, especially for my newest internal addition! I plan on staying away from all processed foods, wheat, dairy, etc. However, I will keep our needs in check and eat the calories I see fit. Grazing, snacking and mini meals will be a standard. I also found a perfect prenatal vitamin that does not have any of the funky additives and is GMO free. I am currently consuming a good amount of vegetables, but I always get the same vegetables over and over again. I need to increase my intake by adding new vegetables and adding even more nutrients and vitamins into my diet. Be active 45 minutes a day I know it is not recommended to have a broad goal. However, I know that some days I will be too nauseous to go for a run or too tired to do strength training. I can vow, however, to walk, dance, do some bodyweight exercises, play with the kids harder and whatever else I can manage to stay fit/get more fit. I will allow myself to break up this time if needed. No matter how important exercise is, not pushing myself is even more important at this time. Pay off remaining balance at my grandmother's home I want to pay off the last $760 of my grandmother's balance at the nursing home she is at. The balance is my fault and I need to clear this! It's caused some tension in my family and I hope to get it paid off in the next 6 weeks. I want to keep my two major end goals in mind at all time 1. Go through this entire pregnancy without having to take medication for high blood pressure 2. Go into labor naturally instead of being induced again due to high blood pressure

Hey so I'm new to nerd fitness. I'm small. 5'2 , 105 pounds. And almost 4 months pregnant. My doctor is worried that since I am so small that carrying the weight of my child will cause me back and leg trouble. I'm not skin and bones, in fairly good shape , I can do about 5 chin ups, 8 on a good day, and i've had excellent posture my whole life . I want to start doing some strength training, targeting my upper and lower back, gluts and leg muscles. But not so much my abs since i was advised against it because it can cause muscle deformities with my expanding stomach, making it so that after birth my stomach will not bounce back without surgery..? I was just wondering if there was any exercises i could do that target these areas, but do not have a big focus on abs? And If anyone else worked out their abs during pregnancy?

I am currently 8 months pregnant, and because of some health concerns with the pregnancy, I have been on a lifting ban since mid July. At that point I was told I was not to lift more than ten pounds, or do any activity that engaged my abs. So - pretty much nothing. Before that - I was allowed to continue my regular lifting through my first trimester, but at the end of May I had to reduce my max numbers by 25%. Looking forward - baby is coming in mid November by C-section. So, with all of that, what would be a reasonable time frame to aim for to get my numbers back to where they were pre-pregnancy?

So last challenge was a bit of a flunk lets be honest and I could have done a LOT better but now I have proper motivation! I am currently somewhere between 6-8 weeks pregnant and I need to set a healthy and active foundation to my pregnancy, that doesn't allow for a 70 sodding pound gain this time! So that is my main goal! My the mini goals will be to continue to lose a little weight but in a sensible and controlled manner that helps my pregnancy progress at a healthy rate. To eat a healthy paleo diet, but be mindful of morning sickness and cravings and try to find alternatives to appease the cheese and chocolate Gods. To de-stress as much as possible with daily quiet time which allows for mediation/ quiet reading or just chillaxing X

Three weeks ago Tadpole arrived (yay!). I tried to keep exercising during the pregnancy but, I'll admit it, once I couldn't see my toes my motivation disappeared. I managed to stay mostly primal throughout the pregnancy and even though my exercise program disappeared I only gained 18 pounds, which I lost within the first week, plus another 8 pounds putting me at under my pre-preggy weight. Now to concentrate on building muscle and working off those pesky inches I was working on before getting pregnant. Questions: My whole body feels...soggy? saggy? I'm smaller weight and inch wise but it feels like everything is hanging off my bones. Even my calves and forearms! I can understand the saggy belly *sigh* but what's up with the rest of the bod? It will be another 4 weeks before my OB check, but I feel back to normal (except for the sagginess). Is there anything I should keep in mind? I just bought two 5lb kettleballs. I now have a mixed collection of heavy weights (3lbs, 5lbs, 8lbs, 10-100lbs in 5lb increments) in different formats (kettleball, dumbbell, ect). What are the best lifting exercises you'd reccomend? Exercises that would include a newborn and toddler? Are there such things? I just picked up a double-stroller off craigslist thinking we could go on walks but it started pouring and I'm not comfortable taking a newborn out in the cold and wet. We may be stuck mostly indoors for the rest of winter. General tips and tricks?

Hello Rebels! I'm a long-timer lurker and I'm about to pull out all these damn (awesome) underpants I've been gathering from Steve and start wearing them. My name is Erin and I'm 28. I live in Indianapolis, IN (originally from Muncie). About me: I had lap-band surgery in May 2011. I lost 97 lbs in 18 months and then got knocked up (on purpose). I just had my baby boy (Xander) this past May. I am now 4 months postpartum and only 20 lbs down from the 60 I gained during pregnancy. (I had some of the restriction removed from my band in order to increase my calories for pregnancy. I haven't gone back to get it re-filled, but I intend to in the next few months.) I am miserable and dying to get back under 200 lbs like I was just 13 months ago. I gave into my cravings during pregnancy and still haven't been able to say 'no' again like I could before. (Yes, I'm very upset with myself for this.) I have a blog that I have kept since before my lap-band surgery and throughout my pregnancy. I intend to use this during my Nerd Fitness-induced lifestyle change as well. Oh, and my username is inspired by The Boondock Saints. Goals: Transition to Paleo, start strength training, get healthy (with my husband), and set a better example for my baby so he doesn't grow up with the same food issues as I have. Why I'm Nerdy: I feel I'm not as (awesomely) nerdy as some people here. I do, however, enjoy Joss Whedon anything (my son's name is Xander, after all), bad puns, science fiction, Harry Potter, doing massive amounts of research on things I find interesting (hence my underpants collection), making lists, stand-up comedy, the Daily Show. How I'm getting started: The Husband and I are going grocery shopping on Friday (payday) and I am armed with multiple Paleo shopping lists that I will be picking and choosing from to best suit our household. I'm doing one goal at a time. Add more veg, weed out carbs, sweets, junk in general, and pop...wish me luck! Once I get into the groove of the paleo lifestyle, I will start my strength training. I also signed up for the Nerd Fitness Academy for Women and hope to get in on that! So that's me... I can't wait to get started!

Hallo ladies who are so much more knowledgable and intelligent that I am. I need some help. I am the ultimate strength training beginner and am trying out the Beginner Body Weight Routine. I've got lots of reasons for doing this but one of my most important is I am expecting (yay!) and want to help my delivery and recovery by being healthy. I've had some complications early on that affected my health and so I'm recovering, starting slow and looking forward to being a buff mama. Within reason, of course. I was wondering if any of you out there have attempted planks or push-ups while pregnant. I can do a few seconds of planks and very few cheater push-ups. I'm working up to the good stuff. One thing I noticed was that at the end of the plank or on the downward part of my push up, my bump is bumping the carpet. I'm only 18 weeks along, so I can imagine this is going to get worse, not better as things progress. So, does anyone have a suggestion for a modification and/or alternate exercise I can try to get the same benefits? Am I going to have to abandon those parts of the circuit altogether? I realize this isn't the ideal time to figure out this might not work but I'd really like to try. Thanks in advance!

Hey y'all! I do love a challenge. I'm Christi, a 28yr old lady preschool teacher from Parrish, FL. Currently 14.5 weeks preggers. My fiance and I will be welcoming our little punkin' sometime in the middle of October!!! (It's our first) Pre-preg I was a 2-3x weekly Crossfitter, heavy lifter, avid walker, totally Paleo.. All that good stuff. So in case anyone is concerned I have been completely cleared by my midwives to do anything I want. Within reason, no handstand pushups or crazy box jumps! I will not be going for PRs or straining myself, I'm not that stubborn. I just want to be as healthy and strong of a momma as possible. I don't believe pregnancy is a weakness. I'm so looking forward to this challenge, since I need to perk myself up a bit.. Growing a human inside your body is tiring work! My Goals: 1. 80/20 Paleo or better, keeping carbs around 100g/day, no dairy, no Paleo "treats"..... A- 6 or 7 days compliant 2. Barbell Battalion programming, starting with Rank One Cycle A.... A for 3-4 days a week 3. The dreaded Yoga, going for 2 sessions of prenatal yoga a week... A for 2 days a week 4. 7+ hours of sleep a night.. Gotta get all the sleep I can before the lil' one gets here!.... A for Sun-Thurs nights 5. Life goal- Start my backyard organic garden... A for garden plan, built raised beds, compost piles, and seeds Well.. That's about it.. A good start for sure. Good luck to everyone!

So, I'm looking for advice, or simply some motivational "It will get better" statements. At the moment I'm feeling overwhelmed. I'm 15 weeks pregnant, which is wonderful. But, the past two months have wrecked havoc on my physical activity level and the quality of my diet. At first, I wasn't nauseous, and I was seriously enjoying eating healthy foods. I was also keeping up with physical activity through going to Zumba a few times a week. Then, around week 7, everything changed. I started spotting, which was seriously scary. Through an ultrasound, I was diagnosed with a small hemorrhage in my uterus under the area where the placenta was forming. According to my midwife, it shouldn't cause long-term complications for the fetus, but she recommended that I stop or reduce any heavy physical activity (no more Zumba, gentle walks only), at least until the end of the first trimester. At first I felt rebellious, but then I resigned myself to waiting for the spotting to stop--considerations for the pregnancy come first! A few weeks later, nausea took over my life. On bad days, I was throwing up 3 to 4 times, good days would be 2 times. Even water made me nauseous. At first I shut down and stopped eating. I didn't want to throw up! On advice from my midwife, my husband went to the store for a variety of different beverages to tempt me with (coconut water, vitamin water, ginger ale, etc.). We were worried about dehydration. For about a week, my main meal was miso soup and occasionally cream of wheat. I have improved. I'm still nauseous all the time, but sometimes I don't throw up for two days. Still, food just sounds awful. Vegetables (which I normally love) are particularly objectionable. And it's really hard to cook when I don't feel like eating (unfortunately my hubby doesn't know how to cook me much more than miso soup). I'm eating out for my most substantial meals (usually pho), which have to be earlier in the day because I go downhill quickly in the evening. In terms of my physical activity, the spotting has all but gone away (only returns once about every other week), but I'm so nauseous I don't want to move. The cold air outside often triggers throwing up, so I have no desire to go on walks. And, on top of it, I feel weak... much weaker than before. It's hard to feel motivated to get out of bed when I feel so awful. Well... that was a pretty long post. Maybe I just needed a chance to vent, but I would appreciate encouragement or suggestions. I know that this stuff usually gets better in the second trimester (which officially started two weeks ago), but I'm feeling kind of awful and a little hopeless. All this stuff makes me feel seriously unhealthy, which exactly the opposite of how I want to live while my child is forming inside of me!