Pregnancy Workouts

[Jess]

Hello! I'm 29 and pregnant for the first time. I'm about 5 months along and have finally gotten to where I have enough energy to exercise. Most pregnancy workout recommendations are boring and lame or not a very good option for me for one reason or another. I tried a couple videos, but I find them long and boring and can't make myself do them more than once. I decided that body weight circuit training was probably my best bet, as I could do it inside my house and not have to go anywhere. In my googling for circuit training routines that didn't include lying on my back (not a good idea past 4 months in pregnancy) I found Nerd Fitness and the Beginner Body Weight workout. I've only done it a few times, and so far it's kicking my booty in a good way. I'm only doing it twice a week at the moment because the leg work makes me sore for a few days and I need the extra time between workouts. I live on 5 acres in the woods and I have three goats, so my "off" days currently include hauling a 5 gallon bucket of water across the yard for the goats (3-4 days a week - my husband does it the other days) and stacking firewood once or twice a week. Soon I will get to do gardening, helping install a fence, and helping build a barn. I'll be doing less of those things for a while once June rolls around (I'm due in late June), but I plan to be as active as possible for as long as I can.

Prior to getting pregnant I'd been doing a traditional foods type diet. Whole foods emphasis, limiting sugar and grains, and whole fresh dairy. I tend to have some inflammation issues that grains and refined sugars exacerbate, so I generally try to limit those. We get milk from a nearby farm and plan to start milking our doe this summer. Since getting pregnant my diet has been worse in many ways because for quite a while carbs were all I could stomach. Even still I have a hard time eating much protein. That's one of my biggest challenges. I'm trying to find sneaky ways to up my protein intake to 80-100 grams per day (which is recommended for pregnant women). I've started trying different egg dishes, as the way I normally prepare them is unappetizing at the moment. I tend to want a lot of starches and sugars right now. I'm trying to choose fruits and starchy veggies to help with that and consume them with healthy fats (cheese or peanut butter with an apple, butter on potatoes), but I give in to my ice cream and chocolate cravings a fair amount. Anyway, in looking around I haven't found any other pregnant women here, but thought I'd join up anyway. The strength training is awesome and will help with labor when the time comes. That's my main reason for starting - I want to be strong for the birth and after. So, I have from now until June to get things going. I can't do loads of cardio (light cardio is usually recommended as a pregnancy workout) because I'm carrying the baby high and it infringes on my lung capacity. So, strength training it is!

And, I just wrote a book on here.

[Laurenji]

I'm pretty new here too, so I don't really know. But I'm interested in watching this thread. I'm not pregnant, but my husband and I might start trying to have a baby pretty soon, and I definitely want to be informed on how to stay a shape for when it happens.

[tatpunk]

I have a 2 year old and when I was pregnant I let the tiredness and everything take over so I stopped working out and gained weight. I'm now taking control and kicking ass. I think the body weight exercises would be the best. And it sounds like you have a lot of other exercises that won't be overworking you. I know my doctor had told me to keep working out, and I didn't listen. We're going to be trying again soon, so I plan on continuing with the weight lifting and exercises and Paleo diet for as much as I can stomach. It is definately tough when you can't keep anything down. That's a tough one, because you really are just going to have to try different things and see what works. Once baby is here all those things go away and you can start eating better. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and welcome to the Rebellion.