Keeping Fit and Healthy during pregnancy plus update!

Heya!

So the gym article I told you about in this post here has finally gone up at my gym and I couldn't be happier!

It was definitely a nice little surprise to see it hanging up when I walked into the gym this morning and has motivated me even more to keep up my fitness for the rest of my pregnancy.

A few snippets of the article :-)

Keeping in mind I was 6months when all of this took place and I'm now a week away of hitting 9months (wow!). I have slowed down quite a lot and as much as I want to keep up the weights I will be opting for just walks around the block and swimming quite shortly as the joints in my pelvis are becoming quite soft which is making things uncomfortable.

But anyway here is the article, it's quite wordy but as far as I see it this subject is very important and needs to be thorough :-)

 

"Hi Ladies!!!

My name is Shaleya, I'm 22years old and currently 6months pregnant with my first child, a girl, who is due in early January 2014.

 

Since finding out that I was pregnant in May (wow where has the time gone?!) I knew I wanted to lead a healthy lifestyle for my growing baby and not use pregnancy as an excuse to sit on the couch and gorge myself with food until I popped the baby out!

 

I started by addressing our lovely trainers for a new routine to suit my temporary pregnant lifestyle; and I must say I'm glad I did! Pre-pregnancy I was doing medium to high intensity weight and cardio training which I quickly found didn't suit my new situation as I almost fainted one time and threw up the other! Then again I was in my first trimester and did have a bit of morning sickness :P The girls did an assessment on me with taking my weight, measurements and heart rate then asked what I wanted to focus on. I told them that I wanted to focus on keeping up muscle tone in my upper and lower body, maintain fitness levels and also a good routine that would keep a lot of pressure off my back. The trainers then wrote up a fantastic routine which involves low impact cardio and weight training which I've found, 5months later, is still working a treat on my changing body :-)

 

I've maintained good weight management, heart rate and fitness levels and can still fit a lot of my pre-pregnancy clothes much to my happiness and my midwives :-) Happy midwife happy life eh?!

My belly has popped in the last few weeks and I can feel baby girl kicking quite a bit which has made me slow down with exercise, but none the less as long as I get 30 to 50mins of gym time in I feel so much better.

 

Lately I've been getting a lot of looks from fellow gym goers, a little bit of confusion and awe which I find quite funny and I can happily say that exercising while pregnant is 200% OK!

Here are some benefits to it:

1: Recovered lost energy

2: Strengthens muscles and joints for you're changing shape

3: Maintaining good heart rate levels and adequate weight gain.

4: Takes stress of you're body (especially swimming)

5: Keeps you're skin supple

6: Makes giving birth much easier on you're body and help you to bounce back quickly to your pre-pregnancy shape, although maybe not quite the same....

7: Makes you feel good if you feel like crap!

8: Keeps your pelvic floor muscles strong so you don't have to worry about those leaks ;-)

9: Helps you to bond with you're baby :-)

And so much more!

 

But in saying that exercise is such a small part of keeping healthy as we all know; eating well is the biggest factor! It maintains good cholesterol levels, prevents gestational diabetes and gives you all the benefits of glowing skin and a great feeling of knowing that you're giving you're baby the best before he/she is born!

I love my ice cream, sweets, french fries and takeaways as much as the next person but it's so important to do it all in moderation. Unfortunately having to sacrifice some of the foods you love while expecting is to be, well, expected. There's this little bacteria called Listeria which is found in certain foods you eat, and that little bug travels down the placenta to the baby and can cause still birth and/or miscarriages.

 

Here's a small list of things to avoid:

1: Unpasteurised milk products - store brought milk is fine

2: Soft cheeses such as Camembert, Brie or blue veined cheeses - Hard cheeses such as Tasty, Edam, Mozzarella, cottage and cream cheeses are fine.

3: Soft boiled or raw eggs, homemade mayo, uncooked cheesecakes, soft serve ice cream.

4: Raw undercooked meat and seafoods.

5: Deli foods

6: Hummus and other such dips

7: Unwashed salads, fruits and veges etc etc...

Even that small list is terribly restricting, but it's all for the sake of having a healthy baby! There are plenty of mags and books on food safety while pregnant, plus you'll get plenty of advice from family and friends too.

 

It gets rather hard when cravings sink in. Not meaning to sound smug but I've been quite lucky to be craving relatively healthy foods.

I never ate tomatoes before I started carrying and now I can't get enough! I eat them with a sprinkle of salt on wholegrain crackers with avocado, salad and cheese. It is honestly the best thing ever! If you do, however, find yourself craving quite bad foods, I know it's hard but try to substitute it for something a bit healthier.

 

Here's a list of what you should be eating everyday:

1: 5 servings of fruit and veges

2: 3 to 4 servings of wholemeal breads, cereals or potatoes

3: 2 servings of meat, poultry, fish, eggs or pulses (lentils, chickpeas etc.)

4: 1 glass of milk, some yogurt or hard cheese.

 

And absolutely do not try to lose weight or diet during pregnancy! Gaining weight is totally normal, it helps you to know that your baby's growing and also a bit of extra padding on yourself is your body preparing for breast feeding which you'll lose once you start feeding. Plus dieting and trying to lose weight can put metabolic stress on the baby which is not fair :-(

 

And last but not least make sure you get plenty of essential vitamins and minerals, folic acid in the first trimester and iodine throughout you're pregnancy as this helps your unborn baby's eyes, bones, organs etc develop healthily and also drink plenty of water as you lose quite a lot of fluids while carrying. I try to make sure I drink 2litres+ each day.

 

So that's it really, it all comes down to common sense at the end of it and also talking to your midwife and gym trainers of what you can do to keep fit and healthy during this amazing time! We're 21st Century women after all and are much more clued up about what we need to do E.G not succumbing to 'eating for two' as that is a big fat LIE and is no way benefiting you or you're baby, no smoking (obviously) and no alcohol consumption (I've been told you can a have a small drink every now and then but I'd feel too guilty doing that to my developing baby).

 

I hope this article gave you a little insight and inspire you in someway that you can achieve and do anything whatever life throws at you! It certainly has inspired me to do my best before and after my baby arrives and hopefully she'll learn from example to keep fit and healthy when she's older :-)"

Now that's out of the way, here's an update on my pregnancy to date :-)

How far along? 35 weeks (8months), next week I will officially be in the 9months home stretch yay!

Total weight gain/loss? Total weight gain is 11.2kgs, I started at 60.10kgs and now weigh 71.12kgs which is amazing as I don't have much time left to go!

Maternity clothes? I'm wearing that ASOS dress I talked about here quite a bit plus other dresses I had before I got preggers and I brought a few maternity bras which are so so comfy! I got 3 over the weekend at Bendon outlet, 2 Elle Macpherson's and 1 Bendon, they're very pretty and were on special for $20 each!
Will put pics up soon :-)

 

Stretch marks? Still none.

 

Symptoms: Absent mindedness, shortness of breath, tummy heaviness (I've noticed my belly beginning to drop), rapid hair and nail growth (yay), softer pelvic joints, baby brain (it seriously does my head in some days!), heat due to increased blood flow (I feel like a walking sauna! On the plus side my pregnant glow is back :-) ), waddling, tiredness, nesting, backache and the list goes on...someone grab me the world's smallest violin :P

Sleep: Is 50/50. Waking up at strange hours again e.g. 2-4am and staying awake for ages! But I compensate for my lack of sleep at night for 2-3hour naps during the day if I need it. I'm also sleeping with a tri-pillow between my legs to support my belly and even out my hips.

 

Best moment this week? My gym article going up!

Miss anything? Not having a lot of pressure on my lower back, it gets quite sore but my mum brought me a belly band which helps support my back and keeps my belly up. It has been a godsend.

 

Movements? Yup! They've actually gotten stronger since I'm running out of room, it feels like a boxing ring in my belly most days and bowling ball rolling around on other days. She pokes her bum out quite a lot too which is so adorable! But the kicks in the ribs are getting old -_- She kicked me so hard the other day that it hit a nerve, not that she knows what she's kicking poor wee thing!

 

Labour signs? Nothing.

Food cravings? Homemade chicken salad burgers om nom nom!!!

 

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy, anxious and excited that it's getting so close!

Exercising? Sure am :-) I'm still doing the same routine that I started with in my early pregnancy which you can read about here

Baby is a: Girl!

 

Belly button in or out? Still in. It looks so funny, I really wanna draw a face on my belly and tongue coming out of my belly button it looks that weird right now!

 

Looking forward to? Getting my birth plan written up, Luka's final scan, seeing my friend from overseas this week and giving birth in a matter of weeks!

 

XOXOX