Working Out While Pregnant - What have you changed?

pendii

Hi ladies,

I just joined this group. I am 9 weeks pregnant and really want to stay healthy. This is my first pregnancy. A couple of years ago I lost about 60 pounds. It took a lot of hard work, and I have fought to maintain it since. For the most part I have done a pretty good job. Once in a while I would gain a few pounds back and then lose it again.

Anyway. I thought I was doing okay so far with the pregnancy. I really hadn't gained anything the first few weeks. Then all of a sudden my weight jumped up a few weeks ago and seems to keep increasing. I am only 9 weeks and I am already up 4-5 pounds. (It seems to shift from day to day.) I am starting to freak out a little. I obviously want to keep healthy baby as a priority, but I'm getting scared of gaining too much weight. Before pregnancy I was still about 15 pounds overweight. I shouldn't really be gaining like this yet from all I have read.

I think some of it is because I basically stopped going to the gym when I found out. My husband and I had a really difficult time getting pregnant. It took 1 1/2 years, and I was so afraid that the intense workout classes I was taking might jeopardize my pregnancy that I just stopped going. I have been doing some walking, but I feel like it's not enough. I want to get back to the gym, but I just don't know what I should/shouldn't do. I have a doctor's appoint on Monday, so I plan on talking to my OB. But I thought maybe some of you could give some insight. Are you going to the gym? What have you changed since you got pregnant?

meglo91

I am not a doctor.
But.
Go back to the gym.
If you were working out before you got pregnant, you can still work out at the same level, especially in the first trimester. Because you took a break, you'll want to ramp back up, but for real -- there's no reason not to be working out pretty hard at the moment if you want to.
Once you start getting bigger and more unwieldy, you may need to reconsider activities like running or lifting heavy, though there are women who do both throughout pregnancy.
This is my third kid, and if there were one thing I'd change about my previous pregnancies, it would be that I lessened my activities while pregnant when I didn't need to. If I could change two things, it would be how much I ate. I'm now counting calories and exercising vigorously at 6 weeks pregnant.
So what have I changed? Nothing, really. Yesterday I went to the gym and lifted heavy -- 140 lb squats, 75 lb overhead press, 160 lb deadlift. And I'm on MFP monitoring my intake. Because in my first pregnancy I gained somewhere around 60 pounds. Never again.

steph2strong

Hi, I am currently 24 weeks pregnant with my first. I also had a very difficult time conceiving and ended up going through very long drawn out fertility treatments before conceiving naturally in April. Needless to say the first trimester I was terrified of miscarriage. That being said I didn't change anything about my workout routine as exercise is not a cause of miscarriage. I continued to run, lift weights , do kettle bells, rowing, TRX, elliptical etc. As my belly grew I had to start making modifications and lowering the intensity. Unfortunately this week I found out I may have placenta previa (won't know for sure until a scan at 30 weeks) so now to be on the safe side I have cut out running, jumping activities, rowing and heavy lifting. Still keeping active though with elliptical and stationary bike and I just tried out Barre.
Talk to your doctor about it but there are only a few pregnancy related issues that prevent you from exercising. The general guideline is just don't do more than what you were doing previously.

JuliesS82

I'll be 8 weeks on Monday with my first. We found out we had conceived naturally while getting an ultrasound at a fertility clinic that was intended for a follicle count.....what a surprise!
I'm a runner and baby and I have already ran 127 miles together. I lift 1-2 times a week and occasionally take a yoga class. I'd planned on running a half marathon in October and I'm still using the training program (I gave up my goal time though and will run for fun).
My food tracking settings are for maintence and I'm hitting my macros pretty well. I have some STARVING days that I def give into....like today!!!!

My sis is an ob/gyn and that has been a huge help. She said whatever I was doing before I got preggo keep on doing. Just watch out for hot temps depending on where you live.

Right now my only gripes are nausea, sore boobs (like really!), and being super bloated.

My favorite part of the day is when it's just me and baby, even though daddy is great and we love him, on a run and I can feel myself get tired at the end I say "come on baby- we're almost there". I finish almost every run with a smile and the thought of me being that stroller mom the other mom's gawk at.

Get back to the gym girl

steph2strong

Hi, I'm a runner. Pre-pregnancy I was running training 10 km runs at about 46 min, and doing lots of hill and speed work. During the first trimester I had no significant problem maintaining my normal workouts, however once second trimester hit everything started changing, speed and intensity take a serious nose dive and back and pelvis pain start acting up. Hills, my previous strong point, are now tortuous! About 2 weeks ago (23-24 week mark) is when things really became hard for me. About half of my running friends were able to keep it up their whole pregnancy. From what I've seen it just depends on how the pregnancy goes and really doesn't have much to do with how "good" or "dedicated" of a runner you were pre-pregnancy. I would recommend having a good form of cross training on hand for when you start gaining and getting a belly because even if you do keep running it becomes incredibly difficult (and in all honesty not that enjoyable) to run every day. Your body needs longer to recoup and repair.

usnmrs

Hi! Congratulations ladies! This is my third pregnancy and I am determined NOT to put on 40lbs this time! lol! With that said, please go back to the gym - it is actually really good for you. If you're not comfortable going at your previous intensity, then take it down a notch. Even stationary biking will help. I was able to workout with my first two due to SPD and I'm really hoping to have it under control this time and continue to do strength and flexibility workouts. Even swimming would be wonderful. With my first pregnancy I found that I was snacking a lot more than I thought I was. We're not supposed to add the additional 300-500 calories until the second trimester. I added them right away without even thinking. I'm sure that if you watch your snacking and continue to do some workouts your weight will remain under control

MissXFit13

Hey! I just found out I'm pregnant (5 weeks). I'm struggling to figure out how to proceed with exercise, too! I do CrossFit, which is a lot of high intensity, high impact, and heavy weights. While I rationally know that exercise doesn't cause miscarriages, I did have a miscarriage last summer, and I swore to myself that when I got pregnant again I wouldn't workout as hard as I did last summer in the early week of pregnancy.

So far, morning sickness hasn't kicked in and I don't have any other nasty symptoms, so I feel like I'm slacking, and I am just dying to get back into the gym and go hard like I used to. But I historically overdo it in the gym and my competitive nature takes over.

My husband is also overly protective and really doesn't want me to continue weightlifting like I was before. I've been keeping it light with the weights, doing bodyweight strength like pullups and push ups, and doing cardio like rowing.

What drives me crazy is when I look up articles on "exercising while pregnant", I read how great exercise is, like "walking or gentle stretching". I'm like, uhhh for us active women, that ain't exercise at all!!

If anyone wants to add me, I'm looking for friends and support through these next 9 months!

ChiliPepperLifter

Ok, I am so glad to read this!! I've been heavy weightlifting since March with the odd cardio days thrown in, and I just found out in about 6 weeks along!! Very very excited, this is my first, but I am sad to be losing my newly found abs

But I will continue, and give myself a break if I dont hit a PR!

JuliesS82

I'm 22 weeks today with my first and baby and I have ran almost 375 miles together. I'm slowing down but a lot of that has to do with crappy weather and not enough daylight. I obviously changed some of my ab routine but really haven't changed much. I was thin but athletic when we conceived and have been diligent about my food (but not perfect by any means) and exercise so I'm happy to say I made it to 21 weeks before switching to maternity clothes. I used a belly band before that and still use it some....but damn, maternity pants are comfy!!!! I'm very fortunate that this has been a healthy pregnancy because there are so many factors women can't control. I don't love exercise right now, some days I hate it....but I read it provides great stimulation for the baby's senses and the stronger I stay, the better for us both. Trying to do my best at this "mom thing" I guess