Pregnant And Exercising

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CountryGal83
CountryGal83 Posts: 640 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Well...this week gave me a huge shock. I'm preggo. Not what I was expecting, but ok.

Wondering if any of you fellow MFP are pregnant or were pregnant and what your workout routines look like. I will def be talking to my doctor about it also, but was just curious what you have done.

Thanks.
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Replies

  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Generally speaking, anything you have been doing routinely is fine. Some things become difficult or dangerous, such as riding a bike or a horse, or running, but that's about it. Obviously, the generalities would vary depending on how your pregnancy is going. With mine, I went hiking until the very end, and towards the end, was walking the dogs in 18 inches of snow.
  • xiaowun
    xiaowun Posts: 5 Member
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    Talk to your doctor and listen to your body. I have to give up running when pregnant because the impact causes contractions. But I know ladies who have run 5Ks while pregnant - everyone's body is different. Your doctor will be able to give you safe guidelines to follow.
  • CountryGal83
    CountryGal83 Posts: 640 Member
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    Thanks! I'm hoping I can at least still walk and do somethings. I just started losing weight and I need to continue. Being pregnant while over weight is not easy. I had complications with my last pregnancy and so I was wanting to be healthy before getting pregnant again. Guess God had different plans for me!
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    Generally speaking, anything you have been doing routinely is fine. Some things become difficult or dangerous, such as...
    or running, but that's about it.

    How is running dangerous when you are pregnant? I know of many ladies that ran while pregnant, up until the last month. One, a good friend of mine, ran 50+ mile weeks until the third trimester.
  • Amcolecchi
    Amcolecchi Posts: 260 Member
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    Hi, I am not prego but currently TTC..and I have talked to my doctor before and you can do the same amount of exercise you have been doing now. You can't add any more weight or do anything more strenuous than now. So if you have been walking, running, lifting weights, you can keep doing all of that but just do not add weight and be careful. I am currently doing Zumba, walking, running and the 10 pounds slimdown videos. You will be okay, but I would always talk to your doctor too!
  • lbesaw
    lbesaw Posts: 267 Member
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    Regular exercise in pregnancy is not only okay but usually encouraged. Your doctor is the only one who should "weigh in" on this one. Everything good you do for yourself during pregnancy will only be better for your delivery and your baby BUT sometimes there are reasons for restriction. Healthy eating and doctor authorized exercise should be the focus. Congratulations and best wishes for a healthy, happy baby and mom. :smile:
  • BuckeyeGirlBrit
    BuckeyeGirlBrit Posts: 12
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    Congrats! My midwife asked me to pick up exercises during my first pregnancy, which was rough because I didn't exercise on a regular basis at the time and I had pregnancy complications. With my second pregnancy, my OB-GYN said, "keep doing what you're doing. it's okay to run while you're pregnant." So, I lifted weights and ran through the pregnancy until I could no long do it and I only gained half the weight and had no problems.
  • meghadeath
    meghadeath Posts: 13 Member
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    I stuck to the elliptical and stair master during both of my pregnancies with no issues. Just kept a heart rate monitor on to keep me in check. Congratulations!
  • marikevr
    marikevr Posts: 389 Member
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    It all depends on what you have been doing prior to pregnancy. My gynae's main concerns were keeping my heart rate down (for me it was not higher than 145 bpm, don't know what your magic number would be), and also not to overheat while exercising. For the rest I could pretty much continue as previously while listening to my body.
    With my first pregnancy I was on strict bedrest from 27 weeks, but with my second one I exercised till two days before my daughter was born.
  • karrielynn80
    karrielynn80 Posts: 395 Member
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    Generally speaking, anything you have been doing routinely is fine. Some things become difficult or dangerous, such as...
    or running, but that's about it.

    How is running dangerous when you are pregnant? I know of many ladies that ran while pregnant, up until the last month. One, a good friend of mine, ran 50+ mile weeks until the third trimester.

    as stated above some have problems with the impact causing muscle contractions; also the bigger you get, balance & falling is a factor. I was able to run until the last trimester than i was told to walk.
  • bf43005
    bf43005 Posts: 287
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    Not in this situation personally but there is a girl at the gym I go to who's in her last trimester and she runs at an 8 on the treadmill for probably about an hour a day and I see her there a few times a week. I think it will depend on your body and how your pregnancy goes. If you are currently doing certain things I would stick with those and review it with your doctor. As your get further along you may have to adjust some things.
  • pilatemom
    pilatemom Posts: 111
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    I did prenatal pilates. A video off youtube. It worked awesome :)
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
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    I did dance, yoga, walking...just watch out for anything high impact because the pregnancy hormones make your joints more flexible and you can injure yourself more easily.
  • megalin9
    megalin9 Posts: 771 Member
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    As others have said, the general rule is that you can continue to do whatever activity you were doing before you got pregnant. If you haven't been running, you wouldn't want to suddenly pick it up now that you are pregnant.

    I will add, however, that you might find certain things cause some discomfort and even pain. It's usually nothing to worry about, just your body making room for baby. I played softball for the first 3 months, and I would have played longer, but I was getting some pretty significant abdominal pain and could hardly walk the next day.

    You would also want to take into consideration whether or not your pregnancy is considered "high risk."

    Safe to continue to do whatever you've been doing before getting pregnant, until it becomes too uncomfortable or painful.

    Congrats on your baby-on-the-way!
  • mindidily
    mindidily Posts: 196 Member
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    With my first I did nothing aside from walking.
    The second I kept up running until 4-5 months, I gave it up because I got round ligament pains bad. But I stuck to low inpact cardio and light weight lifting until about 8 months.
    I gained 40 both times but it was MUCH easier to lose the second time.
    Congrats to you!
  • CountryGal83
    CountryGal83 Posts: 640 Member
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    Thanks everyone! I was just starting the Couch to 5k program, prob shouldn't continue since my body isn't used to running all the time. But I def will keep on walking and doing some strength training!!

    Thanks also for the congrat's. This is def an emotional preg...not planned. Life has been turned upside down for me!!!
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
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    Congrats!

    My workouts changed a bit since I was doing a lot of heavy strength training before which became difficult to continue once my bump got bigger and my balance was off, but I've managed to maintain a very healthy gain of 21 lbs in 30 weeks and I walk/jog every morning for about 30 minutes. How much I can do depends on how much energy I have and how swollen my feet are.

    I encourage you to join this group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1903-fit-fabulous-pregnant

    There are a lot of great women here that are wonderfully supportive.

    Generally speaking, you can continue with your exercise program as long as you are used to it, but do not try to push yourself too hard to make big leaps in fitness while pregnant. It's great that you're looking to stay fit throughout this time. A lot of women use pregnancy as an excuse to slack off, but daily activity does WONDERS for keeping the weight gain and mobility issues in late pregnancy under control, and it makes labor and delivery easier as well.
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    Options
    Generally speaking, anything you have been doing routinely is fine. Some things become difficult or dangerous, such as...
    or running, but that's about it.

    How is running dangerous when you are pregnant? I know of many ladies that ran while pregnant, up until the last month. One, a good friend of mine, ran 50+ mile weeks until the third trimester.

    as stated above some have problems with the impact causing muscle contractions; also the bigger you get, balance & falling is a factor. I was able to run until the last trimester than i was told to walk.

    Yup. I've known women that competed in distance events in their third tri. But, difference in flexibility, change in center of balance, inability to see where one is putting their feet, etc. makes it extra challenging to run. Trail running for instance, is a little on the more unsafe side.
  • iorahkwano
    iorahkwano Posts: 709 Member
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    When my friend was pregnant, she took up swimming for cardio and strength. Her doctor said it was one of the safest, low-impact exercises she could do to work the entire body. Plus, it must feel nice to suddenly feel lighter in water and not have to stand on your feet :)
  • atynk
    atynk Posts: 400 Member
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    Don't stop working out!! I was working out until the day before my due date! I was up on that stairmaster trying to get the baby to come out lol!

    I didn't have to modify my workouts until my belly was too large to do supermans with lol.. I was at a kettlebell gym doing pretty hard workouts... also I swam and rollerbladed. I completed a my first 5 km race at 5 months pregnant , and a sprint trialthlon shortly after ( i even took 5 min off my time!)

    My labour still sucked, but 1 week after I delievered you would never have even known I had a baby. 10 weeks after I was on the beach in a bikini again for a vacation. It was worth working out everyday, to not have to stress about my body after. I looked and felt great pregnant, it was all belly..

    I wrote some blogs while I was pregnant if you want to see. I will for sure keep up the same routine for the next one.. it was so much easier after :)

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/atynk?month=201109

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