Pregnacy, heart rate during exercising

I'm newly pregnant, nursing a 2.5yr old (3x day) and do quite a bit of strenuous exercise 5-6 days a week. During my workouts, I get my heart rate up to 80-95% (185bpm) and try to stay above 160bpm for the 45-60min period. I'm 35 so my max is 185... question is, I know the myth of keeping your HR below 130 has been debunked, but what is the accurate measurement for exercising during pregnancy? Is it 70%, OR keep going until I feel not so good and let that be an indicator for intensity NOT to be exceeded?

Also, I'm not losing more than .5lbs a week but am currently eating TTE -20-25%. Should I maintain at that consumption or should I up it a bit in the 2nd trimester? I do not count extra calories for nursing.

Sorry so many questions! Thanks for help ladies!

Replies

  • What does your doctor say? I would be wary of putting too many demands on my body at this time. Nursing, pregnancy and intense work outs while restricting calories sound like you're expecting a lot from your body. Were it me, I would probably stop tracking, eat the Brewer's diet, listen to my body and take long walks/do water aerobics/yoga as your pregnancy progresses. Are you worried about gaining weight? A fit pregnancy is a great goal but you also want to take good care of both the babe you are nursing and the babe you are growing... and you!
  • RBXChas
    RBXChas Posts: 2,708 Member
    I was working out hard between my two pregnancies (I'm 33+ weeks with #2), and at my first appointment my OB asked me what exercises I was doing (because I looked so fit compared to the last time she'd seen me, which was 6 weeks after my son was born). I told her Spinning, mostly, and she was fine with that but said just not to go breathless or do any sprints. She didn't give me a HR limit or anything but said that I should be able to breathe enough to be able to talk. I also run, and she said to just take that as it comes and just switch to fast walking if I couldn't help from going breathless when I ran (or if it got uncomfortable).

    I ended up having to stop working out altogether because I was having bleeding due to a friable cervix (and they wanted me to stop exercising so as not to "muddy the waters" in case I had any "bad" bleeding), but that's the advice I was given at 8 weeks.

    Congratulations, and best wishes!
  • kaseybill
    kaseybill Posts: 28
    Thanks Ladies. I am concerned about gaining weight, since I gained 60 last round... and have found it impossible to lose the last 15. I want to only gain 20 this time (since I'm currently 15 over) and I can't just 'eat til I'm full... ' I have NO will power and spiral downhill very quickly. I gained 11lbs my 1st Tri last time, due to not being able to work out (high risk) then my weight just got out of control in the 2nd tri; I was able to workout in my 3rd, when my wt. finally plateaued. I can't let that happen again!
    I will definitely be doing the deep water aerobics... Phx in the summer? and plan to keep doing spin, yoga and strength training, but I have had different responses from different doctors on the heart rate thing (old dr. seem to tell you to take it easy, young dr. said keep going).
    Thanks again!
  • RBXChas
    RBXChas Posts: 2,708 Member
    The Spinning studio where I go just happened to share this today, from the official Spinning website: http://www.spinning.com/file/download/tinymce_file_browser/104/Pregnancy.pdf