***First off, I am obviously not a doctor and each pregnancy for every woman is different. If you have a high risk pregnancy you will obviously have to be careful what you do and what I talk about might not be possible for you. Everything I am writing about works for me and my doctor. So always check with your doctor before you do anything crazy. Not that anything I am about to suggest is crazy...unless it's crazy to suggest that pregnant woman can do amazing and hard fitness workouts...because we can!***
In this post I want to talk about the benefits of being fit during your pregnancy that I personally have seen myself. (This is my second pregnancy. I have been far better with my fitness routine and diet this pregnancy. These are the differences I have noticed. I am no expert on anything really so take it for what's it worth.)
Here they are:
1. I am less psychotic. Meaning, that it seemed that the more I exercised and kept my diet in check the less crazy my hormones made me.
2. I have more energy and sleep better.
3. I have good self-esteem and confidence in my preggo appearance.
4. I have no new stretch marks. (This one might be a stretch but read on to see my take on fitness and your skin.)
5. Fairly quick labor and deliveries .
Hormones are real but with exercise and proper diets we don't have to ride their roller coaster!
Oh hormones. Yes they are a real thing, much to the dismay of our male counterparts. And pregnancy seems to wreck havoc on them. It's understandable that pregnant women have been labeled crazy from time to time. I had a few melt downs my first pregnancy. Thankfully only one in a public setting...poor Garett had to walk me through the mall while I was sobbing and going on about something ridiculous.
One of the benefits of exercise is the release of endorphins! These are the wonderful little "feel-good" chemicals that make us feel happy. They can help us pregnant women level out the craziness of the hormonal roller coaster.
With my better diet and increased fitness levels I am happy to say that I have not had any major meltdowns this pregnancy! No random bursts of crying or wave of emotions. I have felt pretty in control. When I do begin to feel exceptionally moody or crabby I know that's my cue to go to the gym or maybe re-examine my diet.
During pregnancy we have a whole flood of hormones, but after birth hormones levels drop drastically which in many cases leads to postpartum depression. There are many things that can trigger this depression but hormones are a leading contender. Since exercise is a known releaser of endorphins, it is often a suggested way to help fight depression. Read this article from WedMD to further understand exercising and depression.
My thought is if I can stay active and fit during my pregnancy and create that habit now, then hopefully after the baby is born, I can use my established healthy diet and exercise habits to help my body fight the dramatic hormonal changes that come post-birth. It's worth a shot in my opinion.
Increased energy levels and better sleep are side effects of exercising!
One thing I remember incredibly well from my first pregnancy was the amount of time I spent sleeping. I'd come home from work take a nap, wake up to eat dinner, then go back to bed for the night. I felt exhausted all the time. Because of my experience my first pregnancy I was kind of dreading this second pregnancy a) because I have a 2 year old who most definitely would not be cool with me sleeping all day and b) because Garett was going to be gone for an internship for 3 months of my pregnancy leaving me to manage our toddler, businesses and household alone.
I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to handle it. I thought I'd be a walking zombie for those 3 months. But that wasn't the case.
With exercise I found that I had more energy. My body was invigorated. I didn't feel the sheer exhaustion I felt constantly with my first pregnancy. I was exhausted from the workouts yes, but that is a better kind of tired! And those workouts helped me sleep better at night so I woke up feeling well rested most days.
Working out in the morning (around 10 AM is my favorite) is what gives me the most energy for the rest of the day. However, my spin class that I LOVE, is Tuesday and Thursday nights at 6 PM. Those are the nights I noticed that I sleep the absolute best. So I think it was a good mix switching up the times of my workouts. Find what works for your body and your schedule.
When you feel healthy your confidence and self-esteem sky rocket!
It's not easy being pregnant. Even though you know you are doing something so beautiful it's kind of hard to watch our bodies expand and grow to a bigger size. For me, I have spent my whole late teen/adult life working to get that number on the scale to go down. With pregnancy you have to all of the sudden flip a switch and magically be okay with the number going up. Logically, yes, I know I am suppose to gain weight with this baby growing business but that doesn't mean emotionally I am ready to accept that. Any other pregnant ladies get what I'm talking about?
But just because we have to gain weight doesn't mean we have to let it get out of control or destroy our confidence and self-image.
Working out and eating right will be rewarded by our bodies, even if they are expanding. This pregnancy has been proof of that for me. I still have gained a healthy amount of weight but I am 12 pounds lighter and 2 pant sizes smaller this pregnancy! My old maternity pants are too baggy on me this time around! I am more toned and muscular now than I was when I wasn't pregnant. All of those results have boosted my confidence immeasurably!
I also have to say the look you get from your fellow gym mates when you just busted out a great workout while 8 months pregnant is amazing! I can't lie, you kind of feel like a super star!
My thoughts on stretch marks.
So much has been said on the topic of stretch marks. I'm just going to add more and it's probably nothing new.
Here's what doctors seem to know about stretch marks:
- they happen when the skin is pulled by rapid growth or stretching
- genetics play a big role in whether someone gets them or not
- hormones also can affect your skin and cause the collagen and elastin fibers to tear more readily when stretched
- you can't prevent them
While I agree that you can't prevent all stretch marks I think you can prevent how many you get. If they are primarily caused by rapid growth and stretching and we can control our weight gain and growth then maybe there is something we can do.
Again, I am not a doctor and my frame of reference comes from articles I have researched and my own experience. My thought is why not try everything in my power to prevent stretch marks. If it doesn't work it doesn't work. No harm done really.
Please don't get me wrong. I am not shaming stretch marks! Not at all! I have them pretty prominently on my "girls" from my first pregnancy. My stomach managed to only get a few faint ones that have disappeared. Before any pregnancies I had faint stretch marks from my growth spurts as a teenager. Even my 6'6" husband as faint stretch marks from his growth spurts. Most people have them. There is nothing wrong with them.
But I don't want more and I don't think that's bad. If I get more then I get more, but so far this pregnancy I haven't gotten any.
Here's my thoughts and what I have done:
1. DRINK WATER! Skin is our largest organ and it needs water to function properly. Dehydrated skin is tight, flaky, itchy, more prone to wrinkles and is less resilient (more susceptible tearing of the fibers). Skin's elasticity is affected by water. I drink so much water. I always have and I always will. It's my beverage of choice. Start drinking now; pregnant or not. Get into the habit of carrying around a water bottle that you can refill and make a goal to refill it "x" amount of times every day! You'll have to pee a lot but that's okay! If it helps your skin it's worth it!
If you have a hard time with drinking just water follow my husband's example. Garett loved pop (honestly still does). It was like pulling teeth to get him to drink water. So we started him on some water mix-ins (like Crystal Light or Mio). It still gave him some sweetness without all the sugar and it had him drinking more water. Eventually he started just drinking water! Try it!
2. Moisturize! My first pregnancy I bought a big bottle of cocoa butter lotion from Wal-Mart for $3 I used it religiously on my belly. Not so much on my chest; which may or may not have contributed to getting a lot of stretch marks on my chest and nearly none on my belly.
This pregnancy I slather that lotion on 2-3 times a day. I make it a habit to put some on my belly and chest after every shower and morning and night.
Some say that cocoa butter doesn't help; that it's a myth. They may be right. But it was only a $3 bottle, it smells delicious, I never, ever had itchy skin in either pregnancy and if it does help with reducing stretch marks that's awesome.
Click here to see the lotion. So worth $3 in my opinion.
3. Control your weight gain and keep your core muscles engaged!! I think this one is the most important and relevant. Like I said before they say the primary cause of stretch marks is rapid stretching of the skin.
Obviously our bellies are going to expand. That's inevitable. But we can control any excess weight gain which would cause our bellies to expand further and faster; likely causing stretch marks. The slower we grow the more time our skin has to adapt to the growth.
To help hold "it" all in we use our core muscles. While these are definitely weakened and separate during pregnancy it is still beneficial to work them and maintain a strong core. I posted a picture of me at 36 weeks with each baby. You can see the difference! I really focused on core muscle exercising this pregnancy and I believe it has paid off big time. There are many more benefits of maintaining a string core that I will discuss later!
A fit pregnancy has shown to be tied to quicker labor and deliveries.
The experts have a lot to say about this relation. Below are a couple of links to great articles:
http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/articles.asp?id=42
Here is an excerpt from a LONG article haha. Read the full article here.
"You may also want to get involved in some regular aerobic exercise that pushes your heart and lungs to perform at their peak level. Aerobic exercise during pregnancy provides many benefits. It can build stamina, make you more comfortable, alleviate aches and pains, and relieve stress.
Aerobic exercise may even make your labor shorter and less painful. An American study published recently in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reported that women who continued running or aerobic dancing during pregnancy enjoyed labors about 30 percent shorter than women who stopped exercising. Women who maintained a regular exercise program also required less labor stimulation and fewer epidurals, episiotomies, and cesarean deliveries. An Italian study in the same journal examined women having their second or third babies who pedaled on stationary bicycles three times a week for 30 minutes beginning around the fifth month of pregnancy. The bicyclists maintained higher endorphin levels during labor. Accordingly, they reported less pain than a matching group of sedentary women.
Even if regular exercise can’t guarantee you a shorter or easier labor, it undoubtedly can help you to cope better with whatever labor has in store for you. Going into labor physically fit also means you will recover more quickly afterward."
When you exercise regularly you can learn to push your endurance levels, deal with pain and increase your body's capacities to go the extra mile. Trust me, you need that "extra mile" when you give birth. It's the moments that you have to dig a little deeper (ex: that last few reps in your set or the last 10 minutes of a bike ride) that you truly prepare yourself physically and more importantly, mentally, for the birth of your child.
*UPDATE
Now that I have delivered my baby I can say that my fitness level helped with my delivery so much! Click here to read my son, Camden's, birth story to see how easy and fast my delivery was!
***Part 3 (because everything is better in trilogies) will be what to actually do to have a fit pregnancy. I will talk about exercises and healthy foods that will help you achieve a fit pregnancy. I'll include actual routines I do and some of my favorite routines from Pinterest***
