working out & pregnant

Pre warning – this is an opinionated post so if you are offended by others opinions do not readJ

I find it comical that every major life change merits people voicing their opinion on how they did or didn’t do things. When you get engaged everyone tells you about their wedding - what you should and shouldn’t do and what they did and didn’t do for their own. Now that I’m pregnant it’s the same thing - everyone seems to tell you what you should and shouldn’t eat, what you should and shouldn’t be wearing, how you should sleep, how hot you can and can’t let your body get, if you should or shouldn’t have an epidural, breastfeed, vaccinate your child, use cloth diapers, make your own baby food – it really is exhausting! While I value experience and advice, when asked, I do not value strong opinions forced upon others because someone else goggled it and read a bunch of other people’s opinions on it or didn’t trust their doctor.

So, my general rule of thumb throughout this pregnancy has been to ask our doctor questions and trust her opinion. After all, she had to go to how many years of school and has delivered how many babies safe and healthy? I’d like to think she has some idea of what she’s doingJ

One of the biggest points of contention for me was how much I could continue to work out and what I should and shouldn’t be doing in terms of a workout routine. Since becoming pregnant I have definitely altered my workouts and cut back in their frequency. While I used to work out 5-6 times a week I now hope to squeeze in 3. My primary pre-pregnancy routine was to go for a run, occasionally do some weights, and utilize my Biggest Loser DVDs – those babies are intense. My primary pregnancy routine is now to go for a walk/run – which is definitely more heavily weighted to the walk at month 7 - or do a modified Jillian Michaels workout DVD, and a prenatal yoga DVD I got for Christmas.

The main thing my doctor told me was to monitor my heart rate. I had heard so much about “you can do anything you were doing before”, “I ran until I was 9 months pregnant”, or “I ran a marathon at 6 months.” But for me, I listened to my doctor and continue to wear my trusty Garmin watch that monitors my heart rate and use that as my primary guideline. My intensity is totally dependent on what my heart rate is and as I get bigger it definitely elevates quicker and with less strenuous activities. So, I’ve modified along the way.

I’m not sure if there are any benefits to exercising while pregnant – I’d like to believe there are in terms of getting back in shape quicker after the baby, to help with endurance during pregnancy, and if nothing else in attempt to maintain a healthy lifestyle during these 9 months. But have I read lots of articles about it and conducted my own research? No because I’ve trusted my doctor to tell me what’s ok and not ok and gone from there.

I have a huge post pregnancy fear that I will just continue to expand and will have a hard time getting the extra weight off. The extra weight has definitely been the hardest thing for me about being pregnant. I hate the feeling of being heavy, even though I know it’s for a good reason and that I need to be gaining weight, it’s still hard.

So my post pregnancy plan is to run the Des Moines half marathon next fall which means I’d have to start training 8 weeks or so after little girl is born. I know that training will kick my butt as running 3 miles will seem like a huge undertaking when I first start back but I honestly can’t wait. While I’ve enjoyed this time of less intense and less frequent workouts I can’t wait to load up my baby girl and head out on a long run – hope she likes the stroller or I’m in troubleJ