Posted by JC2 | Posted in Physical Health | Posted on 21-11-2011
Tags: exercise, pregnancy
I am so excited to participate in the November Blog Swap hosted by the Cleveland chapter of the Ohio Blogging Association. Today, bloggers from around Northeast Ohio are guest posting as a way to attract new readers to our blogging community. For a full listing of blog swap participants, please visit Poise in Parma.
So, I’m taking the day off at Write On, Jana! but you can visit me at Healthy Heddleston for an informative article about postpartum depression. And I’d like you all to give a warm welcome to Katie Heddleston, the registered dietitian and blogger behind Healthy Heddleston. She is a gluten-free half marathoner who is expecting her first baby this spring! While she currently lives in the Cleveland-area, and has for the past 7.5 years, she and her husband are relocating to Maryland in December due to a job opportunity. Today, Katie is sharing a post about her experiences with exercising while pregnant.
Rethinking Exercise
Hi Everyone! I’m Katie and I’m delighted to be posting for Jana’s blog as part of the Ohio Blogging Association’s Cleveland November Blog Swap!
As my intro mentioned briefly, my husband and I are expecting a little bundle of joy in March. We are thrilled to become parents and have been enjoying my pregnancy thus far. As one to always enjoy fitness, and most recently running, I’ve had to rethink my thoughts of exercise while pregnant.
I’m not talking about thoughts of not exercising, because exercise is quite important during pregnancy and is thought to help during the delivery process as well. I’m talking about rethinking the thoughts about why and how I exercise.
Why I exercised during pre-pregnancy.
Exercise during pre-pregnancy was all for myself. It was a way to stay healthy, a way to push my body during training periods, and a way to have some time to myself. It was a stress relief and my me-time.
Why I exercise during pregnancy.
Exercise now encompasses more than just myself. I’m exercising to stay healthy for my baby as well. I still exercise as a stress relief and my me-time, but it means so much more to me now. I’m thankful that I have enough energy to work out multiple times a week. I’m thankful that I’m still able to run into my second trimester. And I’m thankful for any workout, although it is now much different than my pre-pregnancy workouts. I’m mostly just thrilled that my body has allowed me to stay in good shape while pregnant.
How I exercised pre-pregnancy.
I exercised on a plan and stuck to it. Weekends were filled with long runs outside, regardless of weather, and calories were needed to refuel. During non-training periods, exercise still happened, but it wasn’t on a plan and it was whenever I felt like it.
How I exercise during pregnancy.
The biggest change is that I’m not training for anything while pregnant. I am running a Turkey Trot this week, but it’s totally just for fun and my husband, best friend, and I are sticking together the entire time – it’s sure to be entertaining! The other biggest change is that I’ve taken most of my workouts indoors. I’m more worried about safety for myself and baby now that I’m pregnant, and definitely don’t want to risk having a car not see me. I also know that my outside walks will decrease when the weather gets bad – nothing worse than a pregnant lady falling on ice and snow! These changes are to protect our baby and I’m more than okay with that!
Final Thoughts
Whether you are pregnant or not, exercise is important, period. Thinking about why and how you exercise during different periods of your life can be eye-opening and teach you more about your exercise reasons and habits. I hope Jana’s readers have all found a way to fit exercise into your life, and if you haven’t, I implore you to start thinking about it. Your body will be glad you did!
So glad to have been paired up with you in today’s blog swap, Jana! I urge everyone to pop over to Healthy Heddleston and read Jana’s wonderful post about pregnancy and postpartum depression.
~Katie “Healthy” Heddleston
[...] Katie wrote Rethinking Exercise in Pregnancy [...]
I think this is such an important things for expecting moms. I knew a mom that walked 30 minutes every day of her pregnancy on the treadmill. She swears it was the reason why her labor was less than an hour long. I don’t know the accuracy of that claim, but you better believe you’ll find me walking every single day when there’s a bun in this oven!
Thanks for participating in the OBA Blog Swap!
I actually went into labor with my first child TEACHING water aerobics. Thankfully, it wasn’t as dramatic as they show on TV and I had plenty of time to get to the hospital (and find a back-up instructor for the next evening) but I do feel the exercise was helpful in navigating the labor/delivery. With #2, I was weightlifting up until delivery (which terrified the muscle-heads at the gym) and although my labor was 14 hours, I was able to go completely natural (not even an IV) and was feeling so great immediately following the birth that I walked to my postpartum room holding my new bundle of joy and took a (leisurely) 3 mile walk the day I got home from the hospital! Exercise is amazing for both body and spirit, especially during the critical postpartum period!
I wish I’d exercised more during my pregnancy. My doctor wanted me basically to do nothing and scared me into thinking I would be risking too much even by walking. (I did not have a high-risk pregnancy or any other health issues then.) Well, my “baby” is now 13. I’m finally getting the weight off, but I firmly believe if I had stayed somewhat active during pregnancy my entire family would have been a lot healthier- a lot sooner. I fell into so many bad habits then that I had kicked long before…and it was definitely harder thinking fit/healthy after that point. Well, until now!
I see your point, but sympathize with your situation. I think it would have been very difficult to counteract doctor’s “orders” when so much about pregnancy is so new. I felt so oddly unprepared for each stage of pregnancy, despite reading stacks of books, and I wanted to do everything “perfectly.” If my doc had advised me not to exercise, I would have figured that there was a reason and backed off as well…
I commend you for making some healthy life changes now! It’s NEVER too late!