I’m in week 15 of my first pregnancy and I’m finding it harder than I expected. When I close my eyes and picture myself pregnant or as a mother, I see a healthy, fit, and happy woman. That picture is not quite how my pregnancy reality is shaping up. I’ve experienced really bad morning sickness for most of the past 10 weeks. Pre-pregnancy I used to work out at least 4-5 times per week, ate quite healthy, and never drank soda pop. I was raised with the suck-it-up-and-do-it philosophy and am worried that my standard operating mode of pushing myself hard will be bad for the baby. Plus, I’m too dizzy to exercise most days, I’m craving junk food, and soda pop is one of the only things that calms my stomach.

In the past couple weeks I have started walking a little bit but not regularly enough. I’ve found a couple of places to do prenatal yoga but as soon as I’m done work I just want to collapse at home. I know working out is the best thing for me and my baby so I’m going to try my own pregnancy challenge. I know how great you all are at motivating others and I was just looking for some help.

Here’s the deal. I have approximately 175 days left until my baby is due. I’m going to try and exercise at least 15 minutes for every single one of them. It’s a much smaller goal than I’m used to but - it gets me moving. And when I succeed I’ll have exercised a minimum of 43.75 hours in my pregnancy. I’m going to forgive myself for the soda pop as long as I get my daily water intake (plus a glass of water for every soda).

Today’s day one. I walked for 35 minutes (listening to last week’s MTM podcast and a little bit of the Afterburner). I drank two orange soda’s and had about 3 litres of water. (I’m not going to post every day but I just thought starting the challenge with a successful day would be a good start.)

Take care and the best of luck to all of you on your individual journeys. I’ll keep you posted on my challenge.

Cheers,
Meghan

sounds like a great challenge to keep healthy (for you AND your baby).

There is this gal at the gym i go to that has a much more intense workout than me....she exercised up to one week prior to havign her little girl.....then back at the gym about a week later.... WOW!

We’ll be with you in your journey....make sure you consult a Dr. about how much training you should be doing.

Take care,

Meghan, first of all, congrats on the pregnancy! You appear to have a good head on your shoulders, and know what you need to do. If you find yourself not getting your exercise in or eating poorly, reconsider a daily post in this log as it will help keep you honest.

Good luck. I’m looking forward to reading your posts.

Meghan, congrats on your new little one. I have had two babies myself that were spaced out 15 years apart. And I can verify as will most of moms that all pregnancies are different. So please don’t be too hard on yourself. You might find that you gain more energy as you move through the second trimester. Be sure to check with your doctor as I am sure you are, and you are off to a great start. I walked for exercise during my last pregnancy to help control my blood pressure and it did the trick. Drinking the water to stay hydrated is also key.

Take good care of YOU and the baby will be fine!!! Have a great Week!!! I’m going to be sending out positve thoughts for you.

Thanks for all your great comments. I have talked to my doctor about exercise and she gave me the big thumbs up to walking and prenatal yoga - sadly my request for snowshoeing was shot down because I haven’t been doing it regularly in the past year.

Today was successful but very educational. Walking was no problem - 25 minutes after work. Soda - I wasn’t so good but ended well. I sipped my usual pop from 7:30-10am to fend off the terrible morning sickness. Then, I was taken out for lunch by a friend and had a Wendy’s combo meal. I sipped the large cola from 1-5:30pm. I made myself measure out how many cups were in the Wendy’s cup (to keep me honest)- there were four! So, on top of the usual 10 cups a day, I had to add 5 glasses of water to balance out the soda. The cool thing was that by the time I had drank most of the water I was almost so full that for dinner I just had a greek salad (with pasturized pregnancy-friendly feta).

p.s. I did start drinking water in the morning - I didn’t try to drink all 15 cups after 5:30pm
p.p.s. All five cups of soda still have me under the suggested caffeine intake for pregnant women

Good job on all your accomplishment so far, and your desire to keep moving. I admire your dedication and perseverance.

Have you tried fizzy water? For flavor add some juice and it’ll be better than the soda. If you can find it. Congrats on the pregnancy, both of mine were hard on me, really throws you for a loop. Has the dizziness gotten better? That concerns me a bit.

Bree

Hi Meghan,

Congrats on your pregnancy! I’m sorry to hear it isn’t going as well as you would like. I’ve had 3 and they are all different! Have you spoken to your Dr about the amount of soda you are needing? I’m just wondering if there is a healthier option for you and the babe? I spent 3 months of one of mine only eating dry biscuits and drinking orange juice. It was all I could stomach.

And as for walking, that was how I exercised through all of mine and it made for a better labour...the midwives commented on my fitness and walking was all I had done.

Please keep posting so we can support you and maybe there will be some ideas that could help.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve posted. I just wanted to touch base, celebrate my successes, and write about my new challenge.

Most importantly, my daughter Olivia was born in late August. I had a great healthy pregnancy by making sure I exercised regularly. Some days it was very hard but I asked myself to just get my runners on and walk around the block for five minutes - of course I’d always end up grooving to the music and 30 minutes would pass by easy. Honestly, some days I only made it around the block twice but I had accomplished the goal I had set - so instead of feeling down on myself - I was happy. I had loads of energy throughout my pregnancy and ended up walking in a few 5 and 10k charity walk/runs. I was able to work right up into the end.

Six months of recovering, healing and playing with my daughter. I can’t express how humbling it was to give birth and now to watch my daughter grow. Now, my vain fitness goals seem a little less important (but who am I kidding I would still love to get back into my old jeans). But I’m on my way, I’ve already lost 30 of the 55 pounds I put on by walking, eating right, and breastfeeding. My main motivation for working out is to show Olivia how to be a healthy person. I will show her by example that food is fuel and exercise is one of the best ways to turn a crappy day around. The weight issues I inherited from my family will stop with me. Also, I’ve had back injuries in the past and I want to get strong so that I can spend everyday playing with my daughter and not let anything get in the way.

My latest challenge is to get down to my sexy weight by the end of my maternity leave (in Canada we get 12 months off). I’ve decided to invest in myself and get myself 32 sessions of a personal trainer. Scott would have been proud, on my first day, I made the trainer weigh, measure me, take a photo and sign the contract that I made with myself. I had specific goals with dates and not one, but two fitness challenges to work up to (a half-marathon and one chin-up). I’m on my way and I’m five months away from a sleek, stronger, sexier version of me.