Hello everyone,

I am new here and thought I would post. I was in the middle of some awesome weight loss and fitness goals when I found out I am pregnant with baby #3. At first I was not happy because it interferes with my weightloss but now I have come to terms with it and I am happy.

My goal is to get throught this pregnancy as fit and healthy as possible. I refuse to use it as an excuse to pig out on junk food. I am starting at appx 15-20 pounds overweight and would love to be even healthier when I give birth. I wonder if this is possible?

Anyway, my goal is to eat 5 mini meals per day consisting of whole, unprocessed foods. I have already slipped a little but I am only 8 weeks preggo so I hope I can turn it around.

Is anyone out there in the same situation??

Anita

I recently gave birth to my third baby-he was unplanned, and I had lost the weight from my first two pregnancies-and it was a very busy time in my dance career, and we were going through a relocation for my husband's job across the state. NOT good timing.

I did come to terms with it as well, and Saber is my sweetie pie! I ate better-opting for good, whole foods instead of junk-and I exercised regularl-teaching dance lessons until I went into labor, even! (I also walked, did prenatal workouts, etc.)

But-you gain weight when you get pregnant-and that is 100% normal and expected. But-even though I gained weight during the pregnancy like always, it was easier to give birth and go through labor because I was more fit-and it was easier to get back into exercise AFTER the birth-because my body was more accustomed to the activity.

So-I am on the path to losing the weight for the last time. I have totally been where you are now!!! Don't worry about the scale during this time-and if you gain 20 pounds or 50. Worry about the kinds of foods that you eat instead, and try to remain active, as long as your doctor gives it the go ahead. I LOVE Crunch Yoga Mama, and I loved walking on the treadmill-although I had to slow the pace in my third trimester. I also loved Quick Fix Prenatal Workout for strength/toning-they were fabulous! Denise Austin has a new prenatal workout dvd as well, but I didn't get to try it because it was released at the end of my pregnancy.

If you need any help or cheering on-I am with you!

Hi Aphil,

Thanks for your message! It is really helpful. I plan to eat as healthy as possible this time around and continue my exercise throughout the pregnancy. So far so good but I have been eating more because I am hungrier!!!! AAAARG!. Anyway, I will try to keep it in check!

How much weight did you gain in your 3rd pregnancy?

Anita,

Well I found out last week that I was preggo with my first and I was in the middle of weightloss as well. I plan is to keep up my exercise and eat as healthy as possible still. I have also had on slip up as well. Let me know your progress. I am very naive when it comes to all of this because this is my first, so I really don't know what to expect!

dolly-hopefully I can help you a bit, since this is your first. What plan were/are you doing? You can continue to do your plan with some modifications. Also, it is perfectly NORMAL for you to gain 20-40 pounds during pregnancy. You are not only gaining the weight of the baby, but the weight of the placenta, bag of waters, extra blood volume in your body, breast tissue (your body preparing them to breastfeed), and tons of other stuff-you will most likely gain more than your 5-9 pound baby, so don't fret about that part of it.

Also-you can continue with exercise, as long as certain modifications are made. If you strength train, lower your weights some-especially in the third trimester. No traditional back lying exercises (like crunches or bench presses) after the first trimester, either. Also-as the baby grows larger, you may find that cardio has to slow down a bit-this is because you have less room to expand your lungs, and your heart shifts position in your chest to make room for the baby. (All of your organs sort of smuch out of the way as baby grows...) So, you can continue to walk on the treadmill, etc. but listen to your body-you want to be sure you are getting adequate oxygen, so it will probably be slightly slower paced-especially in the last month!

Hi aphil,

Thanks for the help. I don't follow a specific program. I just try to maintain around 1500 calories a day with 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbs. I started the couch to 5k program for running in October and have been running 3 or 4 times a week for about a month now. I really don't want to stop but I have heard that my heart rate should not get about 140 bpm. Even when I was not pregnant my normal steady intensity heart rate was at around 160-165 and if I pushed it 175, so 140 seems really low for me. Any advice on that subject?

Hi Dolly,

Congratulations on your pregnancy! I think everything Aphil has said is right on the money! We are only supposed to eat about 300 calories more per day for the baby. That is basically nothing!! So, if you were eating 1500 cals then you should up it to around 1800 or so.

Anita

You need to raise your calories in the first trimester to 2000 a day. In the first trimester your body does not need any extra calories than normal-but that is going by MAINTENANCE level calories. 1500 calories is a weight loss level, so you don't want to eat at that level-go to 2000 which is an average maintenance level.

In the second trimester-after 12 week pregnant-that is when you need to add the 300 extra per day, so at that point on, you will need about 2300 calories per day.

I hope that cleared things up. The reason for this, is because in the first trimester, most of the development is in the basic structure-brain, organs, etc. of the baby, and in the second and third trimesters are when the baby will need the extra calories, because that is when the size of the baby really starts growing.

As far as the running goes-I would speak with your doctor. I taught dance classes during my pregnancy, walked on the treadmill, and did prenatal yoga, and light weights. However-in my last trimester, I had to slow down a lot-as far as the pace of the walking, etc. Speak with your doctor first. The baby as an individual is also key-there are some women who can walk faster, and do faster paced aerobics without too much trouble-but I couldn't go as fast. Part of that was because all of my babies were between 9 pounds 3 ounces (preemie!) to 10 pounds 4 ounces. My organs and lungs and everything were much more squished and stressed than someone carrying a 6 pound baby.

I plan on talking to my doctor about the running, right now I am just powerwalking on the treadmill just to keep active. I am currently trying to eat five meals a day, but I feel so nausea all day long. So just eating is hard, and I know they say it will go away if you, but it doesn't it just gets worse. I am not monitoring my calories anymore, but I am making healthy decisions. Hopefully it will get better soon!

What you are trying to eat will make a difference with the nausea. Bland, carbohydrates seem to work best-crackers, Sprite/7-Up/ginger ale, applesauce, etc. When I was suffering with morning sickness-sipping Gatorade, and sucking on lemon drops (the hard candy) helped tremendously. I also ate a lot of fresh fruit-because it sounded/tasted better than meats, etc. With my first pregnancy, I literally lived on Gatorade and fresh fruit for the entire first trimester. The only other food I could occasionally tolerate at that time was cold cereal-and it had to be "kiddie" kind, like Trix or Lucky Charms.

If scents/smells are getting to you-something I recommend is buying a couple lemons every week at the store. Take one, cut it up into quarters, and put it into a Ziploc sandwich bag. Keep it with you-in your purse, etc. and when a strong cooking smell, etc. bothers you in public-open the bag and inhale the lemon. It helps!!! I also kept the lemon drops in my purse and they work well, too! There is even a similar product after that old remedy called "Preggie Pops" or "Preggie Pop Drops" which they sell at Motherhood maternity and Babies R Us. Basically all they are is sour lemon/orange/rasberry candy/lollipops for morning sickness.

I just gave birth to my 3rd child last week, and wanted to say congratulations! She was also a surprise... what's up with these #3 surprise babies?!

I don't know...but now that he is here, I am glad he was a surprise.