Well I’m 38 weeks preggo and still going strong! At my doctors appointment last week he said that her head was down, I’m dilated to a 1 and 70% effaced…in other words right on track and I feel great! Aside from walking like I’m holding a bowling ball between my legs…
I have been blessed to have a really healthy pregnancy so far. I have gained just the right amount weight and have, believe it or not, worked out 5-6 times a week every week since I got pregnant! When my hubs and I were planning on when to get pregnant, I had tons of fears just pouring into my mind (I’m what people call a “worry wart”). Many of the fears were about my health and the health of my baby, as well as how hard labor and delivery will be, and how much weight I would gain. I know, call me superficial. I just understand that no matter what you do, you gain weight when you get pregnant and I wasn’t super excited about that part :).
I did my research and found a bunch of methods that were supposed to help women have a healthy pregnancy and today I’m going to share my 3 favorites that have worked for me!
1. Keep a healthy workout routine- Research suggests it not only makes your labor easier, but it also helps you keep your weight gain in control. So I vowed to continue to workout through my whole pregnancy, if it was possible, and I feel great! 38 weeks and no, it hasn’t been easy but I am glad that I have stuck with it. It’s one of those things that would have been really hard to stop doing in my first trimester and then try to pick it back up in my second or third trimester. So I would suggest to have a healthy workout routine BEFORE you get pregnant and then stick with it as you progress in your pregnancy. I totally understand that for some women it just isn’t possible to stay active or workout while your pregnant because certain health issues with them or with the baby and I applaud you strong women for doing what you’re doing.
Here’s what a typical week of workouts would look like for me:
Monday: Fitness Blender 30 min Home HIIT (High Intensity Interval) workout. Here are some of my very favorites, all of them are FREE and the ones I have suggested require no equipment:
Total Body HIIT and Kickboxing
Tuesday: Workout class at the gym. I go to Vasa Fitness and their classes are amazing! My absolute favorite class is Power Pump. Its a combination of HIIT cardio and weight training. In my first and second trimester I would go to two classes a week but as my third trimester has progressed I have only made it to one a week.
Wednesday: Run three miles. I had intense round ligament pain starting in my second trimester (around 20 weeks), it has lessened but not gone away. When my pain started I couldn’t run, it was absolutely debilitating. So, I got my life changing Belly Band and decided to do a run/walk three miles. I go to a my favorite park near by that has a great trail around it (you could easily to do this on a treadmill too), 5 times around the trail is 3 miles. What I do is I run the first lap, walk the second, run the third lap, walk the fourth, and run the fifth lap.
Thursday: Workout class at the gym or a hike. Like I said earlier, as my pregnancy has progressed I only make it to one a week so typically on Thursday I go on a hike. I love living in Utah and having a hubs who loves to hike with me! Our favorite hikes are Stewart Falls, Double Falls (I actually have no idea what the name of this hike is, its in the same parking lot at the trail head to Stewart Falls and you hike to two different water falls, it’s beautiful!), and Y Mountain.
37 Weeks at Stewart Falls
34 Weeks on Y Mountain
Friday: Fitness Blender 30 min Home HIIT (High Intensity Interval) workout. See above for my favorite workouts!
Saturday: 3 mile run or 3 mile run/walk.
2. Eat a Healthy, Protein filled, Breakfast: I had horrible morning sickness until about 29 weeks, jk it was more like all day sickness haha but way worse in the morning. Yes, having breakfast is the morning was hard and I can’t even count how many times I ate and then within about 5 minutes it came right back up. Regardless, for me protein was the only thing that seemed to help calm my stomach. When I wouldn’t have a breakfast that contained protein, I would throw up double the times that day at least.
If you’re anything like me, meat sounded AWFUL, especially in the morning so I had to find other ways to get that protein. Here are my favorite fast and easy options:
- Over easy egg with a piece of wheat toast
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
- Kodiak Cakes- Protein Packed FlapJacks with fruit, Tru Whip, and Sugar Free Syrup. This was by far my favorite option. You can find Kodiak Cakes at Costco or Walmart. Make sure you buy the Kodiak Cakes that says “protein packed” on the front, they are also whole grain and taste delicious (dreams do come true). On Sunday I would make enough pancakes for breakfast all week. I grab them out of the fridge, warm them up, and eat them as I got ready. True Whip is my favorite all natural “cool whip” type topping. Its delicious and so good for you! I buy it at Walmart.
3. Drink a gallon of Water: Often water made me feel even more nauseated but if I didn’t have enough water my morning sickness was absolutely violent the next day. So drinking water was life changing for me. In order to help it taste better, I used a lot of lemon and lime squeezed in my water and sometimes would mix in crystal light. I would always chill my water but often times I would put ice in it too and chew on it when I reached the end of the glass (that was definitely my favorite part!).
What are your favorite healthy pregnancy tips?? I would love to hear other things that have worked for you!
I want to be healthy to have a successful delivery, so these tips will be great to know to help make that happen. Eating protein filled breakfasts is something that I need to start doing. My mornings are filled with sugar and junk food, so I’ll try switching to eggs with toast and your recipe for kodiak cakes. I hope that eating these high protein foods will help me be healthy enough for my delivery.
I like that you pointed out that it is very important to drink a lot of water when you are pregnant. My sister has a lot of morning sickness when she was pregnant and I am wondering if she was like you and it as caused by her not drinking enough water. It does seem like it would be a good to talk to your obstetric about proper amounts of water to drink.
Awesome post to share. Good nutrition during pregnancy, and enough of it, is very important for your baby to grow and develop.
So true! Thanks for your comment, Monica 🙂
Xoxo
Whit