Let’s play catch up.

My last post was so hopeful and positive about staying within a healthy weight range during pregnancy. I ended up gaining exactly 70 pounds while my kiddo was forming inside of me. 70 freaking pounds! I started out at 144.4 lbs and the day I gave birth was 214.4 lbs. So where did I go wrong? Not to list excuses, these are just the cold hard flabby facts.

Stress. I stayed single throughout the entire 42 weeks of pregnancy. I never intended on being a single mom, but when your child is endangered, you leave that asshole. Doesn’t exactly help that my family is absolutely nuts. And even though they offered to help me with new living situations when I had to unexpectedly relocate immediately, I found myself being physically attacked yet again and receiving death threats because I’m related to absolute weirdos that for whatever twisted reasoning had a big problem with me having a child. I moved a total of 6 times during the first 5 months pregnant.

SPD. I haven’t read anywhere that stress is a cause of this, although an overabundance of the relaxin hormone absolutely is. SPD stands for Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. This was really the worst out of everything I encountered during pregnancy. The hormone relaxes ligaments in the body to prepare for childbirth, but in some women it does the job a little too well and the ligaments around the pubic area relax too much, making it almost impossible to walk, let alone do Pilates, jog, roll over, pretty much move any part of the lower body. It was terrible. Thinking about that pain still makes me cringe almost 2 years later… This started right around 6 months into pregnancy and thank God it went away right after my daughter made her debut. I struggled with these symptoms for so long trying to find out what the hell it was. My doctor thought I was crazy when I explained the pain to him. It was only in The Pregnancy Bible that I was able to finally find the name of this horrid side effect so I could start researching what was going on and how to survive it. That book saved me from a serious hormonal meltdown.

Cheesecake. I make some bomb cheesecakes. They are often referred to as “Dank.” Whatever that means, but I’ll take it as a good thing. I had orders for these things coming in left and right, although some people flaked which meant I would be sitting next to so many cheesecakes. Alone with no witnesses…

So yeah, that’s my pretty awkward combination that led to such an embarrassing amount of weight gain. But I wasn’t worried about it. I have struggled with being “the fat kid” in school and lost weight before, so I knew it wasn’t impossible. And I’ve lost more than those pesky 70 pounds. Now I weigh 132 and I see no reason to not go for my own personal gold of 125 lbs. Give or take a cheesecake.

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My, oh my, how pregnancy can change the regular work-out routine. It is not the easiest endeavor to go as hard as I am previously used to, yet I have found one way that actually allows me to get my heart rate up without causing any fears of what may be happening to my darling baby girl. Prenatal pilates > prenatal yoga. Yoga is soothing and an excellent way to come-down from the pilates burn a couple times a week, but for keeping up with any type of muscular care during pregnancy, I am screaming that pilates kicks butt, and I do mean that literally.

But, in my general guestimate, the prenatal workout routine of one’s choice will and should greatly depend on what shape your body was in before conceiving. It does seem that building up any sort of new stamina during pregnancy could cause some harm to you and the baby. I played tennis on average 3 days a week before becoming “a preggo.” Breaking a sweat is one of my favorite activities on earth, I crave it, I inspire it and I feel like a slothed out slug without doing so. If you just happen to only start concerning yourself with physical health matters during pregnancy, begin with WALKING. Walk like there is no tomorrow, but remember to watch that heart rate. All of the reading and research I have done as far as workouts during pregnancy say to stay within the boundaries of capably handling a conversation, never get so exerted you get lightheaded and be sure to stay HYDRATED. Dehydration is an exceptionally dangerous attribute during pregnancy.

And of course, I am curious as to what regimen you use to stay healthy throughout pregnancy. Feel free to share some thoughts with me and other readers so we can nab some ideas. We get just less than a year to do this pregnancy thing the right way (each time, obviously). And please remember to always consult with your physician regarding any fitness routine during your pregnancy!

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