Pregnancy Exercise

The average amount of weight gained during pregnancy is 30 pounds.  Average, meaning that women gain between 20 - 60+ pounds.  However: simply because we are pregnant, does not mean that we should eat whatever we want to eat, and stop working out.  Remember how hard it is to loss weight, or even to maintain our weight.  It is expected that as we are pregnant, that we do gain weight, but this should not give us an excuse to go on a chocolate ice cream diet.

Nor should we stop keeping our body running smoothly, through exercise.  It is recommended to consult with your doctor regarding your diet and exercise plan, the one you have ongoing, and what to expect through your pregnancy.

For example, you can exercise well into your pregnancy.  However, sit ups, and other abdominal exercises will be limited, the closer you get to delivery.  But you should discuss these kinds of things will your doctor.  People are different within their limitations.  Such as, if a woman were not use to doing abdominal exercises, I would not expect them to pick it up during pregnancy and expect to continue it on throughout.  Or running a marathon, I just would not expect someone to train for their first marathon during pregnancy.  However for someone who runs marathons often, they understand completely their limitations, in coordination with their doctor, so running a marathon within the first trimester might not be a huge issue.

The main thing to understand about pregnancy exercise is that you must stay active.  I know you are tired.  I know you are bloated.  I know the last thing on some of your minds is working out.  However, after you delivery your beautiful child, it is going to be even harder to work out, let alone pick something back up after not doing it in 9 months.  The best thing is to stick to a work out of some kind.  Even if it is a pregnancy yoga class, or video, these things can help in more ways than just pregnancy exercise.  Exercising helps not only the body, but the mind also.  When we get frazzled, doing a few yoga poses or walking around the block can truly lesson the stress of life linked with pregnancy. 

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