Stories From The Tolbert Home

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

22 weeks- A Healthier Pregnancy

WOW Time is flying by. I have taken like zero pictures of my growing belly and we are over halfway to our finish line. This pregnancy has been so fun, and I might add since finding out we are having a little boy (Hudson ) we are really getting anxious and serious about the arrival!

Because of the fact that I found out we were expecting again 8 months after we had our last, I knew I had to have some goals in mind so that I did not lose my mind. I really thought I was eating healthy, and exercising while pregnant last time. I avoided the scale like crazy and was mortified to learn I had gained 45lbs while pregnant. I was in denial. I ate pretty clean actually! But still eating too much of a good thing….can be bad. I got serious and started taking boot camp classes again at our gym, and hired a personal trainer. I was really getting somewhere. It took 8 months to lose, but I lost my pregnancy weight and was starting to chisel away at my own 45 lbs of over the years eat too much junk weight. Then we got the news :) I panicked slightly because I knew I was no where near where I needed to be. But we knew we really wanted our babies close in age this time, so what better time!

So far I have gained 7 lbs at 22 weeks. By this time the last time around I had gained about 20 lbs.

The biggest thing that has helped me is to continue working out 2 days a week with our bootcamp group, which is an hour and a half of craziness in the outdoor sports park. I feel more at ease being outside even in the winter months because I am not getting over heated. I have also continued with my personal trainer 2 days a week who works with me in the weight room. She is the same person teaching bootcamp so she knows my limits. She knows when I am just being a whiner, and when I am actually being "pregnant".

For working out I noticed that in my first trimester besides feeling like I was going to throw up anytime my heart rate went up I was still able to be pretty quick with things. I was tired, but working out gave me energy. I was not really limited to anything, but I had checked with my health care provider before continuing!

Second Trimester I started to feel myself slow down around well 14 weeks. It was like whoa nelly blood volume has increased. I continue to jog, but each time it seems I get slower and slower. I also have modified certain things we do as my belly increases in size.
For instance

Chariot races, I am just fine going backwards, but forward I try and watch my heart rate not sky rocketing so fast, as well as putting the band on my abdomen. So I take it slower and usually hold the band higher than my abdomen.
Sit ups still feel fine, but if we are doing more than my comfortable number I flip it over to a plank.
 Obviously any ab things that are on my back I usually flip over to a plank or do a modification.
Jumping! I cannot do box jumps, frog jumps, burpees with the jump at the end, jumping jacks because of a cyst I have that they are monitoring. It is large and they are wanting me to make it to the third trimester so the baby can be big enough it squishes it into place. Then we won't have to worry as much about it rupturing. SO I just step up for my box jumps, and I don't jump forward on my burpees.

So far at this point the only thing I really struggle with is cardio. But I still get some in. As I grow the other things will get harder.
I know since my cardio is slowing down I push harder with weights. So I always try and grab heavier weights. Or with lunging, squats, pushups, things that don't get your heart pumping but are more power moves I try not to give up and really push through those things because I can still do them.

AS FOR NUTRITION…this is so hard for me because I hate meat. So soothing my stomach with bread and potatoes always sounds nice. BUT because I have a goal I really try to tell myself no. I have been hard on myself because I have trouble making it through one whole day without having a failure. But that has helped me maintain, at least I am not cheating all day. This past week has been easier for me, I seem to crave less junk. I have to tell myself I will feel so much better when I come home from the hospital and can start right back on my journey to health, without feeling like I went so far backwards.

Another thing, I can be scale obsessive when I am trying to lose weight, then while I am pregnant I avoid it like the plague because I hate watching it rise. But I have been trying to make sure I check in at least every 3 days because I know that realistically I do not need to gain over 20 lbs. So if I gained 4 lbs in 3 days I need to chill out!

I hope this helps someone else like me who is feeling overwhelmed at being pregnant when you have weight to lose already. I love the blessing of pregnancy so much, but it does not need to be a time where I hurt my body in the process. I have to remember I am also nourishing another little life each time I eat.

Please don't judge me if you find me eating a heaping pile of warm peach cobbler at the local ma and pa restaurant down the road…..it sounds so good. Ok so Realistically it is about not giving up even when I have bad days.

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