I thought I’d devote this blog to something I know much more
about and that I feel in control of! I’ve always been an athlete and worked out.
I started running long distance about 5 years ago. I enjoyed the competition
with myself to run faster and longer each time and it really became addictive. Before
getting pregnant I ran 6-9 miles 3 times per week. I would also swim and/ or go
to the gym 3 other days of the week. I logged more miles when I was training
for a race but had cut back when we were trying to get pregnant. I had really
wanted to continue running all through my pregnancy but that proved to be much
more difficult than I had anticipated.
I spent a lot of time researching running, fitness, and
nutrition while pregnant. I was determined to keep my weight gain minimal yet
healthy for our growing baby. I think that’s my main reason for writing this
blog… to let women know it IS possible to keep working out or at least continue
to be active AND get your body back after baby. I had REALLY wanted to be like
the women whose blogs I had read that kept running throughout their
pregnancies. While this didn’t work out for me I was still active at least 6
days per week. Since running and working out is a stress reliever for me I
really needed, not just wanted, to continue my routine for my own well-being. Swimming
was my saving grace and I swam multiple times each week all the way up to the
end. It felt so good to be weightless in the pool and stretch out all the aches
and pains.
I set my goal at gaining 25- 35 pounds. I downloaded a
nutrition ap that tracked everything I ate and calculated the calories I burned
during work outs. This allowed me to make sure I was getting what my body
needed in addition to accounting for the calories I would need to make up for those
lost during work outs. I found a base number of calories suggested for a person
my size during each trimester and made that my daily goal. I already split my
diet into 4 meals; breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack(s) so I continued
that. I have never been one of those people who can live on three meals a day….
I literally eat every 1-2 hours.
I also made sure that
I got at least 70 grams of protein each day. This was the biggest change to my
diet since I’m not a huge meat eater. I was surprised that the normal amount of
yogurt, cheese, and protein shake that I ate accounted for a good portion of
that. Luckily during pregnancy one of the things I really craved was chicken
and red meat so I easily hit the protein goal each day. Other than that, I
literally ate whatever I wanted. Chicken strips were a main staple as well as
lucky charms and ice cream. The key is portion control. I would get a chicken
strip basket, including fries, and eat half of it. The other half I would save
for the next day. Just FYI the Bill Millers chicken strip basket is over 1200
calories. That is way more than the average person needs to consume during one
sitting. And I’m not kidding when I say I had ice cream every night! I would find
that I needed more calories to hit my goal and a cup of ice cream would fit
that nicely. I ended up gaining 20 pounds. Half of that was during the first trimester when I felt horrible and nothing but random junk food sounded good to me. The majority of the rest was during the third trimester when T was doing her biggest amount of growing. I did not ever feel hungry and I did not deprive myself. In fact, towards the end I would get full very quickly and ate more small meals instead.
Taytum weighed 6 pounds at birth and then there’s the placenta and all the fluids you lose during delivery so by the time we came home from the hospital I had already lost 10 pounds. Don’t hate me but the next 6 pounds flew off within 2 weeks. Due to breast feeding maybe? Those last 4 pounds have been stubborn though. That could possibly be due to my new addiction to ice cream and the fact that I like to have a beer or glass of wine now and again. After week three I broke it to my husband that the ice cream would have to go. I have no self-control when it’s in the freezer. I’m looking into lower cal options and will report back on that shortly!
Even though I’m close to my pre-pregnancy weight, everything looks much different than it did before. The doctor released me back to normal activity as soon as I left the hospital and felt up to it so I started walking right away. I added intervals of very slow jogging at week 2. I can now run 3 miles without stopping but it’s not easy or pretty. My goal is to get back to running half marathons but right now that’s looking like a far off goal. The Texas heat certainly isn’t helping me out in this department either. I can’t wait to get back to swimming and cycling but I’m waiting until after my 6 week check up for that. I’m hoping that adding the different activities and boosting intensity will help me get somewhere back to where I was.
2 weeks postpartum
I ultimately hope that our active life style will rub off on
our daughter and she will love running and have a competitive nature like we
do.
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