I’m PREGNANT?! What’s Your Excuse?
The Missing Link in Your Pregnancy Fitness Plan
I read a blogpost in The 9 Month Club Community this morning that was like an instant flashback to my first trimester of pregnancy.
It was from a lady who prior to getting pregnant was a real health addict. Her nutrition was perfect and she followed the Elimination Diet 90% of the time, with occassional treats. She never touched coffee, wheat or any of those things that steal your energy and make you tired, lethargic, bloated and prone to store fat.
She exercised religiously, 3 times weekly but since falling pregnant has only worked out twice!
As I was reading this I was taken back all too vividly to the first trimester of my pregnancy where I did almost the same thing. I had been on Elimination before discovering I was pregnant but as soon as I found out the good news I started eating chocolate and gluten-free bread and cookies (not the healthy kind).
I didn’t give up on my workouts (I couldn’t really, as I was working as a coach at Dax Moy Personal Training Studios), but I did overcompensate with my workouts for my diet. Even though I KNOW it’s impossible to out-train a bad diet! The result was that I was working out TOO MUCH and causing severe stress on my poor pregnant body.
Not only that but working out without proper nutritional support during pregnancy is dangerous!
Now this is a story I hear over and over again. I had another conversation with one of my Facebook friends this morning about how she has put on 9kgs already and is only 22 weeks! She constantly asks me for pregnancy diet and exercise advice but never takes it!
So I started to ask myself what the missing link was. Why is it, when we know exactly what we should be doing, and we have the knowledge and ability to put this into practice, do we still let everything go to pot when we find out we are pregnant?
First of all I think that no matter how educated we are in our pregnancy health and fitness, there is still that deep subconcious thought buried in the back of our minds that we are eating for two and the odd treat won’t hurt. While this is true on a superficial level, ( i.e. one cup of coffee per week is not going to ruin your metabolism), it will affect your subconcious thinking and your pregnancy mindset. That one cup of coffee will soon turn into one cup per day and that one cup per day will soon turn into coffee and a cake… You see where I’m going with this. Once you have taken a step back from your pregnancy fitness or nutrition plan, the seed is planted deep in your subconcious that it is OK to eat non-supportive foods and suddenly your healthy pregnancy lifestyle has dissapeared into a sea of junk.
What makes this worse is your social network. When you complain about getting fat, your friends, family and work colleagues will all tell you you’re supposed to put on weight and you’re not fat, you’re pregnant. Whilst this is very nice to hear and it may make you feel better for the next 10 minutes, it’s not true. And you KNOW IT!
Deep down in your heart of hearts you feel wrong. It gets you down but you don’t know what to do about it. Every time you try and start again, something else gets in the way and you’re back to square one.
What you need is a good kick up the butt to kick you into touch.
This is wheresocial support can make all the difference. Its been proven over and over again for years and years. The first instance was probably Weight Watchers. Having somewhere to go to discuss your problems without someone making it seem trivial or just saying what they think you want to hear has a real impact on your physical actions. The very act of voicing your problem out loud puts it out there for you to really see it for what it is. It creates a personal sense of accountability and inspires you to move forward and do something about it.
And even though you have only just voiced that problem, the fact that you have taken the first step and put it out there brings an enormous sense of relief, that turns that low feeling into one of excitement as you realise that today is the day that everything changes.
Being part of a support community where you journal your progress on a regular basis IS the missing link in your pregnancy fitness plan. It puts you in the position to recieve a tremendous amount of support and honest feedback you need to make your pregnancy a huge success.
The 9 Month Club Community is a completely free support site for all mums – whether you are pregnant, trying to concieve, or if you’ve already had yours but you’d like to offer advice and support. It’s a great resource with weekly pregnancy fitness challenges, recipes, workout videos and of course a bunch of really warm and friendly pregnant women who all want the best for their pregnancies and their babies.
So what are you waiting for? Come join us!!
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One Response to “I’m PREGNANT?! What’s Your Excuse?”
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ana mena on October 2nd, 2009
Excellent info Nisha!!!!