Health and Fitness during this Pregnancy!

If you've been following my health and fitness journey the last two and a half years then you will know that I have completely changed my lifestyle as well as my families. We are eating at home more, experimenting with new foods and recipes, watching our portions, cut back on sweets, and most importantly added exercise into our daily lives!!! This is a huge step for not only me, but my husband too. We went from being active during college to working full-time and letting our health go down the drain.

After we welcomed L to our world, I knew that I wanted to be healthier for her. I wanted her to see that being active and eating a balanced diet is the right way to live. I wanted to show her how to care for her body and never feel like I did for years. Growing up I didn't really have any positive body roles models and I didn't want that for L. I wanted her to feel confident that nobody her body size, as long as she was healthy and active then she was just the way God intended her to be. I didn't want her to do through not nourishing her body and treating it like badly to only realize as she gets older that she needs to treat her body as a temple. 

So long story short, I started reading and researching as much as I could about a healthier lifestyle shortly into the first half of 2013. I started small, by changing my diet alone. We ate more at home and cut out sweets. I still indulged, just not as much as before or J. Doing that alone for three months I dropped around 20 lbs. I was floored, like shocked that just changing my food intake and watching my calories could have me drop that much weight. I was hooked from that moment on this healthy lifestyle! Starting in the spring of that year I added exercise. I started with just walking since I became a stay-at-home mom and didn't have any mom friends at that point. A few months later, I met a wonderful group of ladies who introduced me to a class called Stroller Strength and the weight just started falling off. A year later I was adding running into my exercise arsenal, which I never thought in a million years would happen. 

11/2013 I was roughly 163 - 7/2014 at 153

Since I started this crazy journey, I am down 65 lbs!!!! I never, ever thought that could happen, but I feel and not only look ten times better than before. I was a little bummed we got pregnant with number two when we did because I just hit my goal weight and was afraid I would be huge like the first time around. After a few days of thinking, I decided I was going to continue what I was doing beforehand and make sure I was focused on working out during this pregnancy. I spent some time researching and reading various things and found some ideas that have worked for me!

9/2014 at 153

****I want to make it clear that I am not a professional. I am just a regular mama, who has found things that worked for her and wants to share with everyone. Most of my information comes from the wonderful people on the No Excuse Mom groups that I am in. I have learned a lot from many women on their, but specifically one of their trainers Vanessa Campos.

Diet

My diet hasn't changed at all. I still count my calories and eat a balanced diet. Earlier this year I hit a plateau where no matter, what I did I just wasn't losing anymore weight. I thought it might be from my workouts not changing, but I also read that I could need to change my macros, which I had never heard of before, After being linked to some pages and doing some research on my own, I thought why not give this a try and see what happens. 

I used the IIFYM calculator to figure out my macros and then plugged those numbers into MyFitnessPal. If you want to know more about macros and how it works the IIFYM page is a great resource and I also found this page to be helpful in just explaining the basics. Just an FYI, I don't do the alcohol part like he writes about. I am not a big drinker so I have no interest in it. I was stuck at 151 for months and finally after adjusting me macros the weight just started coming off again. I am now a big believer in that especially after you've been losing weight for awhile. It worked me, so I hope it works for you!

After I got pregnant I was trying to find information on calorie intake and couldn't find anything conclusive. One thing I read said to add 300 extra calories a day in your first trimester, then 300 more by your third. Another article I read said don't change anything until your second trimester and finally another said don't change anything until your third. I was beyond confused and wasn't sure what to do so I just left my calories the same. I ended up talking with my OB recently and he had me talk with the dietitian he staffs. She was great and super helpful! She told me to keep doing what I was doing and starting in the third trimester add 300 more calories. That gave me some peace of mind, that I was doing the right thing for the baby and myself. 

I don't always hit my calorie goal, some days I go over, some days I don't eat them all, and some days I am right on track. If I am hungrier one day then the other, I will eat. I refuse to starve myself because of some numbers. It's just one day and I can start over the next day. My biggest struggle is that I feel I eat way too many carbs and not enough protein, so I am always looking for ways to improve that. I plan on keeping up with my diet and counting calories, while pregnant because it keeps me on track.

Exercise

The part everyone dreads, exercise! I am like most everyone else, I don't always love to workout, but I do it because I feel a million times better afterwards! I'm less stressed and much happy after a good workout. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to do normal workouts that I like while pregnant, but my OB gave me the okay to go ahead with what I was doing. So I am going to break it down for you all in a list on what has worked for me.

1. Tracking my steps!!

I know, I know another person who is talking about tracking their steps and a FitBit. Really though this has been an eye opener to me. Everything I've read recommends 10,000 steps a day for a healthy heart. Honestly, I don't get close to that most days, I aim for at least 5,000 and hope to get more, but with a very active toddler who doesn't want to sit in a stroller it's really hard to walk that much and my house is only so big.

J surprised me with a FitBit Charge HR in January. After his dad got one for Christmas I was really interested in it, but didn't really want to send the money. We started looking at heart rate monitors because that's the part I really wanted was to be able to track accurate calories during my workouts. I found that a normal heart rate monitor is still pretty expensive and a lot of people find it a hassle to put on. Well my husband is AMAZING for surprising me with it and now I am hooked! J even was hooked by it and bought himself one. I love that it's simple to use, isn't huge on my wrist, and is even easier to use when I want to track my workouts. I love being able to connect with friends and do weekly or daily challenges, which helps me stay motivate to get to my step goal! The sleep trackers is an additional bonus, which just proves that as a mom to a toddler I don't sleep at all ;) 

If anyone is looking for a tracker, spend the money and get the Fitbit Charge HR! My friends at Amazon have some great deals on them! 

2. Jogging Stroller

If you would have told me I would love my jogger stroller, I would have laughed at you, but I do. It makes running and even walking with Lexi so much smoother and easier. There are some many on the market you really can't go wrong with one, but I highly suggested testing them out if you can beforehand. I am in the processing of trying to test out double strollers, which is a pain because nowhere seems to stock them. I found that as much as I liked the looked of the Baby Trend, when I tried it I hated how hard it was to steer. So do yourself a favor and invest in a good stroller that you can be active in with your kids especially while pregnant! It will make life ten times easier. 

I have a Jeep Liberty jogging stroller, I bought from a friend and I LOVE it! This is the new version of mine. 

3. Local classes/Park Districts/Fitness Groups!

All of these are lifesavers to me. During the nicer months in Ohio they keep me motivated and healthy! First, look into your park districts for fitness classes. Down here we have so many options that it can be a bit overwhelming. I love my Stroller Strength class, but I know a lot of people have trouble because of working do the class during the weekday. I found a new class offered around me called Stroller in Motions, it actually cost money unlike Stroller Strength, but they offer evening and weekend options for those that need it. 

The park districts and metroparks also offer tons of other options for fitness classes: yoga, hiking, walking clubs, etc. Take the time and look at what your area offers, if you don't know where to look get on those local Facebook pages or fitness groups and ask!! Speaking of fitness groups, you may be thinking what is she talking about? I am simply talking about any local fitness groups near you. You can use meetup.com to find them as well as Facebook nowadays. 

Some ideas where to start looking, my personal favorite Moms RUN This Town! Find your local chapter or start one if there isn't one in your area! These ladies keep me motivated like no other! I don't know if I will ever have the passion, some of them do for running, but they inspire me to try and better myself every day. It's also great fun to do group runs, races, and other events with them!

Another new group I found out about is called Another Mother Runner. It's from the women who wrote Run Like a Mother. They have training plans, workouts, and just inspiring information to give to those that need it.

I honestly can say that being a part of Moms RUN This Town has been a life changer for me. I feel more confident in my journey to better myself and it has encourage me to keep running even though I don't love it all the time. Seeing what other women can do is AMAZING and totally inspiring! Take the time and find some groups in your area or at least people in your area that will keep you motivated. It's the only way your long-term success will work!!

4. YouTube!

We all know that YouTube is great already, but do you know they offer FREE fitness videos? This is great for people like me who are on a tight budget and can't afford to buy a gym membership. There are many different options, but my favorites are the BeFiT, Tracy Campoli, and JessicaSmithTV. These channels have great FREE workouts that vary depending on what you are looking for. Not only do you have access to a variety of workouts, but you don't even have to leave the house, which is something I like.

BeFiT is a channel that has a wide variety of workout videos from different trainers. You can find Jillian Michaels, Denise Austin, Jane Fonda, Billy Blanks, and more! They also have their own trainers that upload workouts. This is great if you are looking for a specific workout video or trainer.

Tracy Campoli is someone I found through my Roku. She has a channel on there and one day it wasn't loading correctly so I went to see if she had anything on YouTube. She has a variety of workouts too, but I like her HIIT workouts more than anything. They are quick, but target a lot of your muscles. As a mom I don't have time to spend hours working out so a quick, 20 minute workout that really makes me sweat is great! I also follow her on Instagram because she post tips and some fun lifestyle things.

JessicaSmithTV is my new obsession. She makes some really great, but fun workouts and I love her personality. Right now I do her three part prenatal cardio, strength, and stretch videos. Again they are quick, but work a lot of different parts of your body! During the winter I was doing some of her indoor running videos since I hate running when it's super cold out. They varied from 30 to 40 minutes, but were still awesome!


So that's it! Those are the things that have helped me the most with losing weight. No crazy, fade diets or products. Just good, old fashion hard work and being active. It's hard work, but I am glad that I've done it this way. I don't cut really anything out, but strongly believe that everything is okay in moderation. I have found that for me, I need to track food so I can keep myself on track. I also try to sneak in activity whenever and however I can. For a long time just chasing after Lexi and walking were the only things I did.

In March of 2015 I hit my first goal to weigh 150. A few weeks later I found out that I was expecting baby number two and I was very stressed about gaining as much weight as I did the first time around. I didn't want to feel unhealthy and run down like I did with L. I decided after speaking with my OB and the dietitian he keeps on staff that I would keep doing what I was doing and only add calories when I needed too. I am currently almost 16 weeks and I just recently added an additional 300 calories to my day. I still track my food and eat how I was before. Plus I am exercising and moving more. If you would have told me I would have enjoyed running and kept it up while pregnant I would have laughed, At this point I've gained two pounds, which I am really happy about. I am hoping this time around to stay at a 20 pound or less weight gain, but we will see how this baby feels about that :)

I know it seems hard, but it's totally doable. It just takes work and time. I hope that my tips, which are just from trial and error can help others. Please feel free to ask any questions or get in touch with me for more details.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend! Get out there, be active, and take the whole family with you!