Who, Me, Fitness?!?

So I actually wrote this a few weeks ago but I’ve hesitated to put it up, for reasons that will immediately become obvious.  I am not a fitness blogger nor do I have any desire to EVER be one, but I *DO* really enjoy reading about REAL people and their REAL struggles/successes to manage their health.  Anyone who has known me for a decent chunk of time knows that sometimes my weight is up, sometimes it is down, but it is ALWAYS something I’m working on.  So I share this for two reasons…the first is to remind MYSELF how much I accomplished in the unlikeliest of times, and the second is to show anyone who’s interested something that worked for me that MIGHT work for them.

Here I am:  41 years old and 39.5 weeks pregnant. 

I can’t believe I am posting a picture of this on the internet, but I also can’t believe that I am so HAPPY with my body at this age/stage of life, and I feel like it’s worth documenting.  I mean, aren’t women supposed to feel crappy at the end of pregnancy?  The truth is, I would take THIS geriatric pregnant body and all its strength and energy and general badassery over my high-school three-sport-athlete body or my 25-year-old gym-addicted, carb-phobic one.  THAT acceptance in itself is an accomplishment worth shouting about.

Part of it is timing, right?  I knew going into pregnancy, at my age, after multiple miscarriages, and this time, in the middle of a pandemic, that I had to be as healthy as possible to give me and the babe a fighting chance should any challenges come our way.  So I trained for pregnancy and giving birth as if it were an athletic event.  Also, for me, anyway:  pandemic living lends itself well to structure, and this was helpful as opposed to traveling a lot and running around from event to event like a crazy person.  Right now, there is literally NOTHING going on that could get in the way of my routine.

Here’s what I did:

• Strength:  Workouts every weekday, first thing in the morning, courtesy of the amazing prenatal program in the Tone It Up app.  I think I only skipped maybe 5 weekdays all pregnancy.  The workouts were short and challenging (if they were longer than 20 minutes I just split them in half over two days because I refused to exercise longer than that).  I absolutely LOVE everything Katrina Scott does.  She is so incredibly positive and uplifting and encouraging and EXACTLY what I need to start my day each and every day.      
• Cardio:  2,457,462 steps over nine months, per my FitBit.  It averages out to just shy of 9k steps a day, which is not bad considering, ahem, WINTER IN MICHIGAN.  My goal was 10k steps as many days as I could.    
• Flexibility:  Prenatal yoga, as included in the @toneitup prenatal program, and then in the third trimester I added another practice I bought from www.spinningbabies.com because I was terrified my baby would be breech (read about that HERE).  This was at the suggestion of my nurse case manager and it was VERY gentle and a great addition at the end when my body was getting a little more tender.

I always have energy in the morning, so that’s why I did my strength training or yoga then…before I had a chance to get tired or not feel like it.  As for the steps…I usually snuck out for a neighborhood walk around 2:30 to get those in, to wake myself up a little after working in my home office all day.  It was a good time to return phone calls, too…so THANK YOU to everybody who put up with my huffing and puffing as the months went on.  It did NOT sound pretty, but I rarely skipped unless the weather was AWFUL, because I knew if I stopped moving it would be too hard to get started again.

This little program served me well!  As of 39.5 weeks, I gained exactly 25 pounds…right in range with what my OB recommended.  I’m pretty sure I put on some legit muscle as well…I mean, LOOK!  You can see my TRICEP.  I didn’t even know I HAD a tricep. ? 

Obviously, half of the weight game is nutrition, and that is a story for another post…but I *do* feel like the workouts were responsible for me feeling strong, energetic, and up for anything, even at full term.   I am looking forward to starting the Tone It Up postnatal program in early June, once I get cleared to work out.  I’ll share that journey too, if anyone is interested.  I LOVE to hear any stories about others’ fitness journeys…whether pregnancy or postnatal related, or just EVERY DAMN DAY related.  This is a battle I will fight for the rest of my life, and I feel like we are all in this together. 

Would love to hear YOUR comments and experiences. Any workouts working right now for YOU that I should try?

XOXO

Thanks for being a safe place for me to be a little vulnerable here!