Do you love your body?

don’t mean you look in the mirror and love everything you see.  Do you actually love your body?  Because sometimes I really don’t.  I’m frustrated it won’t do what I want.  It loses weight where I don’t want to lose (i.e. chest), gains where I don’t want to gain (i.e. thighs).  Things I think should work to lose weight don’t.  It just won’t simply bend to my will.  I can’t outsmart it. 

In some ways, it’s still a mystery to me.  I wonder why the hell I’m not pregnant, for one.  (This particular section of the rant should be hidden behind a jump but I don’t know how to do that.)  My ex best frenemy is now 1 month pregnant and I’m feeling pretty angry. At my body. Jealous. And petty. It’s like WTF body?!  I feed you good things, I move you around (to dance rhythyms no less), and I give you 8 hours of sleep most nights. Am I not treating you right?  I wonder why I hover around this plateau even though I’m trying to change things up. 

But maybe I have this all wrong.  Maybe those yogis and health hippies have something right.  Maybe, just maybe, I should be nurturing my body (all natural vegan foods?), loving it unconditionally, doing only soothing exercises (yoga), avoiding anything too strenuous (nature hikes instead of running).

I’m feeling a little off balance, a little lost and a whole lot of frustration.

Summer Sander’s Prenatal Workout

didn’t know exactly what to expect from a Prenatal Workout DVD.  You know what I did figure?  That it wouldn’t be very challenging.  But yesterday, feeling a burst of energy, needing a break from my Chinese New Year cleaning and experiencing a renewed sense of Fitblr purpose, I popped in the DVD.

The menu is split into 3 different opening options, naturally, for each trimester.  Then each trimester has an introduction and the option for an extended workout (54 minutes) or an express workout (20 minutes?).  I’ve only done the extended workout so I’m not entirely sure.

Summer Sander’s is about 7 months pregnant as she’s being trained in the video by her sister-in-law and personal trainer Keri. It is seriously amazing to see how physically fit she is while working out with this ginormous belly!  And encouraging.  If she can do it with a beach ball in her way, I sure as heck can do it.

The workout is easy using plies, lunges, squats, resistance bands and basic ab exercises to tone up the muscles.  The pace is somewhat slow but that’s ok because I’m not trying to knock myself out.  In fact, I feel like this is a pretty typical training session that most non-pregnant people would do, just not as quickly to prevent overheating.

I can imagine getting pretty sick of this workout DVD, as I do with anything I watch over and over again for more than a couple of weeks.  Also, the extended workout basically takes the viewer through a series of workout moves and then repeats, which is also a little mundane.

I wasn’t at all sore the next day but I did feel great after I finished it.  I logged it as calisthenics in MyFitnessPal and it came out to about 220 calories burned in 54 minutes.

I imagine I’ll need about 5 different workout types to cycle through, including walking, prenatal yoga, some gym time and another workout DVD. 

Low Energy Levels + Little Exercise = Sad Leah

In the past few days I’ve been trying to get in more movement.  For instance, I tried to get in a 30 minute walk around the local Town Center before going out on Friday.  Yesterday I took my mom’s dog for a walk while waiting for my brother to get ready to leave with me. 

It’s the little things that add up you know?

But I can’t help but feel weak and discouraged.  I used to be able to bust out 2-4 miles before J even woke up in the morning.  Or 20 minutes of the 30DS. And afterward I would feel great, pumped to move onto the thing on my checklist. That was less than a month ago!

During my leisurely walk, after about 10 minutes I just felt so *tired* inside. Zapped, like I was a drained battery. I kept going though for another 30 minutes. When walking Kona, my mom’s dog, I made it down maybe 2 blocks before my brother was ready and then I was hit with a wave of sleepiness.

The worst part is that I feel guilty. I know I should be getting in more physical activity.  There are amazing women out there who are maintaining their same workout routines throughout their 1st trimester.  And I’m complaining about walks!

And I know that the general advice is to do what feels good and natural to me.  To take it easy.  But where’s the middle ground?  How do I know when I’m taking it too easy and should push through?  Or how do I know when I’m pushing too hard?

I mean, I know that as long as I’m in my heart rate and temperature zone I’m ok but is it bad if I keep going after I’m tired?

How did you mommies stay active?

(I have an OB appointment on Thursday and I’ll ask then but I thought I’d ask all the experienced fit mommies.)

Infuriating Conversation With My Personal Trainer Friend

I’ve been looking for prenatal bootcamps.   A lot of the prenatal fitness classes I’ve found recommend starting in the 2nd trimester.  I’m fairly certain this is because the risk of miscarriage is highest in the 1st trimester and no one wants to get sued in case the miscarriage happens to fall right after the fitness class.

It’s a litgious society.  I get it.

Part of the reason I’m looking for prenatal classes instead of just going it alone is because I really want to meet other first time mommies.  None of my close friends are pregnant or even close to being pregnant.  Actually, none of the people I hang out with regularly are even married or thinking about having kids.  

Anyway, I texted my old personal trainer, who I’ve mentioned before is actually a good friend now, and asked about prenatal classes.  I broke the news and asked him not to tell anyone (he’s dating this heinous girl who is spiteful and vain and she’s never happy for anyone). He congratulated us and then told me that I should keep working out. That pregnancy is no excuse to not workout.

He then told me that his friend did spin class daily every day until the week before her delivery.

I told him I was sticking to prenatal workouts that keep me within the recommended heart rate range and body temperature (both very important).

He then said that pregnant women can do *everything* just with lower impact.  It’s proven.

I don’t mind encouragement.  In fact, I welcome it. And lately I’ve been getting some low level resistance moves in, short spurts of walking throughout my day, etc. I’m doing what I can with the energy level I have.

But I really resent the attitude and the bad advice.

It’s basic knowledge that before a physical health professional goes around spouting fitness advice to a pregnant woman that they get the fitness routine approved by a doctor. And every doctor out there will tell a human incubator that they need to take it easier in the first trimester.  No more than moderate levels of exercise and make rest and nutrition a priority.

An no, women cannot do *everything* while pregnant. In the 2nd and 3rd trimester, women are discouraged from doing exercises on our backs because it can affect blood flow to the heart. Contact sports are an obvious no-no. There’s a laundry list of other activities to avoid including full sit-ups, certain kinds of stretching, etc.

Anyway, what ticked me off even more is that idea that I would purposely be using pregnancy as an excuse not to workout. Wth. He has absolutely no idea how crazy tired I am most of the time.  Lately, I’ve been falling asleep any moment that I get a second to sit down and rest. I’m not going to knock myself out trying to get in a workout when my body is so exhausted that I get sleepy while driving.

I resent even the slightest indication that I’m being judged for it. Plus, obviously I’m planning on working out, I asked for prenatal bootcamp classes!  Wtf.

Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones but that’s my rant for today.