The pregnancy period is a crucial time for you and your baby to be. It is the time when a woman's body is changing completely. There is no more important time than now to eat healthily when our bodies create a little human inside.
When I got pregnant, I was 6 weeks out from a bikini show. Getting pregnant in such a challenging time showed how healthy my body was. Despite how far into my preparation for my bikini competition I was, my body began to prepare for all the changes in the months ahead.
1. Do not let yourself go.
Pregnancy is about being as healthy as we possibly can to help our baby develop inside our womb. This is not the time to binge eat, or stop doing everything you have been doing, only because you are pregnant. Be aware that no matter whether you are pregnant, or you are planning to be, your body needs quality nutrition and the right amount of it, for you and the bump. Your midwife or GP will be best to advise on this, however there are things I have not been told – and if I knew what I know now, there are supplements I would start from the very early stage. I will discuss these at the end.
2. The more you decide to slow down, the more your body will follow.
Pregnancy is about listening to your body, although I noticed the more I was trying to slow down, my body was following it and in weeks when I pushed a little harder – I noticed having more energy. The rule does not apply to every week of the pregnancy. In some days you will feel run down and exhausted. These signs are alarming and do not hesitate to contact your GP or midwife for advice. In my case my iron levels were very low, and I needed to rest for a few weeks until medication raised its levels. If you have no deficiencies, and your body is in a good place, do not spend all your days on the sofa, as your body will be happy to go with your flow. You are the boss. If you want to spend your pregnancy being active i.e., going on walks, doing yoga or any other activity, nothing is there to stop you. Pregnancy is not an illness, and with no issues along the way you can stay active so no excuses.
3. Activity is your best friend.
Talking about training. Your body is preparing for giving birth and you have 9 months to get ready for the big day. If your health practitioner is happy for you to be active, take this advice and set yourself a goal for each trimester to help you stay strong for a big day. It is not recommended to try anything new that your body does not know, therefore for those that were not active or training prior to pregnancy a good alternative is to set a goal for a certain number of steps daily. For those that trained in the past depending on what training that was, you should continue. Although you may search for other options to not overwork your body. For example: If you were training at the gym and were weight lifting then pregnancy is not the time for muscle improvements. Stop lifting heavy and focus on endurance (12-20 repetitions) and with lowering weights down and then depending how your body feels continue or change training to fit how you are feeling and what trimester you are in. I noticed I needed to stop any compound movements with heavy weights and switch it to timed circuit training with light weights, I was burning the same calories, but it allowed me to not overwork the muscles and from 2nd trimester right up to now I train 45 mins in a circuit training doing one exercise for 45 seconds and switching to the next. I set 3 stations with 4 exercises and after every round I take a rest. The most important part of training is that we should not allow our heart beat to go high up, and any abdominal exercises need to be avoided.4. Calories and nutrition
During pregnancy, you do not eat for two. Should the calories and macronutrients be in any way tracked? There are a lot of different views on this. Mine is to eat healthily and if you ever heard of 80% / 20% rule, this one applies ideally to this time. Regarding macronutrients these do not need to change a lot. I chose intuitive eating as of 3rd trimester so I eat when I am hungry, I stop when I am full. 80% of foods are not processed and healthy. I allow myself 20% for any cravings I might have.
5. Supplementation:
Taking supplements to support my goals is something I have been doing for a few years now. However, I looked at it as an extra support, rather than something I must take. Throughout pregnancy learned to appreciate the real power of supplementation, as your body is exposed to deficiencies to a much greater extent. Within my pregnancy I experienced very low iron levels, which caused exhaustion and lack of energy for weeks. Supplementation during this time is not only to please you and make you feel better, but to make sure that your baby is being delivered all that it needs to grow. Food in most cases will not be enough. During my journey I cannot thank enough for all vitamins and supplements I was supplied with by Power Body. Below is the list of my essentials that are fundamental during this time. I will continue to take these right up to the labour day.
Vitamic C – Powdered to support my immune system.
Vitamin D3 – To support health of bones, muscles, and teeth.
Vitamin K – Helping with absorption of vitamin D
Folic Acid – Recommended to pregnant and planning. Support foetus growth.
Prental DHA – Supporting development of baby’s brain and eyes.
Momma Probiotics – designed for pregnant women to support digestion.
I hope the above article was useful to you, and if I can help you out finding your feet with these good news, you can find me on my Instagram: gosiapastor_fitness .
