10 Reasons To Stay Active During Pregnancy
I love it when Mommy-To-Be’s are into health and fitness. Working out and healthy eating has a huge effect on pregnancy. It can help you actually enjoy pregnancy and feel good and confident and also help you reduce postpartum depression.
So I am happy to find other strong, intelligent and passionate women who love to inspire other women to stay healthy and fit during such an important time as pregnancy. So let me introduce to you Sia Cooper, she is a fitness and health enthusiast who is pregnant herself and about to have her little bundle of joy. She looks amazing at 40 weeks of pregnancy. She stayed healthy and fit and invested the time and resources into exercising. And boy is she seeing the fruit of it.
She is guest posting here on MMF so check out her top 10 reasons to stay active during pregnancy. She is very inspiring so make sure to check her out on Facebook and follow her: Cia Cooper on Facebook
Top 10 Reasons to Stay Active During Pregnancy!
Author: Sia Cooper; Diary of a Fit Mommy blog
Pregnancy is the most exciting time in a woman’s life, but can also be the most exhausting time as well. There are so many changes that happen within those little 9 months and the last thing that you may want to think about is exercise!
However, exercise during pregnancy has many benefits that most mothers-to-be are not aware of. Here are my top 10 reasons to get moving!
1. Increased energy: You may believe that going to the gym would leave you just the opposite; however, that cardio session may just give you the boost that you need to do your daily errands and make it through the day.
2. Improves Mood: Exercising has been shown to increase your endorphins level to boost your mood! During pregnancy, we can feel a bit down or crabby thanks to hormones an fatigue, and this is the way to combat those feelings!
3. Bounce Back Faster: Staying regularly active during your entire pregnancy will not only leave you with a positive self-image, but it will aid in your returning to your pre-baby body. You will actually bounce back faster and have an easier time working out postpartum.
4. Sleep Soundly: Most women have problems falling asleep or sleeping through the night during pregnancy due to the large amounts of Progesterone and general pregnancy discomforts. Exercise reduces stress and tension within the body, allowing you to feel calmer.
5. Reduces Discomforts: Pregnancy is a time where body parts will hurt that may have never hurt before; particularly back, hips, and lower abdomen! Stretching and regular exercise will help to loosen those tense or tight muscles and break up any lactic acid build-ups. Yoga is the best exercise for this!
6. Speeds up labor: Yes! Exercise even helps with the biggest moment of your pregnancy. Certain exercises such as squats and Kegels can help stretch and strengthen the pelvic floor, allowing you to build a firmer push for your big day.
7. Reduced Risk for a C-Section: Regular exercise has shown to decrease the need for medical interventions such as a C-Section by decreasing the chance of delivering a baby with a high birth weight. It also reduces the risk by strengthening the body to do what it was made to do-give birth successfully!
8. Speedier Postpartum Recovery: When you keep your muscles moving, they are less likely to lose their memory. The better shape your body is in prior to delivery, the faster it will work to recover itself. It will also help you get back to the gym and your workouts faster during your postpartum phase.
9. Prevents Excess Weight Gain During Pregnancy: It is no secret that keeping fit during pregnancy will keep those excess pounds off! Often, women tend to accidentally consume more calories than needed to sustain their baby and end up with more than the 25lbs-35lbs that the doctor recommends. By staying active, you can tame those cravings and torch those extra calories.
10. Lowers risk for Gestational Diabetes: Exercise keeps your glucose levels at a steady level by allowing your body to use glucose without extra insulin, preventing gestational diabetes. It is recommended to get at least 30 minutes of activity daily; even if it is a brisk walk in the park!
Make sure to follow My Pinterest Boards for some more great resources to help you have a fit and healthy pregnancy, and SAFE! And if you need more detailed help with your pregnancy fitness, check out Fit-Mom-To-Be.
I also want to encourage you to make healthy choices when eating.
I know you are probably a little frustrated like most pregnant women, because your OB hasn’t educated you much on Pregnancy Nutrition.
It’s actually quite frustrating for me…….
Aside from giving you a list of foods you should NOT eat, and weighing you in every week, that is pretty much it. And it’s insane because what you eat doesn’t just affect YOU! It affects the baby as well.
Its very easy to say “you have to slow down with your weight gain”, but not give you any tools or resources to help you.
But you have to control what you eat and not use this pregnancy as an excuse to “Eat For 2”. I mean you don’t by any means have to diet. I certainly didn’t and I did allow myself some splurges. I would eat a bagel a week which I normally don’t when I’m not pregnant, I usually stick to oatmeal which I love. But you just have to make GOOD CHOICES. You should want to anyways because everything you are eating now is affecting your little baby. So make good choices girlfriend.
So here is what I’m going to do for you. I’m going to give you a NUTRITION GUIDE with exactly what to eat, all the RECIPES, good SNACK OPTIONS, etc. So that you can get an idea of how you should be eating during your pregnancy so that you can be healthy, be creating the best possible environment for your baby, and so that you don’t gain EXCESS WEIGHT so that you are not super uncomfortable all during pregnancy and feeling huge and self conscious. And so that you can lose all your baby weight fast postpartum.
I made this 2-Week Nutrition Guide to give away for FREE to all my pregos because I work with so many in my Fit Mom-To-Be Workout Program that always have so many NUTRITION questions. So, I figured I would make this in an easy to read, print and follow way to help you take the guesses out of how to eat optimally during your pregnancy.
If you follow it and you EXERCISE, you will not just have a great pregnancy but you will feel CONFIDENT, RADIENT, GLOWING. You won’t be uncomfortable and have aches and pains because you’ve gained so much weight. You will have an easier labor and delivery. You will sleep better, have more energy. And you will seriously decrease your chances of falling into POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION.
I did My Fit Mom-To-Be Workouts from the moment I found out I was pregnant until the day before I went into labor and I felt amazing, only gained 20lbs and lost 22lbs within 3 weeks of having my baby.
Exercising during pregnancyalso helps you speed and ease delivery. Isn’t that the best news you’ve gotten all day? My labor was less than 4 hours and I pushed for about 10 minutes. Thank goodness for those workouts. Check out what this woman said about my Pregnancy Fit-Mom Workouts.
I can’t wait for you to get this Nutrition Guide, the recipes are amazing, and there are so many different options for snacks. You are going to love it. Download it here (It’s totally FREE): PREGNANCY NUTRITION GUIDE.
Before I give you this awesome pregnancy workout, I want to make sure you are following the proper pregnancy nutrition, so check out thesetips on pregnancy nutrition and why you should eat.
There are so many benefits to exercise and healthy eating during pregnancy. Did you know that everything you do during pregnancy affects your baby?
As of this post I am 13 weeks pregnant and doing them all over again, check out one of my workouts from last week. And check out what the NEWS has to say about the benefits of exercise during pregnancy: News Pregnancy Fitness
I love helping pregos feel energized and good about themselves. Thats why I also have a Pinterest Board full of sample Pregnancy Workouts and Nutrition Tips, make sure to Follow them so you can get all the info.
By the way, if you haven’t received a list of what you should absolutely not eat during pregnancy, here is a short and cute little CHECKLIST that you can download and print so you can have with you always as a reminder.
Still don’t believe me…… Check out what the NEWS has to say about PREGNANCY FITNESS & NUTRITION.
You will feel amazing when you workout. You will feel more confident. You will have more energy. Your baby will be healthier and smarter (research says), You will lose the weight faster. What is there to lose?
Nothing! So get to it girlfriend!
Good luck and remember, if you need help, I can coach your through your pregnancy with my Fit Mom-To-Be Workouts. You will love them!
Ok, now try this sample Pregnancy Workout, just do it. You will feel better after and your baby will thank you later.
If you start my pregnancy workout program, I will see you inside the program.
I have lots of tips for you and I can’t wait for you to see all the videos of the exercises.
Send me YOUR BUMP PICTURES, would be great to compare with after you have your baby….
So you can see how fabulous you will look.
I would also love to feature you and your beautiful bump.
Send them to michelle@michellemariefit.com
Click here to start the Fit Mom-To-Be Workout Program.
If you are struggling with what to eat and different options that are SAFE for the baby and won’t make you GAIN WEIGHT, you will totally enjoy and get great use of the MMF Pregnancy Diet Plan.
- Full Meal Plan for entire pregnancy.
- Easy Recipes.
- Kid-Friendly Recipes.
- Helps reduce cravings.
- Yummy and comforting meals.