Fit Pregnancy

Being active and living an active lifestyle is something I grew up doing. I played all kinds of sports when I was younger (i.e. soccer, baseball, softball, cross country, cheerleading, dance). I danced competitively from the age of six, until I was eighteen. I was an active child to say the least. Graduating from high school also meant graduating from the dance studio I called home since I was two. I would still be teaching my classes there, but as far as staying active I needed to find a new outlet. In walks the gym. My senior year of high school is when I really dove into working out. My father worked out six days a week, and I joined a gym and followed in his footsteps. At first I didn’t really know what I was doing, I kind of stuck to the basics of cardio and working out my booty (most important thing right?) When my father joined the same gym as me, I started really working out. Lifting heavy weights and sticking to a strict workout schedule. He KICKED MY A**. It was like having a personal trainer, but that personal trainer was allowed to yell at you to get up and pull the covers off of you when you were feeling lazy in the morning. I had a love hate relationship with my personal trainer. But I did owe him a lot, because I started seeing more muscle definition in my arms and back which I fell in love with. I loved how I looked, and I loved how I felt after a tough workout was completed.

When I found out I was pregnant, I was nervous all my hard work in the last four years would vanish and I would have to start over once my little peanut was born. I was wrong. I kept up with my workouts as much as possible, but I also didn’t obsess over working out every day. I had my lazy days (ok weeks) where I didn’t stick to the gym. But sometimes you need a break! Here is what I did to keep myself active and motivated during my first few months of pregnancy…

1. Get yourself to the gym

Once you are there you are forced to go inside. There have been so many times I didn’t want to go to the gym, but I drove there anyway and forced myself inside. The workouts aren’t always my best, but I at least did something

2. Meet a friend

You are more likely to go to the gym if you are meeting someone there. I meet my dad on days I can get there at the same time as him. It’s helpful because he is relying on me to be there. If I don’t show up, I know I’m going to hear about it when I get home; so, it’s easier to just get my butt there.

3. Look up pregnancy workouts on Insta (or any social media platform you use)

Being pregnant I can’t do EVERYTHING that I used to in the gym. Modifying my workouts was hard for me, I liked to be challenged and lifting light weights and doing cardio wasn’t cutting it for me. I found some amazing HIIT workouts on Instagram that I loved doing.

4. No Pressure Mindset

I felt so pressured to work out and eat healthy all the time at the beginning of my pregnancy. All over social media you see pregnant women who still have amazing bodies, and women who have just given birth who bounce back so quickly. I was so nervous to gain a ton of weight and never be able to get back to where I was. In reality, some of those women are gifted with a small figure and a fast metabolism.

Not everyone’s baby bump will look the same, and not everyone’s body will look the same way after. As long as you take care of yourself as best you can, who the hell cares if you put on some weight? Don’t stress yourself out over looking like that Instagram model who is 7 months and barely showing. Enjoy your pregnancy stress free!

Do you have to workout during your pregnancy? Hell No. Embrace your changing body however you want to! If you don’t want to then don’t. Will it help you feel more confident? Maybe, it helped me!

The two top pictures are from before pregnancy, and the last two are 17 and 18 weeks!