Exercise/Calories while TTC...anyone else?

[plantationcatt]

I'm not a crash dieter or crazy athlete, but am trying to stay healthy in exercise and diet, and while I would love to drop a few pounds and tone up, my husband and I are currently trying to make a baby. How much exercise is too much exercise when trying to get pregnant. Should I be eating enough calories to maintain my weight or just start that once I'm pregnant?

Anyone else?

 

[asscherisme]

Date: 3/29/2010 3:48:41 PM
Author:plantationcatt
I''m not a crash dieter or crazy athlete, but am trying to stay healthy in exercise and diet, and while I would love to drop a few pounds and tone up, my husband and I are currently trying to make a baby. How much exercise is too much exercise when trying to get pregnant. Should I be eating enough calories to maintain my weight or just start that once I''m pregnant?

Anyone else?

I was a runner when I was trying to concieve my kids and kept up running. However, my doctor told me when trying to convieve to treat my body as if I was already pregnant because the early weeks before you know are crucial to developement. So I kept running but just made sure to not let my heartbeat get over 140 to 145 bpm (per doctors advice) it might be differnet advice now since that was 14 years ago.

I also did not drink alcohol, took a prenatal vitamin and ate fairly healthy. Crash dieting is not good, however a healthy diet that is a few hundred calories less than what your body needs to maintain weight won''t hurt a baby as long as you are eating healthy and taking a prenatal vitamin.

Early in pregnancy, the baby does not need extra calories so eating a few hundred less is not a big deal. If you are not on a prenatal vitamin, that is CRUCIAL. Especially for folic acid.

 

[somethingshiny]

When I got pregnant I was working out harder than I''ve ever done. I was losing weight, but I had to increase my cals because I had been eating far too little. My aim was 1200-1600 cals a day, 30 min of cardio daily and 30 min of hard working out a day. I was trying to lose weight and tone up. If you plan on staying active through a pregnancy, now is the best time to implement a new lifestyle that you''re able to stick with throughout a pregnancy. There is a website called babyfit.com that is an off shoot of Sparkpeople that has great advice.

 

[plantationcatt]

Thanks for the responses ladies.

The hardest workout I''m currently doing is TurboKick (kickboxing). It''s a hard workout, but I''m not wanting to pant or throw up and the end. My diet is fairly healthy.

asscherisme: It''s good to know you were able to keep up running as your pregnancy progressed. Gives me hope! I''ve had one glass of wine and one beer in the past few months, and have been taking prenatals with folic acid for about a year. I''m trying to stick to about 1500 calories, which is a few hundred less than I need to maintain my weight. I''ll probably bring it back up to maintanence level once I know I''m pregnant and then add when I''m supposed to. How long were your workouts and how many days?

somethingshiny: Also good to know working out harder didn''t interfere with your conception. Though I do exercise, it''s not as intense or often as I''d like, so I''m trying to up both slowly. Babyfit and sparkpeople are both great sites...but you know PS always has the best real-life advice!!! Though you have reminded me to start tracking again with them. What were you doing to tone once you got pregnant?

 

[somethingshiny]

I was getting my butt kicked by Jillian! I was doing the shred and bootcamp. I altered some of the workout poses when I needed to. The hardest part was actually being able to complete the workout before the MS hit! I also was doing workouts on my ball. I quit doing the hard workouts and just went with the ball at a certain point. I was able to do lots of arm and leg work and situps on the ball. Now I''ve been told to take it easy so I''m not doing anything.

As soon as I get the okay again I''ll be back on my ball!