exercising and trying to get pregnant

[pitchie]

Hello Cathe'
I have to tell you that you are the biggest fitness inspiration in my life right now. I worship your workouts and being a fitness instructor myself, I sometimes use tips from your dvd's in my classes. But I do have an intriguing question for you. I know you have 2 kids and I am sure you exercise non-stop. Did you reduce your exercise routine before you got pregnant? I guess what I really want to know is if you got pregnant while you were working out, did exercising everyday affect your chances in anyway?
I am trying to get pregnant right now but I am wondering if I am exercising too much. I do 7 classes for the week of body shaping, cardio kickboxing, step and bootcamp.
thanks
pitchie

 

[jeanmarie]

Hi Pitchie!

I'm not Cathe, so I hope you don't mind if I tell you my experiences...

My husband and I have three children (6,3, and 10 weeks - I just turned 36 in July). I have always exercised at an advanced intensity (tough aerobics 4 to 5 times/wk; weight work 3 to 4 times/wk...)

In my experience, I always had to cut-back on the intensity/quantity of exercise to get pregnant. Could have just been my imagination, but after many months, I would finally say to myself "OK, cut back; maybe you'll finally get pregnant", and it would happen, every time!!

By the way, long ago, both my husband and I had been thru extensive fertility testing (because we weren't getting pregnant); they could never find anything 'wrong' with us.

I've talked to other people who work out alot, and they have told me that they didn't have any problems conceiving, so who knows!!

I guess my advice would be if you have tried for quite some time, with no luck, it can't hurt to 'ease-off' the exercise throttle. I know its hard to do (I always had a tough time 'giving up' the tough exercising, even if it was just for a little while !)

Maybe even try doing that for just the last half of your 'cycle' - from a few days before you are expecting to ovulate until the start of your period (hopefully you WON'T have one!)

I wish you the best of luck and prayers for a little one!!

 

[joannabeske]

HI,

Just wanted to add that I used to be a 6-7 day a week advanced exerciser. I was trying to get pregnant for about a year and my DH and I were just getting prepared to have fertility workups and I sprained my ankle. I couldn't exercise and I gained 10 pounds and got pregnant! I think it may affect your ability to get pregnant if you exercise a lot and have low body fat.