Expectant Mother Again

M

Marisol

Member
This weekend I found out I'm pregnant again. I have a 2 year old son and hoping for a girl. Anyhow I just started using Cathe's tapes and I could not belive I could sweat so much. They are tough, but I love them because they make me feel like I have really worked out. I'm hoping to keep doing them throughout my pregnancy. I was wondering which tapes you recommend and if you step down their intensity? With my first pregnancy I worked out, but not as much as I should have. With this one I would like to keep in better shape since I gained 20 extra pounds with my first and have tried to lose it. But that will have to wait until this baby is born.

Any comments will be welcomed.

Thanks,
Marisol:)
 
Hi Marisol,

First of all congratulations on your great news! My little boy, Daniel, is now 5 weeks old (I can't believe where the time has gone already!!). Personally, I carried on doing Cathe cardio and strength videos pretty much until a few weeks before I gave birth (the only reason I stopped was due to picking up a chest & throat infection just prior to having him). Anyway, I modified the impact from about 5-6 months onwards, as it just didn't feel right for me to jump around too much at that point. However, with the extra pregnancy weight, even doing the workouts low-impact still gave me a great workout! I used the CTX series alot, particularly towards the end, and also Rhythmic Step and some of Cathe's earlier cardio workouts (Step Fit/Power Max/Step Heat, etc) and just modified to suit me. For strength work, I did Power Hour twice a week for about 8 weeks and then switched to the CTX strength work, then back to Power Hour, etc. Within 2 weeks of giving birth I had not only lost my pregnancy weight, but was actually lighter than before I got pregnant. I have to credit this solely to keeping up my workouts, and not just any workouts, but particularly Cathe workouts (it certainly wasn't because I was eating carefully - I think I ate for England whilst pregnant!!).
Provided you are fit and healthy, listen to your body, drink plenty of water, modify to suit you and rest when you need to, Cathe's workouts are still very "do-able" whilst pregnant.
Hope this helps - and congrats again!!
Kaz
 
I am 11.5 weeks along, and I am actually enjoying some of the new tapes. (Hope Cathe is not reading this! :7 ) I find that I am able to do Cardio and Weights with just a few modifications during tricky moves. I'm also doing Pyramid Upper Body with no problems, yet. I'm still on an 8 inch step, but will probably lower it further on, we'll see. Keep doing the tapes you like. Just lower the impact of any moves that don't feel good or get you out of breath such that you can't speak a short sentence comfortably. I take out most of the power moves, but even this early on your can probably do some "jumping," just don't get your heart rate so high that you are working anaerobically. Welcome to the forum and good luck exercising!

Emily
 
Thanks for replying. You're advice is helpful. Well I hope your pregnancy goes well. I have another question for you. How do you have the endurance to keep exercising. As soon as I found out I began spotting and the doctor told me to take it easy. So I didn't do any exercises for a while. Then I just lost it. I couldn't get back in the groove. I feel so tired now and I know I have to keep working out for me and the baby, but I'm just not motivated.
 
Thanks for your reply. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Emy. How did you keep motivated to get up and keep working out? I find it so hard to do it now that I have gotten out of my routine.

I just feel tired all the time. I really don't want to keep any extra weight on after the baby and I know that if I don't start now by working out then I can probably bet I won't do it later.

Awaiting your response,

Thanks,
Marisol
 
Hi Marisol,
How far along are you now? I know that I certainly struggled to work out for about the first 10-12 weeks as I not only had morning sickness but also picked up gastro-enteritis (stomach flu) which meant I was hardly keeping anything down at all! I think it was about week 14 before I really felt well enough to exercise again and got back into my stride. Like you, I also had periods of spotting and had a "show" at about 5 months, although thankfully all was well in the end! Personally I found that if I did a little cardio one day, then a little strength work then next, then a day off, then cardio, then strength, then rest, etc, I didn't wear myself out. Some days I would have lots of energy and do an hour of cardio, others I would only do 30 mins if I was feeling tired. I found doing cardio alot harder than doing strength, simply because I would get breathless quite quickly, especially towards the end of my pregnancy.
Don't give yourself too hard a time - the first trimester is definitely the hardest as your body is making huge adjustments and you just seem to feel so tired all the time!! Your body is making another life, which in itself is making huge demands on you. Try to approach exercise in "bite size" portions - just tell yourself you will do as much as you can comfortably and safely manage, even if it is only 10 minutes a day at first. As your pregnancy progresses and some of the tiredness starts to recede, you will feel able to do a little more.
I hope this helps a little! Take care!
Kaz x;-)
 
Well, now that I am 16.5 weeks, my exercising situation is a little different than my previous post at 11.5 weeks. I am finding it harder and harder to exercise. When I wake up in the morning I am so tired that I don't want to get out of bed, let alone exercise. My only strategy is to literally force myself to exercise. I have definitely not been enjoying my workouts. So, I guess since I am now struggling also, that is my best advice - make yourself do it at least 3 times per week (unless you are sick or have more spotting, in which case, keep in touch with your doctor!) Think, as I do, of the benefits to your health and your baby's health.

Hang in there!
 
I am 11 weeks going on 12 weeks. Thanks for your help I was beating myself up for not working out. I did get up this morning and did Cathe's Mega Step video for about 30 minutes. I have to admit I felt better today.

I'm also kind of self conscience right now because I'm not quite three months and I am already fitting a little tighter in my pants. I don't think with my first baby that I started to show so soon. I guess all pregnancy are different. Anyhow before this baby I had wanted to lose some weight, so I could be at a healthier weight. I was at 130 pre-pregnancy weight with my first. I gained about 50 pounds with baby #1. I lost twenty of those pounds, which is good, but I would have loved to get back down to 130. I am really wanting to keep in shape with this pregnancy so your advice is very helpful so I won't burn myself out.
 
On the days I exercise, I try to do 45 minutes. If I'm feeling okay I do a full hour. I have still been exercising regularly. But, like I mentioned, it is so difficult to actually just do it. When I get going I am okay, I just have to keep the intensity moderate, and the impact fairly low. I liked willowe's advice to do cardio one day, strength the next, and take a rest. Yesterday I just did upper body strength and that was about all I could handle.

Keep us posted on how you are doing.
 
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