Frustrated, 14 wks and hips bigger already - Shelia HELP

[JulieL]

Cathe, first off I realize you are busy as can be and probably don't have time to answer this but in light of that I'll ask anyway.

I have been keeping up my workouts pretty good since week 8 but of course already have had to go down in weight and moderate some moves. I've only gained 3 or 4 lbs and I just measured my hips and to my dismay they have grown 1/2 inch. I have to kind of body type where my lower body has to be worked very hard to maintain toned. As this is my second pregnancy I am very stressed by this increase when I worked so hard to get my body toned back down. I know you suggested Fit To Deliver, but they are releasing a new addition in June and I am waiting for it to be released in the States. So I have no applicable help in this. Are the endurance based workouts able to keep the body toned close to prepregnancy size, or is it just all you can do pregnant and you gain overall anyway, just hopefully less than you would if you didn't exercise. Maybe Shelia can answer this for you. I am just so depressed this morning, it's so hard to get big when it was so hard to get small. Sigh, thanks for your time.


Girls, I am so frustated right now I just want to cry. It doesn't help matters that DH is getting smaller and constantly is telling me how tight his abs are getting. I want to be happy for him but in reality I would like him to gain 30lbs with me and havel to work it off x( . Arn't I an aweful wife.

 

[FiddleFit]

Oh Julie, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with the physical adjustments of pregnancy. I hear you completely on the dread of regaining weight after you're spent so much time and energy working it off. After DD#1 I gained a lot of extra weight, due to lack of exercise and really, really poor eating. When she was 2 I took control over my health and managed to lose 72 pounds in 9 months, and have maintained it ever since. Before this pregnancy I was the smallest and fittest I've ever been in my life (thank you, Cathe workouts!). In 2 1/2 years I never missed a scheduled workout.

I had a very hard time initially accepting that I was going to have to sacrifice all that hard work in order to have another baby. And when I was put on indefinate bedrest......!!!! It was torture.

With my first DD I gained 43 pounds, and despite my best intentions, I'm on track to gain that much weight again. I tell myself that it is only temporary, that it is not simply gaining 40 pounds of fat, but a necessary biological process for the gestation of an infant. I've also read that maternal weight gain is positively related to healthy birth weights in infants, and lower frequency of preterm labour. The way I look at it, there are many infant complications that can come from poor maternal weight gain, but the only drawback to higher maternal weight gain is that Mom has to lose a few extra pounds after the birth. (Of course, excessive maternal weight gain causes health problems, too). So, of the two, I'd rather be a bit overweight than under. I lost the weight once, I know how to lose it again. And I know that I'm fully committed to my healthy eating and exercise habits. Thanks to the flexibility of Cathe's workouts, and my knowledge of modifications, I will be able to pick up my workouts in some form or another after the baby's born. It might take me a while to get back into the shape that I was, but if I've got a healthy baby, I'll try to be a good sport about it.

Maybe what will help you is if you change your reason for eating healthy and exercising? The goal of a healthy lifestyle does not always have to be to lose weight. When I exercise these days I look at it as a way of getting extra blood and oxygen to the baby, and helping her grow. I also exercise to keep my circulation going, so I don't develop bloating, water retention, high blood pressure, headaches, and all that other stuff that seems to come with pregnancy. It sure helps the aches and pains from the growing uterus! I've never felt so uncomfortable, stiff, sore and unhealthy as the 9 weeks I was on bedrest. Once I started exercising again, my back and hip pain disappeared. So, that's the sort of thing I focus on these days; minimizing pregnancy discomforts, maintaining my health in general, and helping the baby grow. Come the post-partum period I'll focus on weight loss again.

My husband is attempting to get into good conditioning for a road cycling race in July. Since I can't actively train like I used to, I'm putting my energies into helping him get into shape. I've got him doing yoga a few times a week, have introduced him to StretchMax, and will soon be throwing CoreMax at him. It gives me satisfaction to see him benefitting from exercise. In a few months, I'll be able to join him again.

Pregnancy is such a short period of time in your life. Try to enjoy it (I'm happily scarfing a cookie or two every day - guilt free!). You have years ahead of you to focus on weight loss. And apparently, if you breastfeed, you'll be getting a running start in terms of calorie-burn.

I hope this doesn't sound like a sermon. I'm trying not to preach to you, but only to encourage you to let go of the stress you're feeling about a very healthy pregnancy weight gain. If you've only gained 3 or 4 pounds so far, then you are not even close to overgaining. At this early point in your pregnancy your body is attempting to gain weight in the hips and butt in order to stabilize you for the belly-to-come. Once that belly really starts to grow, it will make your hips and butt look in proportion.

All the best,
Sandra

 

[JulieL]

Thanks Sandra, you have such a great outlook. I know I have to look at it all differently and am trying to. I don't want to undergain and hurt the baby - but seeing how hungry I am at times, don't think that is a conern ;-) . I do eat well and eat A TON OF FRUIT. Between me - dying for fruit and DH -dying for veggies, our money spent on produce a week has gotten $$$ (DH is close to being a vegetartian - but not completely). I just was shocked my hips were bigger already. I was so excited about my weight progression (last time I gained to much for my 5'1" frame) that I felt really good, until the hips....x( . I think I won't be measuring them again for a LONG TIME:* . I'm so glad you can be supportive of your DH, right now I'm crabby w/mine. How dare his abs look better when my look bigger ;-) . Really I am happy for him, just was surprised how upsetting this all has been feeling. I want this baby very badly so maybe I just need to baby shop instead :7 . Sigh, well it does come off, hopefully faster this time as I just got active after DS was born.

Thanks for the commrade support