If you haven’t yet read ‘Fit Mommy – Trimester 1‘, then perhaps jump on over there before you begin reading this, or pop over to Trimester 3 here.
There were 3 phrases that stood out for me with regards to 2nd trimester & fitness; so I thought I’d dig into each of these.
Hello old self
The 2nd trimester is known to be most mom’s favourite, and I was no different. For the first time in ages, I could exercise with no nausea and even get the odd endorphin rush. I constantly managed my exercise by watching my heart rate but must admit that when in the pool…I just swam. Different websites, gynaes and doctors suggest varying heart rates to follow. I went on what my gynae told me and then just tried to listen to my body & our bub.
A little mantra that I told myself during this trimester was…
Your legs & arms aren’t pregnant…keep moving beautiful!!
With this in mind, my 2nd trimester was spent with at least 4 days at gym. I swam twice a week (always doing between 800 – 1.3km’s to avoid overdoing it); I loved the elliptical machine and walking uphill on the treadmill (usually between 5 – 7 gradient at speed 6.5). On the days that I did cardio at gym (not swimming), I would always stick to a 20 – 30minute light cardio session followed by doing some light weights, squats, balancing on a bosu ball or stretching. While I love my gym workouts, I was very aware of the added weight I was carrying and thus tried to limit my workouts to 2 sets instead of a normal 3 – varying between light arm weight exercises, side leg raises & some bum exercises.
I even got to do a mile (1.6km) sea swim/race at 17 weeks preggers. I was unsure as to whether this was wise and wasn’t mighty swimming fit, but my gynae gave me the go ahead and I just loved running out the sea & up the beach at 27minutes and experiencing my first REAL endorphin rush in a good 12 weeks 🙂
Half way through Trimester 2 I also joined a local yoga class in Hillcrest with a fellow preggie friend. I have always done simple yoga stretches at home but have just loved going to these classes. Our teacher is down-to-earth, dynamic and not too overly spiritual (which appeals to me) & stretching out my growing bod and practicing my breathing have become my Tuesday & Thursday delights!!
Wiggle, wiggle
One of my absolute favourite parts of 2nd trimester was the beginning stages of feeling our little one move inside of me. There is genuinely nothing quite like it & I would often have tears streaming down my cheeks as I watched my tummy be poked and prodded from the inside.
One of the amazing things about the ‘pop’ & movement is that you are now very aware of this little life inside of you…and that means that you get to listen to it in a more tangible way while exercising. I would often do 10minutes cardio and then rest a bit and just feel my tummy for movement & to try to gauge how she was doing. It’s amazing how your motherly instinct kicks in so early on and you genuinely feel so connected to this little life inside of you.
Self-esteem shut down
One thing I did notice about preggie friends/girls in trimester 2 is that it is also often the start of their struggle with pregnancy self-esteem issues. While seeing your tummy suddenly pop out is just the most incredible feeling, unfortunately it’s NOT just your tummy that pops. One way that I was able to combat moving into ‘self hate speech’ was by keeping up my exercise routine (above) to encourage endorphins & toning, but what I also did was ensure that I wasn’t eating for two. You do get extra hungry (don’t get me wrong) and pregnancy is a delightful time to pig-out a little more than usual, but stick to that ‘little’ more than usual. While you may be hungrier – you are also feeding a gorgeous little life within you & she/he needs as healthy a diet as possible. Instead of doubling my portion sizes, I tried instead to add in extra fruit snacks, provitas or healthy smoothies/fresh juices to my daily diet. I chose to not get caught up in ‘food’ though and thus ate what my body craved that day – be it a toasted sammie or smoothie.
In saying all this, unfortunately our bodies will end up doing what they need to do and we can’t pick where our bodies will choose to expand, swell or double 🙂 Here are a few habits I took up to deal with negative self talk that crept up in the quiet of our bedroom (in my head)…
Choose the thoughts that you allow to linger, wisely
Speak to yourself as if you were speaking to your daughter (kindly)
Thank God (literally) everyday that you get the privilege of carrying this little bub
Have a daily routine of applying bio-oil/cream to your body – as you do this, try to speak positively to yourself
Running & Trimester 2
Not running got progressively easier. It’s amazing how our bodies adjust to their new demands & how old priorities take a backseat. This trimester I managed fine not running – not even ‘just fine’, I actually barely missed it at all. Keeping fit in other ways has definitely helped with the lacking endorphin rushes too 🙂
Would love to hear what worked for you in Trimester 2… Haven’t read ‘Fit Mommy Trimester 1‘ yet – then hop on over….