Exercise During Pregnancy
Although the majority of women can benefit from exercise during pregnancy, it is not advised for all pregnant women so the first step is to discuss your exercise plans with your physician or qualified medical care provider.
With that important step out of the way most women can begin a healthy exercise program which will be beneficial in a number of ways. Exercise will help you prepare for childbirth by strengthening your muscles and building endurance, and makes getting your body back in shape once the baby’s born much easier. Strength training during pregnancy may be particularly helpful because it enhances muscle strength, which allows activities of daily life to be performed with greater ease, and it may minimize low back pain, which is common during pregnancy.
Your program will be cautiously designed to incorporate all American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology guidelines for exercise during pregnancy. For most women this means an adequate warm up followed by 30 or more minutes of low-to-moderate-intensity exercise. As in all programs, strength, endurance and flexibility exercises will be included but modified in a way to be safest and most beneficial for a pregnant woman. Your heart rate will be monitored to keep it below a recommended 140 beats per minute and you will be reminded to breathe naturally throughout the session, particularly when you are lifting light weights. The environment will be kept comfortable, avoiding excessive heat, and you will stay adequately hydrated. Throughout the exercise session we will be communicating to ensure the exercise intensity is safe and comfortable for you and we?ll avoid any exercise which would increase susceptibility to injury.
It is difficult to document but exercise during pregnancy is believed to increase psychological well-being, reduce fatigue and result in an easier delivery.
Obesity and Weight Loss
There is a direct relationship between obesity and increased risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and even some cancers. As serious as these illnesses are, obesity also limits mobility, impairs physical activities and reduces quality of life.
As much as 65% of Americans are overweight, with a growing percentage of these people becoming obese. In 2005, The World Health Organization called the current obesity epidemic the “number one health risk in the western world.”
To illuminate this problem further, here is a simple example of how easily obesity can creep up on you:
- One pound of body fat is equal to 3,500 calories. Assume you eat an extra 500 calories a day. That’s just a brownie, a few cookies, a big bag of chips or a large bowl of ice cream.
- Now multiply those 500 daily calories by 7 days and you get an extra 3500 calories, one pound of body fat. Assume you did this every single week for a year. That’s a gain of 52 pounds. Using this equation, it’s easy to understand how a few bad choices can lead to obesity.
The best place to avoid this problem is the grocery store. If you don’t buy it, you can’t eat it. We are our shopping carts. Picture the body of a person whose cart contains lean meat, fish, fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Now picture the body of a person whose cart contains cup cakes, soda and frozen pizza. It’s pretty easy to imagine which person is ‘the picture of health,’ isn’t it?
That said, eating healthy does not mean you have to give up every indulgence you enjoy. It does mean you have to incorporate more healthy foods into your diet. As the saying goes, eating healthy feels better than any junk food tastes!
Add some good food choices into your daily diet, coupled with a comprehensive exercise program designed exclusively for you and you can improve your health. It’s not strictly about body weight or waist size. It’s about your health and it’s time to make some changes.
You didn’t gain your extra weight overnight, and you’re not going to lose it overnight. Losing weight takes time and commitment, but it’s not out of your reach. Start an exercise and nutrition program, stick with it, think long term and in one year you can reduce or eliminate many of the health risks you currently face.
| Calories LESS per day | Days to lose 5lbs | Months to lose 5lbs | Days to lose 10lbs | Months to lose 10lbs | Days to lose 20lbs | Months to lose 20lbs |
| 100 | 175 | 6 | 350 | 12 | 700 | 23 |
| 200 | 87 | 3 | 175 | 6 | 350 | 12 |
| 300 | 58 | 2 | 116 | 4 | 232 | 8 |
| 500 | 35 | 1 | 70 | 2 | 140 | 5 |
Heart Disease and Women
Heart Disease is the leading cause of death among American women. We all fear certain diseases which affect only woman but may neglect taking proper care of heart muscle. The heart is a muscle; it needs to be exercised like any other muscle in the body.
In my programs, we start by recording your resting heart rate and gradually challenge your heart by exercising at the proper heart rate for you. Over time with regular physical activity we will record reductions in your resting heart rate. Additionally your health will benefit in a number of ways:
- Studies have shown that improved cardiovascular fitness attained through exercise and reduce the risk of a heart attack by up to 50%
- Exercise leads to a more efficient cardiovascular system, it helps the heart do its job more easily reducing the strain on the heart
- With even moderate regular exercise, you can benefit from increased HDL cholesterol (the good kind) which improves cardiac health
- Regular exercise lowers blood pressure
- Physical activity cuts the risk of stoke
Increase Your Metabolism -- Why weight lifting isn't just for men
Lifting weights:
- Strengthens bones, which is especially important for women, who face a greater risk of osteoporosis, a gradual weakening of the bones which can be debilitating to older women
- Is the best way to lose fat and change the way your body looks
- Helps raise your metabolism
- Builds muscle which burns more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn
- Helps you avoid injuries in your daily living activities
- Improves coordination and balance
Nutrition Tips
Eat more fruits and vegetables
Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol and high in fiber are associated with a reduced risk of certain cancers, diabetes, digestive disorders, and heart disease. If you can commit to only one change in your eating habits try to eat more fruits and vegetables. Eating 2.5 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit every day, ideally as a substitute for a less healthy snack choice, is a great way to improve your diet. The most nutritious fruits? According to the Center for Science in the public interest: kiwi, grapefruit and watermelon. Also try to include tomatoes and tomato sauce in your diet. They taste great and have great health benefits.
Eliminate soda and butter
If you are really ready to aggressively change, try this. Eliminate soda and butter from your diet completely. Soda has no nutritional value and even if you choose sugar-free, you?re still better off with plain water, seltzer or seltzer mixed with a small amount of juice. Also, avoid slathering whole grain bread with butter or drowning fresh steamed vegetables in it, it?s counter-productive.
Eat more fiber
Fiber is important for a number of reasons. Dietary fibers are complex carbohydrates with little caloric value. They help to maintain colon function and some studies show that dietary fiber may play an important role in health maintenance and disease prevention. The goal for every person, of any age, is 30 grams of fiber per day. A banana has 3 grams, an apple 3.8, these are great choices and are easy to eat every day.
Read food labels
Serving size is listed in the Nutrition Information box. Sometimes a small box or container can contain 2 or more servings. Now multiply the number of servings by the number of calories per serving. If one serving is 300 calories, but you eat the entire box, you could end up ingesting a lot more calories than you expected.
Eliminate partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats)
If the ingredients list any partially hydrogenated oils or trans fatty acids, put it back on the shelf. If you don’t buy it, you can’t eat it. Good dietary habits begin in the grocery store.
Don’t give up everything you love
If you can’t give up whole fat ice cream then just limit it to once a month. If you can’t give up syrup, use less or treat yourself to it only one day a week. Keep what you love, it is a part of you and what you enjoy; make some healthier choices in other areas of your diet.