A question I get asked all the time is how did you bounce back so quick? And when I was pregnant i constantly was told "wow, you look great you are all baby". Yes maybe it had to do with the fact that I was fit prior to my pregnancy however if I had just ate whatever I wanted during my pregnancy and not worked out I would have been a lot bigger and not have bounced back as quick as I did. I know so many women want to be able to bounce back quickly after pregnancy, let's face it who doesn't want to be a hot new mom! Well ladies you are in luck because I am going to share all my secrets with you to be able to do the same thing I did. And my hope is that it works as well for you as it did for me. Yes you will have to put down that bowl of ice cream and yes you will have to turn off that TV but it will all be worth it, I promise! You will be thanking me later! So get ready to have a wonderful healthy pregnancy and let's make it as enjoyable as possible I mean come on you are baking a whole human being that is one hefty task to take on. So pat yourselves on the back for even starting this journey and let's have a healthy pregnancy because a healthy mama equals a healthy baby!
The picture on the left was taken at 39 weeks pregnant and the picture on the right was taken 2 months after Kennedy was born! MInd you I was unable to even work out yet since I had a c-section!
So in this healthy pregnancy journey there are 3 components I believe that will give you and your baby the best jump start to your new lives together! Eating right, exercising and preparing for the birth!
STAY HEALTHYMany women have the misconception that when you are pregnant you are eating for two. Now yes in a way you are but in the sense of how much you should be eating you are really eating for ONLY ONE almost your whole pregnancy. I know that if more women thought this way a lot of those who gain extra weight above and beyond what is needed would not have. So ladies throw that idea out the window and eat to be healthy not to gain weight. Because eating empty calories is not helping you or your growing little one it is just making you FAT. In actuality it can create complications in your pregnancy. During pregnancy your body becomes more efficient and is able to absorb more nutrients that you eat, thus just eating normally will be enough. It is so important to be eating the right foods to help your little one grow properly and to also give you constant energy when sometimes you feel like you have none. Also, they are definitely foods you CANNOT eat while pregnant and foods you SHOULD eat! I will break this all down for you below!
How much should you eat you ask? (the calories quoted are just an estimation and depending if you are over or under weight when you became pregnant may change these numbers)
FIRST TRIMESTER: Eat NO extra calories a day. You should not be over eating, trying to gain weight by stuffing your face or anything else like that. Just eat as if you were not pregnant nothing needs to change right now your little peanut is very tiny!
SECOND TRIMESTER: Eat 340 extra calories a day.. Ok, now a FEW extra calories does not mean go to the buffet line twice thru lol. It means on a given day have 1 extra apple or a small sandwich.
THIRD TRIMESTER: Eat 450 extra calories a day. This many calories can be found in a few glasses of low-fat milk, a tuna sandwich or a handful of sunflower seeds. See ladies no where did I say a bag of potato chips, two cans of soda etc. Stick to healthy items as your additional calories.
Now that we know how many calories we should be having every day let me share with you the things you should be staying away from and thing you should be stocking your fridge with while on this amazing journey.
DO-NOT EAT:
1. Raw Fish
2. Raw eggs
3. Blue cheese
4. Limit fried foods
5. Limit your deserts and soda intake (the way I helped myself from eating all the junk is I just would not buy it so that way when I was at the house craving something sweet I had no choice but to have fruit since I did not have any junk foods)
EAT:
1. Things that are as close to their natural state as possible
2. Always chose whole grain or brown rice over anything white (and that should be regardless of pregnancy)
3. Green vegetables
4. Protein
5. Fruit
6. Fiber Cereal (I liked raisin bran)
7. Yogurt (greek is the best)
8. Granola
9. Drink a ton of water
10. Glass of RED wine (I know this may sound strange however after much research I did find out that the occasional glass of red wine was perfectly ok to have and is actually encouraged in Europe)
VITAMINS: (this is the list of vitamins I took while I was pregnant now you really don't need all of these but I highly recommend them)
1. Pre-natal
2. Fish Oil (great for baby brain development)
3. Biotin
The picture on the left was taken at 39 weeks pregnant and the picture on the right was taken 2 months after Kennedy was born! MInd you I was unable to even work out yet since I had a c-section!
So in this healthy pregnancy journey there are 3 components I believe that will give you and your baby the best jump start to your new lives together! Eating right, exercising and preparing for the birth!
STAY HEALTHY
How much should you eat you ask? (the calories quoted are just an estimation and depending if you are over or under weight when you became pregnant may change these numbers)
FIRST TRIMESTER: Eat NO extra calories a day. You should not be over eating, trying to gain weight by stuffing your face or anything else like that. Just eat as if you were not pregnant nothing needs to change right now your little peanut is very tiny!
SECOND TRIMESTER: Eat 340 extra calories a day.. Ok, now a FEW extra calories does not mean go to the buffet line twice thru lol. It means on a given day have 1 extra apple or a small sandwich.
THIRD TRIMESTER: Eat 450 extra calories a day. This many calories can be found in a few glasses of low-fat milk, a tuna sandwich or a handful of sunflower seeds. See ladies no where did I say a bag of potato chips, two cans of soda etc. Stick to healthy items as your additional calories.
Now that we know how many calories we should be having every day let me share with you the things you should be staying away from and thing you should be stocking your fridge with while on this amazing journey.
DO-NOT EAT:
1. Raw Fish
2. Raw eggs
3. Blue cheese
4. Limit fried foods
5. Limit your deserts and soda intake (the way I helped myself from eating all the junk is I just would not buy it so that way when I was at the house craving something sweet I had no choice but to have fruit since I did not have any junk foods)
EAT:
1. Things that are as close to their natural state as possible
2. Always chose whole grain or brown rice over anything white (and that should be regardless of pregnancy)
3. Green vegetables
4. Protein
5. Fruit
6. Fiber Cereal (I liked raisin bran)
7. Yogurt (greek is the best)
8. Granola
9. Drink a ton of water
10. Glass of RED wine (I know this may sound strange however after much research I did find out that the occasional glass of red wine was perfectly ok to have and is actually encouraged in Europe)
VITAMINS: (this is the list of vitamins I took while I was pregnant now you really don't need all of these but I highly recommend them)
1. Pre-natal
2. Fish Oil (great for baby brain development)
3. Biotin
STAY FIT
So now that you are eating all the right foods and at the right amounts it is important to maintain your physical shape as well even though your belly is growing and yes you may gain weight in other places does not mean you just let yourself go. If you work at it you can maintain a healthy weight and look great while pregnant! I loved exercising when I was pregnant because it always made me feel great after and gave me a boost of energy for the day. If you can I definitely recommend working out in the morning and not at night. Now I am definitely not a big fan of a normal gym but what I did love was pre-natal yoga. I met other great mommies who were on the same journey as me and it was a great way to work out and relax all at the same time. So do something you enjoy doing whether it be jogging outside, going to the gym with friends or doing yoga like me! I did pre-natal yoga literally until I popped so do not let anyone tell you you can not exercise while pregnant because you can and should. (however, I will say that if you were not a runner before being pregnant I would not start while pregnant and obviously you do not want to be picking up heavy weights but there is many other exercises you can do while pregnant in the gym!)
PREPARING FOR THE BIRTH
I just want to touch on this subject lightly I will go into greater detail in another post and maybe even share my birth story. But what I will say for now that one of the best things I did while pregnant was taking a birthing class. Of course any birth is unpredictable but you can never be too prepared for one of the most exciting yet scary moments in your life. And I found that the more knowledge I had the better and more confident I felt. In my opinion the best birthing classes around are the BRADLEY METHOD. Not only do they prepare you for what is to come the class is a wealth of useful information that I was able to fall back on during the birth. I recommend taking this class when you get to your second trimester depending on how long the course is.
I hope you found all this information really useful and I wish all your mothers to be a happy and healthy pregnancy. Enjoy every moment as much as you can it goes by so fast!
Until next time stay styled right by being healthy! xoxo FSR
I hope you found all this information really useful and I wish all your mothers to be a happy and healthy pregnancy. Enjoy every moment as much as you can it goes by so fast!
Until next time stay styled right by being healthy! xoxo FSR