Katie Baines Pregnancy Blog!

So I found out I was pregnant with our first little one a couple of months ago - a moment of mixed emotions as it was the happiest moment of my entire life but one also tinged with apprehension as I did not know what to expect! I then did what most people would do, and turned to my trusty friend Mr Google, to search for answers to my torrent of questions and find out how it would affect my current lifestyle! As a committed member of RWL gym, my main concerns were around the amount of exercise I could do from early to late pregnancy; most specifically weight training. For the past two years, weight training has been an integral part of my tailored training programme which has seen me go from a size 16 to a current size 8. Having researched this specific query on the internet, I was hugely surprised to find that my apprehensions were not diffused at a click of a button with one concise answer of yes/no as there is still very little research out there on weight lifting in pregnancy. So numerous questions such as 'Am I allowed to lift heavy weights above my head?' to 'Am I allowed to exercise lying on my back?' continued to flood my mind as I was worried that any exertion will harm me and my baby's chances at this very early stage.


Armed with my concerns, I arranged a consultation with my gym coach Joe Hanney to seek advise on my next step as a member at RWL gym. His confidence and expertise put my mind at ease immediately as he reassured me with the plan to create a new exercise programme specifically tailored for pregnant women.
 

In the meantime, Joe has advised me that it is perfectly safe for me to continue with my current exercise programme until the new exercise programme is devised in time for the beginning of my 2nd trimester; I’ll be starting this very soon.

In terms of nutrition, again, there are so many questions – what can and can’t I eat? What does “eat for two” REALLY mean?  Am  I going to be able to carry on eating as I have done since joining RWL?  Am I going to end up putting on loads of weight and going back to square one?   Again, there is so much written on the internet but I found the chat with Joe really put me at ease and actually, aside from the foods that you’re medically definitely not allowed to eat, much of the rest of the stuff out there is pure myth. I definitely don’t want to add on unnecessary weight but I do want to be healthy and make sure I’m eating the right amount (and the right things) for my baby.   I’m noticeably more hungry and it’s a real challenge learning how to deal with that.  So far, I’m finding that by increasing the (healthy) snacks, it’s been fine and it’s helping to alleviate the hunger –I think that’s mostly because I continue to eat every three hours, just as RWL advise you to.

So what next? Well, I’m looking forward to beginning a new chapter with RWL by undertaking my new programme and seeing what impact that has.  Until now, I’ve still been doing my old programme but I have found my body can’t handle it like it used to. I quickly get out of breath, I soon get very hot, and lifting weights I've been used to lifting for ages has become much harder.  I’m still finding my feet in terms of what I can cope with, and obviously I don’t want to do any strenuous moves or lie on my back which might cause harm, so let’s see what my new programme looks like and I’ll report back on how Im getting on in a few weeks time with pictures of my growing bump