During my pregnancy term, I had actually alot of questions with regards to the things I do. Generally, I am glad to explain my reasons or beliefs. But the problem generally is; that people are not interested to know. They merely sought to exclaim their disapproving perspectives or really doing the 'I am just asking'. And, that; annoys me.
I do want to talk about one of the few which I have encountered on today's post.
Top on my rank! "You should not be exercising..."
If you have been following my blog, you know that I did engaged in an active workout lifestyle during pregnancy term. The picture at the beginning of this post, was taken about 2 weeks before me giving birth. Many people are usually astonished or with whatever they are feeling with my workout videos. Or just generally the fact that I do exercise and the exercise I do is not walking.
The truth is, when I first knew I was pregnant, the first word was 'shit' and the second was 'fat'. Come on, lets face it. We all know how our body changes to the great unknown through a single pregnancy.
But really, I came to realised that it is really extremely easy for a pregnant lady to be LAZY. It is like a trump card of 'hey-you-dont-need-to-do-anything-anymore'. I knew for sure that if I allow laziness to takeover, it will be difficult to lose the pregnancy weight altogether after giving birth.
And just to add on, I was struggling with 'morning sickness' which ironically treats my entire day like a 'morning' during my 1st trimester. I was super duper sleepy and 5 min into any simple exercise, I will be nauseating. And that was the command to STOP working out, lets walk down the park for Macdonalds. True story.
Anyway to cut the grandmother story short, I, being determine to be rebellious; thought to myself; there MUST be something in which I can do. So, if you are determine to do something about your pathetic life, there will always be a way. I have these 2 friends whom I usually hang for alcohol and more alcohol were into hiking. In fact one of them is really really fit and I dont know why. So with the support of my hubby, I actually went for my 1st hike at Bukit Timah.
You know, generally, the 'hike' in Singapore is really about walking up and down slopes, climbing up and down wood-built steps. Essentially, hiking in Singapore means; (to me); 'To Walk For More Than 30 min'. So for my first hike, I did almost 2 hours of walking.
So in order to continue to be 'active' I walked and walked. I still did do my calories burn.
In my 2nd Trimester, which they often call the 'You-Will-Feel-Awesome' phase because most pregnant women will have been passed the phase of their morning sickness and unusual fatigue. if you are reading this and you belong to those whom have morning sickness throughout most of your pregnancy term, I truly feel sorry for you. I really do because I know it isnt an easy feat.
So anyway 2nd Tri, I started back on my HIIT workout. And there goes the 'WHAT?!' The questions will come along with 'Can you jump' etc and etc. Typically, for one important fact, my Gynae knows I workout. SO go get your green light from your doctors. I later on understood that it is important not to engage or try not to have any sudden jerking on the stomach at all times. So I stopped all my anything above 6 inches jumping and did things which are safer but still helps me burn calories.
And if you google any videos on youtube, you definitely can find workouts which allows you to move your ass and still be safe. I practised HIIT for last 3 years and generally, I have been pretty athletic as a person. As such, I know for sure that I can manage simple beginners HIIT carrying a stomach.
3rd Tri came and I was still doing my HIIT, burning calories etc... until my stomach was really much bigger and I knew I could not do stomach abs workout anymore. And btw, it is like, even if you want to do abs workout, your round stomach would not allow you too. So becoming heavier definitely will add pressure to the workout, so doing them slowly and making sure I was using the correct muscles were priority.
So once again, I knew I could not do very high intensity workout anymore, so what did I do? I think again to myself, what can I do? I am sure there is some kind of workout I could do! So I obviously continued my hiking and my hiking buddies were like; "noooooo.... you should not be hiking...." I know they are concern definitely but I am still annoyed. Haha... Anyway, did I go hiking with them in the end? Yes I did! So apart from hiking, I went to a friend's studio and did Flexi Stretch class. Ok... the name says it ALL. It trains flexibility and we do stretching. So basically do stretching till you become more and more flexible. And I totally enjoyed it. I felt really worked-out and I totally recommend anyone to go do it and get in touch with your body.
Oh btw, I am actually quite flexible, so that definitely helps.
So, what am I trying to say? I feel that when you are pregnant, you will definitely faced alot of struggles by default. It is a whole new level of learning. And it is a journey. And it is often for us to consider how can we embrace our own journey? And doing simple exercising is something which we often neglect. But the truth is; these small disciplines are steps we as moms-to-be (then) to really learn to take good care of our body. And the truth is; exercising helps with labour and it definitely is a plus point to losing our baby fat after delivering. 9months is a JOURNEY OF A SEASON. Dont treat it like your life is over.
I am not asking anyone to copy my journey, but I think anyone could seriously consider what are the kind of activities they can engage themselves into. Like take for eg; hiking. How can anyone tell me that they cannot even do hiking?!! Remember? It is to walk more than 30mins. While if you are pregnant, go for a 1 hour walk with your hubby, talk to each other, discuss about parenthood, or just shut up and enjoy each other.
And of cuz, I really advocate, husbands to be supportive actively. Husbands, you cant complain that your wives are out of shape when for goodness you are also not in good shape yourself and when you wont bother to encourage your mom-2-be wife to be more active. If husbands becomes supportive by saying to their wives 'hey lets go for a walk!' I cant say all, but I will say MOST wives will agree to the 'walking Date'.
And to end this post, I want to add that unless a pregnant woman is crazy. Like they totally do not give a damn that they are pregnant and they push themselves like they are 'un-pregnant', then that itself is a problem. But typically, I think a person whom have sanity and brains do know to listen to their body, baby first then activity. Like if I still continued working out even after nauseating, I must be stupid. Or plain irresponsible. So next time, you see a pregnant friend being active, give them the credits!