Exercise when TTC

[Haggardly]

How much does everyone else exercise, and what is an ideal amount of exercise while TTC? Would 30-60 min vigorous (but low impact) cardio exercise 5 days a week be too much?

Have had a swift Google and I have seen reference to 'too much' but no definition of what too much is...

@Haggardly I used to run 5 days a week and play competitive sport. Earlier this year my period stopped for 3 months and although I never found the cause (probably due to both physical and mental stress), I managed to get my cycle back after a few weeks of not exercising and eating a lot more to put on weight/body fat. I then got pregnant the first time I ovulated but it ended in MMC. The consultant that did my surgery said to not do anything strenuous cardio wise if I want to get pregnant quickly, but I'm two cycles on and still haven't concieved. Still not exercising and I really miss it and it's much harder to manage mentally without it.

My advise would be to make sure you're fueling your exercise and not let your body fat get too low. If you track your cycles and all working normally then just go with what feels right for you.

@13lucy thank you for sharing. I'm so sorry to hear of your MMC 💔 I hope the no/low exercise works for you.

Though, if exercise helps you with the mental stress would it be worth doing just a little - half an hour swimming or walking or a little bike ride - and eating a little more to compensate?

I'm doing the exercise for mental health reasons too! It helps me sleep 💤

All the best to you x

Hi OP, I worked out 5-6 times a week leading up to ttc, predominantly weight training but intense cardio too twice a week (I was getting married at the same time so had the goal of fitting in my dress!). It had no impact on the ability to conceive my son (conceived very quickly at 33).

Provided you are sufficiently fuelling your body food wise and doing what your body is used to, I don’t see why it should be a problem! Best of luck

I stuck to low impact, mainly stationary bike, sometimes a bit of rowing machine for 5-10mins and some incline walking at speed. Usually a warm up or warm down. Generally time wise I didn't exercise less or more. Also there was never a fixed amount of time each gym visit. I sort of listened to my body and if I managed an hour on the bike, them moved onto other machines, great, but there were also some days I only managed 30mins. Overall I aim for around an hour, sometimes that's just bike but mostly it's bike with a bit of other stuff.
I wouldn't say I changed while ttc. I was conscious during the two though and definitely subconsciously reduced the intensity until I knew whether I was or wasn't.

I did also do a few weight machines but kept the weight reasonable and didn't push beyond what I knew I could do.

I had a mmc so was a bit paranoid after that, I avoided anything that worked my abdominal area and focused on everything else, just not as intensively. I know exercise didn't cause it, but you still blame yourself and so I just decided to be more conscious and careful as we'd been trying for several years by that point. Once we got pregnant, I simply listened to my body. Reduced where necessary if I needed to.

From what the midwife said, if you're already doing it, there's no need to stop/change unless theres a medical reason.