Exercise in pregnancy when you feel terrible?

[magnificatAnimaMea]

I know that lack of exercise is one of the main routes to feeling terrible.

But going running or cycling (even on the exercise bike) isn't particularly appealing with all-day nausea and heartburn, belting headache, and being incredibly tired. I'm only 7 weeks and I am already unfit and fat and can't fit into clothes properly. I'm walking about 7km a day, down & up a 200m-elevation hill and even that is feeling like way too much.

Any suggestions? Does it ever get any better or do I need to buy bigger jeans and wait until the kid's at school before i get fit again...?

[economymode]

I wrote a rambling post, which I don't think posted. Probably for best...

Really struggling with this, too . Gone from being very active (running at least twice/week, swimming, Zumba, walking and biking every day) to barely doing anything. Currently 9 weeks pregnant and struggling mentally with lack of exercise. But I have just felt too rotten to do anything other than walk school run and commute by bike (not far). I'm feeling a bit better now and wondering if I should up things again. Would it be ok to go back to running after 2 weeks off? Or do you think try and swim more? I found weight gain in previous pregnancies very difficult and really wanted to stay active this time, but failing miserably.

[SodaChick]

That make perfect sense kiki22, sadly I got myself into watching fit mums on youtube and imagined I could compete at those levels..ie crossfit but really even though I am very fit, I am stretching a lot before and after class, maintaining rather than exceeding what I am capable of and trying to be sensible about my changing body. I am after all growing a baby which takes so much of my energy but fitness is also important for an easier birth and overall wellbeing so its a balance.

[kiki22]

eco 2 weeks off shouldn't b a problem I had 2 off when I thought I was ill before I realised I was pregnant and it was fine.

I'm just taking the approach of I'll give up when and if I need to otherwise I'll be 40 weeks still hitting the gym but I'm try not compare myself to anyone even my pre pregnancy self. It's hard when people think you are going to cause a miscarriage by working out and others are running marathons how do you know what's the right thing.

[climbingcheesecake]

I agree that 2 weeks off won't do you any harm eco. Take it easy the first time, and see how you feel. Don't be afraid to stop if it doesn't feel good/right.

That's reassuring to hear that many of you seem to be on the same wavelength of maintenance exercise rather than trying to gain fitness. That is what feels ok for me at the moment, so I will keep doing that for as long as I can.
It's hard to find the balance of doing the right amount of exercise, and the advice is confusing - probably the answer is different for everyone.

[Pinklily1]

Hi ladies

I'm usually a regular gym goer and runner. For those of you still running, how much slower are you going? Strange question I know but I did 3.5 miles today on the treadmill and it took me about 9 minutes longer than usual I'm just over 20 weeks and still spinning a few times a week and doing aquanatal, although I did miss about 3 months of exercise at the beginning of pregnancy so I think I probably lost some fitness then.

[Runningupthathill82]

Pinklily - before my last pregnancy I was running 23-min 5ks. By the time I stopped Parkrunning at 25ish weeks I'd slowed down to 31 mins!

[Pinklily1]

That's helpful Running, thanks! I'm not fussed on PB's or anything whilst pregnant, I'm just trying to balance not pushing myself too hard with feeling like I'm getting a decent workout!

[Nickname1980]

I'm probably not going to add much more than anyone else. But, in my last pregnancy (and in this one so far), I felt dreadful during the first trimester and did no exercise. I felt so bloated (and my boobs got way bigger) so just felt like I looked awful.

Then, at 16 weeks, I felt loads better and started exercising 3 or 4 times a week - right up until the day before I went into labour! It made me feel so much better! And I felt strong for the birth too.

So don't be too hard on yourself. You will feel better eventually, and there'll be time to start exercising more then.

[SodaChick]

I am only 2 months pregnant and I have already slowed down, I am SO tired every day! ....was running 10 km's in over an hour and now running only 3km in the same time. My spin classes are almost at the same intensity but I take a few more drinks breaks with 1.5L cold water bottle now and wear ultra light gear to stop over heating too much.
I am hoping to actually return to half of my former running pace after morning sickness and fatigue goes away but not really too worried if I don't as there are plenty of other exercise options. Going to carry on with bike riding on the flat for as long as possible. Abdominals are becoming harder to exercise but the standard plank hold is still fine for me and weights should be all good all the way through. ANY sign of being too fatigued, sore tummy or back and I stop but I am very intuitive about my body's needs.

[economymode]

sodachick you have a very good attitude. Thank you for sharing. As someone with a history of over exercising, yours is an attitude that helps to keep me in check.

After 3 weeks off proper exercise, I got my trainers on this morning and did a 6.25 mile run. My Garmin was out of charge, which was probably just as well as I feel I was a lot slower than usual. Up to about 3 weeks pg I could happily run.10 miles at 8.5/9 minutes per mile. I feel this morning was probably my peak for a while! Now 9 +4.

Also managed a few quick front crawl lengths while taking kids swimming yesterday.

Feels so good to be a bit more active.

[Kariana]

"As a basic rule of thumb, I tried to ensure I was never so out of breath that I couldn't carry on a conversation."

This sounds like an excellent rule running, I totally agree. With the changes in blood pressure in the early weeks which your body is still getting used to it's just not worth the risk.

The only thing I would like to add is please be careful of your joints when exercising and make sure you listen to them. Pregnancy makes them much looser and although they will be stronger than average from all the exercise pre-pregnancy they can still cause problems. Round about week 7/8 I could barely walk up the (flat!) road for ten minutes without my knees being in agony for the rest of the day. I had to stop all exercise and felt awful, but by week 10 it had sorted itself out and my joints seem fine again now. Shame about the horrible bloating I'm suffering instead!

[Puggirl007]

Hi everyone, I am 5+5 and feeling quite scared about having a baby. This will be my first so I have no prior experience. I am an exercise addict - cycling (long distance and fairly quickly), gym, weights and some running. Sadly I don't look like a shining example of exercise as I enjoy my food and drink but underneath I think I am fairly fit.
What scares me is not being able to exercise as much and getting bigger. I struggle to lose weight and historically I have some issues around this.
I am worried particularly about spin classes - I do this for an hour, can just about talk but am sweating a lot. Looking online some say avoid it others say carry on. The instructor is male do I don't particularly want to ask his advice. Can anyone share their personal experiences? Thank you

[AyeAmarok]

Hi puppi, I'm not a spinner so can't help on that specifically but I think the general rule is that your heart rate should be kept a bit lower than what you would normally push yourself to. So an hour spinning would be fine, but maybe only at 90% of the intensity. I think you're meant to keep your heartrate at 165 or below (but I'll let someone more knowledgeable confirm that!).

I dragged myself out for a run this morning, I've been feeling really sick recently. Run was fine but then I vomited last night's dinner when I stopped. Gross.

Feel much better for getting out though.

[fairgroundsnack]

Hello everyone
I'm now 14+2 with my third baby. I was pretty fit and training for a marathon when I got pregnant. I managed to carry on with a reduced training load for a few weeks, then stopped completely at about 10 weeks as I was completely exhausted. I'm now feeling better, and managed to go out for a couple of runs yesterday. Much slower than my previous pace but happy to be back. I really feel heavy though and like I need to take it easy. I'm planning to go to the gym on Friday.

Puggirl, I think take the running easy especially as you begin to get heavier. I was still happily running 13 miles until 10 weeks (which is what I was doing pre-pregnancy) but reasonably slow pace. Spinning class is fine - I did them in my previous pregnancies - but you will need to start taking much easier than you are used to and make sure that you don't overheat. Drink plenty of water and listen to your body.

[Puggirl007]

Thanks both. I know it's early days but I feel fine, in fact I have slightly more energy than usual and seem to be more motivated to exercise. I am getting married in a few weeks so I think it's compounded panic about getting into the dress. I am going to do pump tomorrow to help with toning.

[Helbelle75]

I went to a dance class last night and panicked that I was doing too much! I'm only 6+5 and usually dance a lot. It's so worrying.
I'm supposed to be dancing in a show in August, but there is a lot of floor work, and it is staged on steps so I've decided to back out of that as it doesn't feel safe. I intend to continue with ballet though, and I'm thinking my kettlebells at home will be ok. Can't wait to go and see the midwife and clarify.

[Kariana]

AyeAmarok I've heard that about heart rate too. I think it's considered unsafe to let it get above 165 during pregnancy. It might just be during the first trimester that it applies but I'm not 100% sure.

[magnificatAnimaMea]

the figure on heart rate that has been quoted extensively at me by GPs, midwives and hospital early pregnancy unit is 140 absolute maximum and preferably not above 120 when exercising. Absolutely no anaerobic threshold work.

Also that it is MORE important the further on in the pregnancy you are, because you don't want to put the foetus into oxygen debt.

Obviously this will depend a bit on what your resting heart rate is and what your maximum heart rate is - and that will depend a bit on your age and fitness levels.

I am 39 so perhaps people are being conservative in my direction, but the people who have been saying this are all residents of a town where mountain marathons and XC skiing etc are considered normal weekend activities, and all of them except one are sports-mad themselves, and the GP who has said it the most often has specialist training in both obstetrics/gynaecology and in exercise medicine. Until I broke my foot/ankle last year I used to run with him and his colleagues, so he would have a good idea that I would normally be well over 140bpm on the harder uphill parts of any run.

[AyeAmarok]

120 sounds extremely low, my heart rate sits about 185 when I run (andtthat's long distance, not sprinting). I think it's over 120 when I walk quickly.

I haven't measured it since I've been pregnant but I might do and see where it's at.

[magnificatAnimaMea]

I think I've only ever had my heart rate go over 185 when doing anaerobic training in rowing, 15 years ago...and my resting HR isn't low at all, it's about 75-80 ish. My HR doesn't go above 120 unless I'm really pushing hard... which might explain the difference!

On the other hand, 185 is pretty high. Acknowledging that formulae don't capture individual physiology but also acknowledging that they do give ballpark ideas - assuming maximum heart rate of about 205 minus (age x 0.7), aged 30, your max heart rate should be roughly 184, which means in someone fairly normal a HR of 185 is sprinting hard, not long-distance steady state 50-80% of max HR kind of running. Obvs I don't know your age, but if you really are running long distances with a HR of 185 you might want to ask a doctor about whether this makes a lot of sense in pregnancy, because it sounds like you might be pushing it very, very hard. Either that or you have a heart capable of beating faster than most people!

[magnificatAnimaMea]

Also - I am not doubting the figures you quote - just pointing out that for most people who do regular exercise and have fairly normal cardiac physiology, those figures would probably be high enough to wonder about a bit. Measuring it with a HR monitor or something probably makes sense - I find it hard to measure accurately at higher rates. I normally just use pulse + clock for 30 seconds but found I was systematically overestimating using pulse + clock, when I did normal counting + HR monitor for a week. (this was after I'd had flu and my heart rate was consistently much higher than normal). Your physiology might be a bit different from that of the people i've exercised with, and it may well all be totally normal for you - I don't know!

[magnificatAnimaMea]

This calculator of HRmax is based on a study of about 3000 Norwegians aged 19 to 89 and they took into account the idea that the old "220 - age" formula is inaccurate above about age 30-40.

www.ntnu.edu/cerg/hrmax

discussed briefly here:
well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/ask-well-maximal-heart-rate/?_r=0

[magnificatAnimaMea]

And the NTNU team have advice on exercising in pregnancy up to 90% of HRmax which directly contradicts what my GP and everyone says... so apologies for potentially being wrong - I'm just passing on what's been said a lot to me - I have assumed that congruence was a useful optimality criterion for judging medical advice (congruence might just reflect the fact they're all out of date!).

www.ntnu.edu/cerg/physical-exercise#11

[AyeAmarok]

Dug out a heart rate monitor and went for an hour's run this morning, just out of interest as it's been about 8 years since I measured my heart rate.

It sat between 158 and 176 for the whole run. The 176 may have been when I nearly got hit by a car , I hope. But it was over 170 for a good chunk, averaging 165.

I do think my heart rate naturally sits higher than most other people's, as I wasn't pushing myself hard. But it's good to know that the pace I went at today is about the right pace, at least during pregnancy.

[magnificatAnimaMea]

Good to know - keep enjoying the running! Yesterday I managed the first hour of decently hard cycling since i got pregnant - felt great. I might get back to running up hills yet!