Exercise safe?

[pandemicpreggie]

I am almost 23 weeks and after a horrendous 16 weeks of sickness I'm feeling better and want to get back to exercise. I went for a walk the other day (well, I walked home) and it's quite an uphill walk. I wasn't really out of breath but my heart was definitely faster than it used to get when I did the same walk. Are there women out there doing moderate to intense exercise when pregnant and were told it is safe? What I did was NOT intense exercise, but given my heart rate at the time it did feel a little harder than usual.

bumpity bump

I’m only 8+5 but have felt really good thus far so have kept up running (about 5x per week) and hiking (At weekends), both of which I did a lot of before, but at reduced intensity (or heart beating harder and a bit out of breath). I was told by epu that exercise is really good for you and baby, but to stick to sports you already do and try to avoid anything contact where you might get bumped about. I wasn’t even told to reduce intensity, but I feel less anxious doing so. So based on that advice I think you’ll be fine!

Yeah I would second that, I think 'safe' excercise is highly recommended but they just advise not to take up anything new. If you haven't previously done any excercise I read (on the NHS website I think) that you should start with half an hour 3 times a week and build it up - things like walking and running are recommended and as said above contact sports should be avoided.

Same! I’m 20 weeks and only now this week have I have been able to workout again due to morning sickness! I used to train quite a lot, I did a 15 minute workout yesterday and was out of breath and now today I can’t walk haha! But I’m going to keep doing it a few times a week just to try and get my fitness back.

The golden rule is to be still able to hold a conversation at the same time as exercising. Where this point is varies from person to person.
There are lots of prenatal exercises on YouTube that are good. Even ignoring the pregnancy, 16 weeks is quite a break especially when not being well at the same time. It might take a little while to figure out what you can manage it might be a shock to the system at first.
My energy levels never really came back, on good days I can manage to be active and go for walks or do an exercise video. On bad days I'm stuck on the sofa. I am trying to focus on doing what I can when I can and not worry too much about the bad days.

Thank you, that's reassuring. It's funny I wasn't out of breath but my heart rate, even at rest, is faster, and walking uphill i was mildly breathless but could have had a convo. The rest of the walk was on the flat. I was quite fit and it did feel good to get a bit sweaty! All through this pregnancy, wondering if either of us would survive, I just kept telling myself that women have babies in all kinds of conditions, so hopefully 10 mins of a fast heart rate isn't going to do any damage.

In a few months when you give birth your body with do the most exercise that you will probably experience in one go. Exercise is important.

A doctor once told me that giving birth was like running a marathon. You shouldn't want to do nothing and sit on your backside for the nine months leading up to it.

Just don't overdo it. Listen to your body, if it hurts or if you're out of breath you need to step back. Best is to do exercise that you already did before pregnancy, because you know better what to expect and you already have the muscles (and muscle memory).

I'm 31 weeks and still going for an hours walk everyday. Sometimes depending on the route I take my heart rate gets really high (going up steep hills/steps etc). I wouldn't worry, they say as long as you can still hold a conversation then you're okay.

Be careful in the heat though as a couple of days ago I was sick and really dizzy when I got back from a walk as I'd deffo overdone it in the heat.

As pp have said listen to your body and if it feels to much then have a break and let your heart rate slow down 😊

I read you can do exercise that you were used to before you were pregnant but don’t start anything new. I’m 34 weeks pregnant and still looking after my horse which involves, mucking out, pushing a wheelbarrow, bending etc. Most days I also walk the dog. I am slower now but basically doing everything I did before I was pregnant

I'm 27 weeks a live in a very hilly area, I'm still going for walks every day but I am finding I need to go a bit slower now and steep hills in particular are much more challenging than normal. I think partly this is higher progesterone levels which can make you more breathless but also because I'm short and the bump has squished all my organs so walking uphill feels like I'm being folded in half and can't take a full breath!