Even walking makes me sick...exercise suggestions please!

[NotThatKindOfDoctor]

I’m only 7 weeks pregnant, and up until last week had been walking 3 miles a day as part of my effort to not get too out of shape while pregnant (I gave up running because of fear of miscarriage which I know isn’t 100% logical, but have had one before and I was scared to run). Anyway, last week my walks started making me feel like hell. I get back and I’m bloated and nauseous, horribly so (like even drinking water becomes a challenge) for the rest of the day. On days when I don’t go, I’m just low key nauseous and it’s much more bearable.

I really don’t want to stop exercising completely and I’m hoping it will ease off, but does anyone have any ideas of how I could make it manageable in the mean time? I’m going to give yoga a go (I’m not a massive fan but something is better than nothing) and some simple body weight exercises, but I’d really love some kind of gentle cardio as well.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

Hi - my experience with the first trimester is that weeks 6-11 are awful ; nausea, extreme bloating, mood swings. None very conducive to exercise!

Keep trying when you can, but if you can’t do as much as you normally do, don’t panic. For me, after 11 weeks I started to feel myself again and could return to exercise.

(Of course as you get bigger this changes too, and you will have bad days and good days! Pregnancy isn’t a smooth progression in my experience, and things can get better as well as worse )

That gives me hope! I really hope that I start to feel normal again soon, I never suffered like this with my other kids so it’s been a bit of a shocker 🤪

Am hoping I can get on board with yoga and that is doesn’t make me feel awful 🤞🏽

Agree with PP - do something when you can if you feel up to it, but that first trimester can be awful and basically you need to rest. The bloating will go and hopefully you'll start to feel better in a couple of weeks time and then you can get back to regular exercising.

Congratulations on your pregnancy @NotThatKindOfDoctor 😊 completely agree with the previous post on this one - listen to your body ❤️ I pushed myself at the start to go out walks everyday because I felt like that’s what I should be doing and every time I got back I was painfully bloated to the point that I’d sip water and then throw up for 10 minutes 😔 Then someone reminded me that during the first trimester your body is essentially creating a whole new person from scratch, that’s where all your energy is going and your body is already working hard doing that. Further on it’s really just growing what it’s built so you get a lot of that energy back! So I started listening to my body after a couple of weeks of that torture and I felt so much better! 😓 Towards the end of the first trimester I was having some good days too so I just tried to make the most of those and head out for a bit longer a walk or whatever I felt like doing. Hopefully the bloating and nausea will ease off for you soon and you’ll feel more like yourself again for the second trimester 😊 mine eased off around 13/14 weeks.

Listen to your body. Its telling you to not exercise right now. I was so sick on my last pregnancy I even had to cancel my pregnancy yoga class I remember my gp telling me to just rest up at home and not push myself. On my other pregnancies I really enjoyed doing aqua aerobics and swimming

Movement can trigger sickness. How about you try basic bodyweight exercises that require less movement? like squats and lunges?

If you haven't already, try walking with an empty stomach. It should help.

Have you notified your doc/midwife about this issue?

Swimming - once the pools are open I intend to swim again.

Hello everyone,
I am 4 weeks of pregnant now and I had miscarriage 4 months back during 19th week.
So my question is can I do bit of exercise and regular household chores like sweeping mopping are fine during early pregnancy when you have history of miscarriage? Any advice?

Try shorter, slower walks. I've been walking so slow because I get cramps and out if breath if I walk too fast (normal speed)! I've started swimming to keep fit safely but I dont think that will help your nausea

It's not advised to begin yoga in first trimester if you havent done it before. In pregnancy yoga classes themselves you must be over 12 week.

If you are going to do yoga I wouldn't do any down dog etc as upside down won't feel nice. Are swimming pools all still closed?

I would just wait until you settle in second trimester - I bet you will feel a lot better and it won't be a chore.

Wow! Thank you everyone for replying, and so quickly!

I have tried walking on an empty stomach, and after having had a variety of other things to see if it made a difference, and unfortunately it didn’t.

Swimming is a great idea! It’s 30°c+ here at the moment so whilst the indoor pools aren’t open everywhere, I do know a few outdoor ones that it’s warm enough to swim in.

Noted about the yoga. I have done it before but not for a while, so I’ll just keep that on the back burner until after 12 weeks.

I had the mother of all migraines yesterday so today’s exercise is a long bath while my husband looks after the kids 😃