Exercise… Early stages of pregnancy!

[LynAsh]

Hi all,
just want some advise… I’m a regular gym goer and was previously hitting 4/5 times a week, I’m becoming so conscious of how hard I’m going and very paranoid as I don’t want to cause anything unnecessary for this much wanted pregnancy but I’m not feeling like I’m getting a proper work out in and I go, purely to keep my head clear and keep negative energy at bay. We are so very early into it (4+5) and only over a month ago had very early loss at 5 weeks.

Any gym goers can advise how they tackled this?

There's no risk to baby from exercise if you continue at a level you were previously doing. You might find you need to slow down due to first trimester fatigue/sickness, and in second and third trimesters you should protect your core (avoid crunches, planks etc) but these are both about you and your own health, not baby.

In fact it's really good to maintain your fitness levels throughout as it will help with your labour and recovery.

I've had two successful pregnancies doing CrossFit throughout. (Which is why it annoys me so much when people say 'you shouldn't be lifting that!' When I was still deadlifting 80/90kg at 8 months pregnant 😂 )

I posted a very similar topic last week asking about this and got some useful advice/suggestions which you might find helpful - here's the link: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/pregnancy/4883154-exercise-during-pregnancy-any-good-resources

Thank you @Spottypineapple its great to know it’s more weight training you did because though not cross fit, mine is definitely more weight based and I think that is what is making me 2nd guess myself!

@CluelessInLondon That is fantastic thank you, very reassuring! :)

I seem to be getting ligament twinges much more this time at this stage and I think the weights play on that and then I think… Aaargh, could I be causing harm? I’m not hurting myself in any way but I do feel it in deeper squat position and such and think, should I be doing this!

Yep - I think the key is to listen to your body. If you get funny twinges or pains that you didn't before, or if you're out of breath quicker then just scale it back. But with the confidence that it's for you and protecting your body rather than any harm coming to baby x

Echoing PP's in that you absolutely can carry on, just listen to your body.

I personally dropped any HIIT style exercises from the start out of choice but carried on weight training. I dropped my weights a bit at 20 weeks, through listening to my body. At 30 weeks I pretty much stopped going to the gym itself. But now at 33 weeks I'm walking as much as possible and doing low impact pregnancy workouts at home from YouTube.

Exercise has so many benefits to pregnancy so keep going but just listen to your body 😊

My doctor said "within reason continue at the exercise levels pre pregnancy, and your body will tell you when to stop". The first trimester can be tough, I was sick as hell, on anti nausea medicines and very sleepy. With the lack of exercise, my back felt awful, and the only thing that helped it ironically was doing light weights again. After the 12-16 week mark I felt fine to go back to my normal levels once I was past the exhaustion.

Can I ask, were any of you training on high protein diets/macros and if so, did you continue with the same consumption of protein?

Problem is, I’m vegetarian.. and it’s a nightmare to get to your 100g+ a day without eating a lot of processed foods/soya products. So, I guess my question would be to those who know, is 100g+ protein too high in pregnancy? If not, any healthy ways to get there without meat :)

I actually realise this all sounds very self centred given the circumstances but I would genuinely stop it all tomorrow if I thought I would do any harm.