Hello Third Trimester! Let's go running!

Hungry. I am so hungry! I’ve hit the third trimester and I am H-U-N-G-R-Y! And tired. But mostly hungry.



So I am eating! Naturally there’s a bit of a gap between what I crave (sweets upon sweets) and what I know I should be eating (not sweets). So, I am eating fruits and veggies that are naturally sweet…and making a few stops at the frozen yogurt place for when I just can’t take it anymore. I figure I’m at about an 85/15 split of uber-healthy and healthier-than-candy so it’s all good.


I might feel like a bulldozer in a bagel shop but in reality, my nutrition plan is pretty sound:


• Banana pre-workout


• Egg whites (and one egg) in a pita along with a smoothie (strawberries, blueberries, a little OJ, some water, and a scoop of protein powder) for breakfast


• My big ginormous salad for lunch: spinach, romaine, grilled chicken, strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, and a little feta tossed with a tablespoon or so of Annie’s Papaya Poppy Seed dressing for lunch


• Snacks including carrots and a Horizons Organic Colby cheese stick, an organic apple with peanut butter, and some turkey, spinach, cucumber, tomato, and mustard in a wrap, along with some almonds.


• Dinner varies: turkey burger, grilled chicken, healthified pizza, and one of these days we really will get around to grilling fish like we always want to!


When I am not eating I am exercising, and while I am exercising I am wondering: “should I still be exercising like this?” A trip to my doc today confirmed that I’m in the clear: I can continue to run, swim, elliptical, and lift weights until I decide to stop. That will make the strange looks and sometimes outright chastising I get from spectators a little easier to take. It’s amazing some of the myths people honestly believe about pregnancy. But, as hard as it may be to wrap our heads around, exercise is actually GOOD for pregnant women (and everyone else) and as long as you have no health concerns, moderate exercise is safe until your doctor or you pull the plug on it.


The intensity of my workouts have scaled back quite a bit but a typical week is full of energy:


• Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I call “Gym and Swim.” That means I hit the gym in the morning for some low-impact cardio on the elliptical (and History Detectives on PBS) or run (okay, shuffle) on the treadmill and then strength training with my trainer. I’m still running the gambit and exercising all muscle groups, just modifying things a tad. I’m pretty sure last week was the end of real push-ups for a while…and no it wasn’t because my stomach hit the floor first!


• Tuesday I walk with my running group! We recently switched to walking to accommodate some injuries, and this is a perfect workout for me right now.


• Thursday I rest. And yes I still feel like a slacker about it.


• Saturday I run! And by run, I mean shuffle along the street for 5 miles or so, alternating three minutes of running with one minute of walking. It keeps me sane.

I feel good, I look good, and most of all, the baby is perfect. I’ve surpassed my goal of running through the first six months and now I am just curious to see how long I can go! It’s been a really wonderful pregnancy and I am so thrilled to have maintained my fitness throughout.

Okay, enough baby talk. I’ll be back tomorrow with answers to some questions I’ve been getting about preparing and packing food, and the social stigma that goes along with it. In the meantime, get out there and get healthy!

Food: Not a Recreational Sport

People have been telling me lately that since I am preggo (officially half way! woo hoo!) I should "relax" and "let go" and loosen the nutritional purse strings a little bit. But since when has incubating another life, which by the way is completely dependent on you for nourishment, been a good time to develop a heavy hand with the chocolate syrup?  If anything, it's time for increased attention to the quality of nutrition!

Now, okay: I can't profess to being a perfect eater 24/7 nor can I deny that I can be rightfully accused of taking nutrition a little too seriously at times. I have my diversions like anyone else (three birthday celebrations in one week will do that to you!) but 90% of the time, while I'm eating more than I did before I wasn't pregnant, the quality of the food is still the same. 

Here's how I keep it clean:

1. A good half of my plate is veggies and/or fruit at almost every meal.
2. I keep the meat to lean turkey and skinless grilled or baked chicken.
3. I keep my dairy to non-fat or low-fat unsweetened greek yogurt.
4. I keep the grains to 100% whole grain 100% of the time, period.

Everything that doesn't fall into one of those categories...well, I just don't eat much of that stuff! That's the 10%.

I appreciate the sentiment but from where I stand, eating healthfully and knowing I am getting a great bang for my nutritional buck is fun. Food is not a recreational sport. It's FUEL for our bodies so we can run, jump, play, work, and have fun!  So no worries: I'm cool.

Good nutrition is an every day thing, and it's the kind of thing that gets better every day. Give it a try: get out there and get healthy!

The Veggie Pros

So after my confession - and the response I got - about having such a hard time eating veggies these days, my stubborness has kicked in. Darn it, I love vegetables! Not only are they delicious, they're so good for us, easy to prepare, and right there for us to enjoy. I love filling my plate with bright colors and knowing that every bite I take is doing something great for my body.  So I made it a challenge: eat vegetables for one meal every day for a week, starting TODAY.  I'm making a huge salad for dinner and I am going to love it!

It's a choice.

I was choosing to let my whiny pregnant self call the shots, but the muscular, strong, vibrant, vegetable lover inside of me was withering in response. That's not cool. I'm making a different choice and turning the tables.

When it comes to making tough choices, I turn to decisional balance, a logic tool I use in wellness coaching to shed light on motivators that may be in the wings, waiting for a moment to shine.  Some ways to use decisional balance are to list the pros and cons of each choice, visualize yourself living in each choice and experiencing the emotions that result, and simply asking yourself to list reasons why not to make the change. It's pretty difficult to find enough reasons why not to eat vegetables to justify actually not doing it! 

I made my pros and cons, and my con list had just one reason: overcoming my tastebuds. Dude, I've done that so many times and had amazing feedback as a result that I know I can knock it out in no time and I will feel incredible as a result. So, the decision is clear: I want to eat vegetables...I just need to do it long enough to remember why.

Veggies for one meal for a week. Here we go!  If you're struggling with making healthy choices, simply apply some logic.  When you see your reasons why you should stay unhealthy written on paper, they seem pretty lame. Don't be lame.

Get out there and be healthy!