I’ve made a short video to talk about some of my tips for nutrition during pregnancy. As discussed in the video, nutrition is never as important as it is during pregnancy when you’re growing a new person. Here’s a list of my top 10 foods during pregnancy:
Eggs – Couldn’t stand them during trimester one but since that passed I am now living one them. So easy and they contain a range of vitamins, minerals, proteins and good fats.
Bananas – A great go-to snack that’s always good for keeping your energy levels up when you’re on the good.
Wholegrain Bread – A great source of slow releasing energy. I try to stick to two slices max per day and usually have them late morning or for lunch.
Salmon – Great source of omega 3 and helps to promote cell growth for you and baby.
Sweet Potato – Loaded with vitamins A,B and C. They cook quickly and are a great carbohydrate for dinner.
Natural Yogurt – Great for calcium and with my next choice, mixed berries, make a lovely healthy snack.
Berries – Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. This time of year is perfect for them too. I add them to porridge, yogurt and even mix them with a little dark chocolate for a late night snack. They help the body to absorb iron too.
Almonds – I love all nuts and seeds in general but almonds are my favourite. I love sliced almonds with my yogurt and berries or just a handful of them as a snack when I’m on the go. They contain iron too which is really important during pregnancy.
Avocados – Full of good fats. I advise sticking to a half avocado per day but these make a great addition to a sale or alongside a burger for dinner.
Water – Ok not actually food but still deserves to make the list. Staying hydrated is really important during pregnancy particularly if you’re pregnant during the summer months. I start the day with luke warm water and lemon and I always carry a nice Bobble bottle with me throughout the day.
Below are links to any websites I mentioned in the video:
Hope you find this helpful. I have started a private pregnancy fitness group on Facebook. It’s an informal group and there’s no fee to join. If you’d like to join us please mail me brid@legacy.fitwithbrid.ie or you can contact me through Facebook and Instagram.
Here’s a short introductory post telling you a little bit about what I hope to vlog about over the coming months (but as explained in this video I’m just going to call them videos because I HATE the word VLOG!!). I’m also telling a little about what’s in store for the online courses over the summer too.
To add your name to the mailing list for more information about the online courses go here.
Practicing gratitude has been the big buzz topic over the past few months. I’ll be honest and say that even though I recognised the merit in it, it didn’t quite click for me. While I understood that you need to be grateful for all that you have in your life in order to appreciate all that you want or think you want it just wasn’t a very helpful tool for me in my day-to-day life. I tried practising it by writing down what I was grateful for each day (as advised by all the gratitude gurus) but that lasted a week and then of course I beat myself up for not sticking with it. I had sort of put myself down as just not a spiritual enough person to really be able to grasp gratitude.
That was until we lost our lovely Lady a few weeks ago. Anyone who knows us knows that she was our first baby and we loved her so much. If you’re not an animal lover you just can’t comprehend how much it is possible to love the life out of your pet but we really did. We got her 8 years ago as a puppy and when she was about a year old we broke up. For the next year we shared her, himself having her Monday to Friday because he had the bigger garden and me having her at the weekends. No joke, we did the half way point drop off and everything. Then one day when she was staying with me she ran out in front of a car. For 24 hours we didn’t know if she was going to make it because she had tyre marks on her stomach and the vet feared that she was bleeding internally. Thankfully she only had a broken leg but it was an awful time and in nursing her back to health we managed to get our shit together and here we are now almost 3 years married with Frankie.
So you’re probably thinking what has gratitude got to do with this? Didn’t the dog die?
I used always cry at the very thought of losing Lady and when it did happen those feelings of sadness were ready to overwhem me but something clicked in me when I saw her for the last time and instead of wallowing in the grief and self-pity I started thinking of all the things I could be grateful for. The lovely times we had with her, obviously, but also the fact that she didn’t suffer from a long illness which is something we had always said we’d have hated for her. The fact that we had Frankie before she died was a massive help emotionally as if we hadn’t had him to focus on it would have been harder. Getting to say goodbye to her was also on the list along with lots of other things too.
Since that gratitude came to me it seems to be sticking around. I’m finding I’m able to turn my thought process around a lot over the past few weeks and I really hope it lasts because it makes for a much happier mind, a fitter mind I suppose. I know it’s not easy for everyone to really get on board with the concept of gratitude but now that I have I’d love to be able to spread it around. It certainly doesn’t make every minute of every day perfect but it does help. So I just thought I’d share that little insight with you all and hopefully it helps someone else even in a small way.
Growing and carrying a new little person is hard work and often results in musclar imbalances within the body which can cause soreness, stiffness and general discomfort. As if a pregnant woman hasn’t enough to worry about with feeling tired and a little anxious too. The weight of a pregnant woman’s bump causes a shift in posture and the following can often happen:
Hips tilt forward as the bump grows outwards
An increased curve in the lower back, known as Lordosis, happens as a result
The hip flexor muscles (joining the front of your thighs to your hip area) can then feel tight and the glutes (bum) become weak and stretched
If there is an increase in the size and weight of the breasts the shoulders can become rounded, known as Kyphosis
Head tilts forward as a result
Pregnancy Pilates and Yoga classes can help to address these imbalances and alleviate the discomfort felt. Pregnant women who sit a lot for work should ensure that they have an ergonomic workstation (set up correctly and specifically for their needs) and that they take regular breaks to stand up, walk around and stretch.
I’ve put together a short video clip of stretches that can help. Practice as often as possible, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds while taking deep breaths. Be careful not to push too deeply into each stretch as the hormone Relaxin is present in a pregnant woman’s body and can result in soften ligaments and joints. These stretches can also be helpful post pregnancy when these areas are still feeling the effects.
As the New Year looms and the excess of Christmas starts to set it many of us are thinking of ways to improve ourselves and our lives in the coming year. Whether it’s quitting an unhealthy habit like smoking or starting a new one like exercising there are certain things you can do to help break or make a habit that lasts. I gave up drinking in 2015 and here are some of my top tips:
Get Rid
This might sound obvious but if you are trying to break a habit then get whatever it is you are trying to quit out of the house. Completely. You might have to put up with protests from others in the house (particularly if you’re trying to get rid of junk food and the kids catch you!) but explain to them why you’re doing what you’re doing and how much you’d appreciate their help. This could be your chance to change everyone’s habits for the better.
Write It Down
Sit down and make a list of the reasons why you want to break a bad habit. It’s also helpful to ask yourself honest questions about why you think you developed your particular habit. What addition has it been to your life? Most likely none but it’s best not to ignore your fears about giving it up. For example many people believe that they won’t be able to relax without a cigarette or drink. If that’s you then dig deep and question how true your beliefs about your habit really are.
Put this list, as well as a little declaration about what you want to make or break, and stick them up somewhere that you have to pass every single day.
Treat Yourself
Often the habits we wish to break are those we consider to be a way of rewarding ourselves. If so then you should decide how you might do this in a healthier or more positive way. For example if you decide that you’re going to eat more healthily in 2016 but food was always your way of treating yourself then replace it with clothes, music, a beauty product etc that you’d like instead. Your new treat doesn’t have to be expensive but it does have to feel like a treat to you.
Support
Finding support when breaking a habit is so important. You may find that some of your friends are making similar decisions about their own habits for the New Year. If you’re going to get fit and your best friend wants to do also then why not pair up and keep each other motivated? But if you don’t have someone else in the same boat then you may need to look a bit further afield. That’s where the internet can help because there are chatrooms, message boards and private facebook groups for just about everything these days. Connect with people on the same journey as you and you may well find you make some new friends too.
Just Keep Swimming
Keep it up. Even when you don’t want to. Even when something happens that upsets you and all you want to do is run back to your habit that comforted you so well in the past. The feeling will pass eventually and when you’ve made it through and changed your default response you will feel really great about yourself. You will. I promise.
I know what you’re thinking when you look at the before picture in this story, ‘sure she has nothing to lose!’ but a stint in Oz and the sudden loss of a family member took its toll on Olga’s health and fitness and left her feeling tired and not herself. She’s not the type of woman to sit around and let something bother her so she was one of the first to sign up for my 12 week online course.
Tough Stuff
While it’s always hard to change your habits and lose body fat it gets even more complicated when you haven’t much to lose because you have to push yourself that little bit harder. You don’t see results as quickly or as obviously as you would when you have a lot to lose and it can get disheartening at times but Olga stuck with it and it paid off for her. There’s rarely a weekend that her crew of friends don’t have a night out planned but she stayed focused and chose the ones that were really worth it instead of trying to do it all at the expense of her goals.
Beach Body
Mid way through the course she also found out she was going to be taking a trip back to Oz in January so this motivated her even further. (If you’ve been down any Ozzie beach you’ll know the pressure!). She was famous for her ‘fakeaways’ during the course and definitely my best Snapchat communicator. No doubt she’ll be turning heads in Oz and who knows I could be preparing her for a big day in the not-so-distant future.
If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know that my advice is to stay active and eat a balanced, healthy diet during pregnancy to avoid putting on unwanted and unnecessary body fat. However that’s easier said than done for a lot of women and it’s also hard if you’ve already been battling with your body prior to becoming pregnant as had the lovely lady in this success story. Pamela had been attempting to get rid of unwanted body fat for most of her life. She had moderate success preparing for her wedding in 2012 and after the birth of her son, James, in May 2013 but after having her third child, Emma, in May 2015 she found herself piling it on again.
Back To Work
My 12 week online course came just in the nick of time for her in September 2015 as she had just three months of maternity leave left. Pamela really embodied what this course is all about and the type of woman it’s designed for. With two small babies on the go she couldn’t be accused of having much time to spare but every day she took whatever opportunities she could get to do her workout and prepare her food. Like me, her workouts often involved keeping her babies entertained and she found plenty of clever ways to do that. She kept me updated and was a regular contributor to our online support group too. In addition to following my course she took to the roads with her double buggy, rain or shine, and she has now started running too which is something she could never have imagined herself doing.
Real Life
Also like me Pamela likes her meals and nights out. This course suited her because it allows for real life. She always stuck to the plan during a week leading up to a night out, then she went off and enjoyed herself and was back to it again at the start of the new week. I could really see it all clicking into place for her on this course. She got why she had to prepare meals and eat healthily for the majority of the time and she’s been able to stay motivated because she could have her nights out too. She admitted that she lacked proper knowledge about what foods were good and bad for her. She had been guilty of not eating enough during the day and then binging on the bad stuff at night. The course helped her to regulate her eating and now she eats every three hours and has learned some great go-to snacks to keep her satisfied. She’s back to work but is continuing her healthy way of living and is joining me on the No Nonsense New Year course to continue her journey. She has told me how good she feels in herself since making all of these changes and as you can see she’s looking good too!
It was really hard to get out of bed this morning wasn’t it?
It’s so cold and you’ve more than likely had a busy weekend whether it was partying, decorating the house, shopping for presents or all of those things. It only gets crazier from her on in so here are my three tips for getting through the Christmas madness without losing your joy.
Exercise
Don’t mistake busy for active. Unless you are sprinting up the escalator ten times in a shopping centre you are not exercising my friend. Loook ahead each week and pencil in when you will get to exercise because the days just get away from us at this time of year and next thing you know it’s been a fortnight since you’ve done anything for your body. Sure you’re plans to exercise may not always work out but there’s a better chance that they will if you’ve at least considered them. Some days you might get a good 30 minutes+ in and others it might just be a brisk walk with the dog. Whatever it is it’s better than none at all.
Food
Decide which parties are worth being bold for and which aren’t. A big catchup with the girls over a nice dinner might be worth it but would the pub grub at the cheapo office party really be? By all means accept the mince pies you’re offered when visiting family but there’s no need to keep a constant supply of Quality Street in your own house for the next four weeks. A little balance will serve you well.
Mindset
Lower your expectations. The picture in your head of how it’s suppsed to be, how you’re supposed to look, what your mother-in-law is supposed to say, what your child is NOT suppsed to say. You have very little control over how it will all go so go with the flow instead and you’ll feel less stressed and anxious if it doesn’t fit the picture you normally have in your head.
And if all else fails you can always join me on my No Nonsense New Year 12 week online course to repair the damage! More details here.
In Part 1 of this post I wrote about general guidelines for pregnancy fitness. In this post I want to look at little more in-depth at some of the specific things which women commonly question when they are considering what to do during pregnancy.
Before I continue I advise that you read Part 1 and also remind you that you MUST get permission from your doctor before taking part in any form of exercise during pregnancy.
In this post I’m covering concerns I had during my own fit pregnancy (which you can read about here) as well as those I have been asked about by other pregnant women. So let’s have a look:
Can I lift weights?
Women are often discouraged from lifting weights during pregnancy. The general weight limit bandied about is around 10kg. This limit didn’t sit well with me for a number of reasons including the fact that every woman has a different strength base coming into pregnancy. From the information I found I was correct in my assumption that this generalised limit wasn’t correct. So what could I safely lift then? The simple answer was whatever I could safely lift. That meant:
– Making sure my technique was correct – this gets harder the further you get into your pregnancy when the weight of the bump causes a shift in your postrure and alignment. If you are in any way unsure as to whether your technique is correct then don’t do it. Poor technique makes it unsafe for your body. Baby will be fine but muscles need to be cared for too.
– Avoiding holding my breath – prior to becoming pregnant I would have lifted very heavy weight that required me to do this so I halved my lifting weight straight away.
– Reducing the weight as my pregnancy progressed and increasing my reps instead.
– Giving myself adequate rest days to allow my muscles to recover – not something I was always super at but as my pregnancy progressed my body started to give me no choice.
– Stopping anything that felt uncomfortable – this seems obvious but when you’re used to pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone it’s important to remember that shouldn’t be the case during pregnancy.
Why shouldn’t I lie on my back?
This is one you will hear about often during pregnancy but very rarely is it explained. The reason it is important is to avoid the possibility of Supine Hypotensive Syndrome occurring.
Image source unknown
Supine Hypostensive Syndrome can occur when a pregnanct woman is lying supine and the weight of the uterus compresses the inferior vena cava (a large vein carrying blood to the heart) causing a partial or full blockage. This can restrict blood flow to and from the heart. It is more common in the later stages of pregnancy when the uterus weighs more but can happen at any stage and is obviously very dangerous. Supine exercises, for example those performed in a Pilates class, should be adapted using a wedge or cushions under the upper body.
Will doing abdominal exercises hurt my baby?
Baby is well cocooned in there and you doing ab exercises should not harm him or her. However what it is important to be aware of when it comes to ab exercises is what they may do to your actual abdominal muscles. Excess pressure on them can cause diastasis recti which is a separation of the long rectus abdominus muscle that runs down the centre of your stomach.
This can sometimes happen for a number of other reasons but it’s important to be clever with your exercise choices for the best chance of avoidance. This is where I would encourage women to seek guidance from an instructor who has experience of working with pregnant clients. As mentioned above it’s important not to lie in the supine position and a pregnancy specific instructor will know how to modify specific exercises to make them suitable.
How much cardio is too much?
This was my biggest concern during pregnancy. I’m not a competitive athlete but I like to run 5-10km regularly as well as push myself in circuit and interval type training. I had heard that I shouldn’t allow my heart rate to exceed 140BPM but this didn’t seem like an awful lot and I wondered again how this generalisation could be applied to every woman regardless of her fitness levels coming into pregnancy. Again my suspicions were well founded as this guideline has been replaced with the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion. This is more applicable to the individual because it’s based on how they feel. When exercising during pregnancy a rating of around 13-14 on the scale is sufficient.
Two things I would be aware of when it comes to cardio exercise like running is Pelvic Girdle Pain and Weak Pelvic Floor. Exercising safely shouldn’t cause either but if you find that it aggrevates them then you might want to look at more stationary alternatives like an exercise bike or other low impact types of exercise. If it feels good I encourage women to keep going for as long as they can. Personally I started to wind up my running at about 32 weeks and took brisk walks instead but I did continue these walks right up until the morning I went into labour. Towards the end you have regular medical appointments and should check at each one if the Dr. is happy for you to continue. I’ve said it in posts before and I’ll say it again now, it gets A LOT HARDER to get your fitness fix when you have a new baby so doing as much as you are able to do while you are able to do it is my advice to you.
I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about pregnancy exercise. Awful picture but a great read if you’re a pregnancy fitness nerd like me. You can find it to purchase here.
Hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions please let me know here.
Do you know what I love? Spending money. And do you know what makes spending money even more fun? When you’re spending it on lovely things for your wedding. And do you know what makes it even more fun again? When the spending of the money helps other people. Because the majority of the time when I’m spending money I’m hurting people. Myself and my bank manager mainly. We both get over it eventually but still it’s rare that anyone gets helped by my spending. Which is why the event that I’m writing about today is so fabulous because it allows brides-to-be to spend their little hearts out for a brilliant cause which will help a ridiculous amount of people.
So what is it?
I Do, For Syria and is predominently a sale/auction of pre-loved wedding attire where you can pick up amazing dresses, accessories etc for ridiculously good prices. There are sample dresses from the likes of Myrtle Ivory, Folkster, Smart Brides and Jeutonic as well as dresses from as recent as this year which have been donated by past brides. All of the money raised is going straight to the Irish Red Cross working on the frontline with Syrian refugees. It is the brainchild of Róisín Kelly of the blog How to be an Adult.
Can I have a look at the dresses beforehand?
You can indeed. I’ve included a sneak peak at a couple of them below but if you head over to the Facebook page I Do, For Syria you can check out all of the dresses, their details and guide prices.
What if I already have my dress or I’m already married? Can I still go?
Eh ye ya can! Firstly the spot prizes are just incredible. There’s so many I could go on forever but included are prizes like:
– a voucher for Hippenings (decor delights for party people)
– a brand new surface tablet from Microsoft!! (I HAVE to win this!)
Some of them are bridal related but some would be great regardless of if you’re getting married or not. On the night, which will be MC’d by Xposé’s Aisling O’Loughlin, there’s going to be a fashion show, makeup artists, hair stylists, bubbly, music, and loads more so it’s going to be a really glam, girlie night out too.
