I knew it was unavoidable; but some part of me hoped that somehow I could skip the inevitable weight gain of pregnancy. I realize that sounds ridiculous, ludicrous even; but for me the thought of packing on extra weight is, I’ll admit, a little frightening.
For the first few months the weight was easy to ignore. I was exercising and eating heartily as I always had; the few extra pounds I gained were hardly noticeable. But as the months crept by my clothes slowly became tighter. And when I could no longer stuff myself into my favorite pair of jeans, I knew it was really happening: I was pregnant and I was gaining weight.
For many women gaining pregnancy weight is a rite of passage; something they look forward to and even revel in. I’m not one of those women. I’ve always used exercise as an easy weight control. If I indulged too much and noticed my pants were tight, I’d workout a bit harder at the gym, or run a little farther for a week or two and be back to normal in no time. But this, this was different. As my clothes grew increasingly snug and a noticeable belly formed I realized this wasn’t that kind of weight. This wasn’t the result of too many cookies, or too much ice cream; this wasn’t weight that I could chase away by cutting out junk food or running an extra couple of miles.
Yet, I couldn’t help but panic when during the fifth month of my pregnancy severe low back pain forced me to temporarily give up my running. I was sure my weight gain would careen out of control. Running was the antidote to my impulsive often overbearing sweet tooth. What would I do without it?
It wasn’t long before I figured out that the rampant weight gain I feared wasn’t going to happen. My fear of accumulating unwanted pounds was trumped by my desire to give the developing child inside me the best chance at being the healthiest it could. I was not overcome by the desires of a rabid sweet tooth; instead I was making some of the healthiest food choices I could. I filled up on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meat and of course a decent dose of chocolate for good measure. My concern with getting enough valuable nutrition, often (though not always!) quashed my desire for sweets and junk food. I didn’t want to build a baby out of chips and cookies. I was proud of the nutritious choices I was making, and I was anxious to show this child, even before it entered the world, how important a healthy lifestyle was.
The most surprising part of all for me was how fond I grew of my burgeoning belly. For someone who’d feared gaining pregnancy weight, I was quite proud of my growing bump. This wasn’t the result of laziness or too much junk food. This was weight gain with a purpose; there was after all a person growing in there.
Though I remained faithful to my workouts, keeping myself and the child developing inside of me safe was always on my mind. The fatigue I’d been experiencing in the earlier months waned and though I still occasionally skipped an early morning gym session I was pleased with how much I was still able to do. Yet I wanted to make sure what I was doing was safe. So I enlisted the help of a personal trainer to modify my workouts and tailor them to my pregnancy.
“You’ll be surprised at how much you can actually keep doing,” she told me. And she was right. She shaped my workouts to keep me fit for running and to get me fit for birth and delivery. I worked on strengthening my back, core and leg muscles, which would be so important during birth. She even had me doing some exercises that mimicked lifting and carrying the baby. My new workout routine made me feel empowered, strong and most importantly like I was actively preparing for what would undoubtedly be the greatest workout of all.
It dawned on me that my weight was the last thing I should be worrying about. Sure I wanted to continue to exercise and to be careful about what I ate, but I didn’t want to be obsessed with it. I wanted to eat well so the baby growing inside me had the best building blocks to grow from. I wanted to exercise because it made me feel good, not because I’d eaten too many cookies the day before. And I wanted to allow myself the small indulgences that every pregnant woman deserves (the occasional sleep-in, the right to skip a workout, chocolate). I was determined to have the best of all worlds during this pregnancy and I was slowly finding out that I could.
© 2007, Stephanie R. Kinnon