Thursday, November 8, 2007

The New Plan

A bit of a crisis in the Wordy house this week, as I stepped on the scale to learn I have put on 20 pounds in the first trimester.

I put off writing about this for a few days until I knew what I was going to do about this, as I didn't want to write a whiny entry about how ever-loving FAT I am and how helpless I felt about it. A few days ago, I did feel helpless, as any mention I made of my weight and/or my changing body was met (by my husband, friends, naturopath, midwife) with the hand-patting response of, "Pregnant women are supposed to gain weight. Don't worry about it." This was hardly the empowerment I wanted, as I interpreted it as, "Just keep eating, there's nothing you can do about it." And eat I did.

But let's not get into that. Let's look instead at the New Plan.

In the first trimester, I was sick sick sick. Good intentions to eat healthily were derailed by a nausea that would only allow certain foods at certain times, and these foods were usually the kind of starchy carby crap that I don't eat normally. But they tasted so damn good, I ate a lot of them - hence the 20 pounds. In a sense, I was largely helpless to disobey the strict orders of my fussy stomach; if I ate something it didn't want, it would simply reject it and send it back the way it came, hardly a fun experience for either of us.

But the first trimester and the Dictatorship of the Nausea is over. I don't feel as sick anymore (knock on wood), and there's no reason I can't follow a reasonable eating plan. So I'm doing that. Five servings of fruits and veggies every day, lean protein, limited complex carbohydrates, 2 litres of water, and NO EMPTY CALORIES. (This one is hard as we still have tons of Halloween candy left over.)

In the first trimester, I was also exhausted. I know those of you who have been pregnant before know the kind of exhaustion I'm talking about. It's not, "Hey, it would be nice to lie down for a while after work," it's "There's the couch, and - zzzzz." Again, I had little choice in the matter. My good habits of exercise, predictably, went down the drain.

But the first trimester and the Need for Naps is over! I can exercise now - in fact, I went to the gym after work the other day and man, it felt good. It was really hard to walk in the door after such a long absence, as I was anticipating comments from the staff that it had been a while. But no such comments were forthcoming, and I did my 30 minutes on the elliptical with the predictable red-faced sweating and the less predictable but incredibly welcome rush of endorphins. There's no reason I can't be getting a good workout 4 days a week, so that's the plan: yoga Mondays and Thursdays, cardio on the elliptical Tuesdays and Fridays.

So that's the plan, and I'm feeling much more empowered and capable than I was a few days ago. I've also finally made it clear to Chris and a few friends what kind of support is helpful and what is damaging, so I've got a few people keeping me on track and giving me reality checks. Here's to a healthy second trimester.

2 comments:

OHmommy said...

I have gained and lost 180 pounds in the last 5 years.

I am a smaller frame - size 4 or 6 and I just gain a ton of weight every time. Each time I gianed 60+ pounds. Each time! My doctor made me feel bad about it. Once I gained 11 pounds in the 8 month. Who does that? Me! Not empty calories - I love good food, real food, and lots of it.

It all comes off. You will be so busy with baby there will be days when you eat nothing. Believe me. My advice to you ... eat. Eat. And eat - give that baby everything - don't deny it anything.

Happy eating. Eat an apple fritter for me. Will you? I can taste it now ....

adequatemom said...

Hi OHmommy! (I've been enjoying your blog btw - congrats on the award!)

My worry isn't about taking it off after the baby comes - I know I can do that, I've lost over 50 pounds with determination, exercise, and Weight Watchers. But I read recently that if I gain too much weight during pregnancy, the baby might be too big for a vaginal birth and I would need to have a c-section.

If I absolutely need to have a c-section due to health of myself or baby, obviously I'll do it, but if it's something that I can avoid - especially with something as simple as eating healthy, which I sure know how to do - I'm damn well going to try!

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