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.