Baby Bumpdate 27 Weeks!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a little bumpdate.  I am officially in my final week of the 2nd trimester at 27 weeks pregnant. The longer I am pregnant the more excited I get for baby to get here- and I am relieved about that.  I was nervous I was going to get more and more terrified the closer we got to our due date, but it’s actually the opposite.  I feel really calm about becoming a Mother and a getting more and more excited to meet our little one.

I start training for my natural birth at the end of February.  I’ve decided to go with Hypnobabies, which has come very highly recommended from friends, clients, doctors and my doula.  I am so excited to get started.  You attend a 3 hour class every week for 6 weeks then have independent study to do every night up until delivery.  I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

WORKOUTS:

I am still working out 4-6 days a week, still teaching and training my one-on-one clients.  My workouts still consist of strength training and conditioning as well as labor training and high intensity intervals. I am still lifting the same weights I did pre-pregnancy (15-30 LBS DBS depending on the muscle group and format of my workout).  Lifting weights is def easier for me than interval training on the treadmill at this point.  Running is still fine- some days are awesome and some days the baby is a weird position and its just uncomfortable so I scale it back a little bit.  When baby is in a good position though- I am able to go hard. Being able to get after it on the tread doesn’t happen every workout anymore due to the baby’s positioning, so when he is cooperating I take advantage of it!

For example this morning, he was in  a good position so I was able to do sprint intervals at 12.0 MPH, no problem. Some days he is in a weird position and my sprints are more like 9.0-10.0MPH.  It just depends.  Long intervals on the tread (more than 2 minutes) are tough- I still do them, I just have to be a little less aggressive with my speeds.  It’s just fatiguing. It’s not that my heart rate is getting too high even, it’s just a lot harder/more exhausting than I remember pre-pregnancy.  If you speak Barry’s lingo, long intervals my jog pace is 5.0MPH and intervals that are 2 minutes or less I can usually hang at 6.0MPH.  It also depends on the instructor and what they have planned for the day.

I have started to notice that my hips do get sore from running, so that’s also part of it.  I read this is common on some runner blogs so I wasn’t too shocked when it started happening.  I space my treadmill/running workouts out a little more strategically to make sure I’m not running hard back to back days, to help avoid any injuries during pregnancy.  My heart rate still EASILY gets into the 170’s and up into 180’s during my high intensity treadmill intervals.  That doesn’t mean I think everyone should do this- I’m simply sharing this info because I know some women are scared to raise their heart rate when pregnant, so I just like to show women that I go WAY up and beyond what some doctors recommend and baby and I are perfectly healthy. In fact, every single time we have had an ultrasound or the doctor listens to the baby’s heart beat, they ALWAYS comment on how loud and strong his heart is.  Studies have now proven that working out during pregnancy makes your babies heart healthier.  It’s empowering when my doctors reinforce my fitness plan and how it is already showing to positively effect my babies health.  It’s a very rewarding feeling!

WEIGHT GAIN/BODY CHANGES:

So far, 27 weeks in, I have gained  about 12 pounds.  They say I’ll probably average 1/2 pound a week from here on out.  This would put my total pregnancy weight gain around 18.5 LBS.  Anywhere from 20-25 LBS for me is what my doctor said she is happy with, so I’ll end up right around there which is great.  Of course, the closer to 20 the better (from my point of view), but either way it doesn’t really matter.  As long as I stay within her recommended weight gain for me, I’ll be happy.  I know I’ll get it all off. It’s actually my muscle mass I’m worried about.  Looking back, I wish I would have measured my arms and quads before getting pregs cause I swear I’m losing muscle mass, which makes me SO SAD.  LOL. If I could pick, I’d rather gain more weight during pregs and not lose any muscle mass.  It just takes SO long to put muscle mass on, it’s kind of depressing thinking about having to back track and build it up again.

BABY STUFF:

Wow- so much to think about.  Do I want to eat my placenta? Should we bank the baby’s cord? Should we space out vaccinations? Man. Been doing lots of reading articles and trying to figure out whats the best way for our family. I probably will eat my placenta though.  It’s hard to argue with the studies on this. Yummy 🙂

Xo

Make it Happen!

I did a interview for a locale magazine the other day and I was asked, ‘What advice could I give someone that would change their life?’ At first, I was thinking, ‘Umm none, they need to change their own life.” So I guess that was my answer. With a little better thought and explaination, I elaborated on this thought and came up with an answer that I think we all need to remind ourselves of often.

Any goal is obtainable. Life can be anything you want it to be. You can be anything you want to be. You can look any way you want and feel any way you want. You are in charge of your own body, health, and happiness. Don’t limit yourself to leading a less healthy life than you deserve. You are the only thing stopping your goals in life from becoming reality. If you don’t know where to start, reach out to someone who can give you knowledge and/or advice to helping you reach your goals; utilize your resources! Make the time, don’t make excuses, and get it done. Stay committed, if you fall, get back up, and pretty soon your goals will become reality! It’s never easy, but it’s always worth it.

Be the Influence!
Nancy

Motivation with Maxwell!

Total Weight Lost: 53 Pounds

Ok you guys!  I love all of my clients, but I love this one the most!  Let me explain!  Maxwell is the love of my life.  The most amazing person I have ever met and my bestest friend.  I have Under Armour to thank for bringing Max and I together.  I trained Max in my morning class for over a year before magic happened at our company Christmas Party last year.  The rest has been history.  I have never been happier!  Just another amazing perk that fitness has contributed to my life!

Ok back to business! I am so proud of Max.  He was coming from the WVU football team of heavy weights, sprints, and a totally different mentality of eating and nutrition. My classes are nothing like what he did in college, so this was a huge transition for him.  It took some time, but finally, he gave in to my programs, and gave it a real shot.  Boy, did it pay off!  Here is what he had to say:

“Before I started working out with Nancy I was your stereotypical former college athlete. I participated at a sport in a very high level, therefore I knew everything there was to know about eating right and working out. I thought structure was the only thing I needed to get the same results.  Needless to say I got a little more than I bargained for and the results, knowledge, and inspiration will motivate me for a lifetime.

At the end of 2010 with just six months of the “real world” under my belt, I was an all-time high 258 pounds. All the alcohol, food, and lack of exercise finally caught up to me. Upon seeing a few errant pictures of myself at a party with my shirt off, I knew it was time for a change. I enrolled in Nancy’s boot camp on January 3rd 2011 to see if I could shed a few pounds before our annual spring time mancation.

At first I struggled more mentally than physically with the format. Mentally, I came from an environment where rest and recovery were commonplace and you were measured by the amount of weight you could move not the number of repetitions. If you had an hour and a half workout you were probably only actually working out for 45 min. Nancy’s class was 45 minutes of straight high intensity work. If you asked me to do 10 reps of a weight I could do it, but if you asked me to do reps of the same weight for 45 seconds I would struggle to get 8.

Throughout the Spring and Summer of 2011, I attended her class an average of 3 times a week and tried to stick to a low carb, high protein diet. Once I got my weight down to around 230 I worked out mostly as a means to maintaining my current life style and not an attempt at making any gains. As the Summer ended and the Fall set in I fell off the bandwagon again. I went to around 2 classes and week and started eating poorly again. I decided that Thanksgiving meal was going to be my last hurrah and this time I was going to try to get serious about dieting and working out. Little did I know that a trip to the grocery store would change my life.

When I got back from Thanksgiving at around 240 pounds, I asked Nancy to put me on her diet plan and we decided to meet at the local grocery store. It turns out that I was mostly ill-informed or too stubborn about my old eating habits and that I do not know everything there is to know about eating healthy (imagine that!). The combination of working out in her class and participating in her diet plan has taken my body and mind to shapes and places that I never thought they would go.

I believe dieting and working out are directly correlated. If you are discipline in your diet, you’ll be discipline in working out, and vice versa. I had dieted numerous times in the past for many different reasons, but Nancy’s food plan never once and still hasn’t felt like a diet. I was still eating a lot of the things I normally eat except more often and in smaller portions. I am confident to say that I will never be overweight again and I have developed enough knowledge and discipline through the whole experience to last me the rest of my life.  The best part is, I get to keep the girl too. ” -Max

BE the Influence,

N

The Power of Hormones

For the Ladies!

The effect of hormone balance on your weight loss or gain, can make or break your results. If you are working out, eating right, and NOT shedding inches, this may be a post you want to consider reading.

There is something called estrogen dominance.  Most of us know what estrogen is, or have at least heard the term.  To break down this term, estrogen is the hormone produced in the ovaries.  Estrogen promotes cell division, growth, and fat tissue formation.  Progesterone, another hormone important to know, protects against the pro-growth effect of estrogen.

Estrogen and progesterone are buddies and usually play together quite nicely.  But, as females get older, (usually mid 30’s) progesterone starts decreasing rapidly and estrogen begins to decline slowly.  This is where problems are created and the “estrogen dominance” develops and the growth of excessive fat tissue initiates.

There are other ways that we are getting even MORE estrogen which can make this imbalance worse.  Here are a few things to look out for and try to regulate, that may be contributing to estrogen dominance:

1. Pesticides and herbicides

2. Meat raised on hormones

3. Chemicals (found in lotions, soap, perfumes)

4. Other products (glue, paint, fingernail polish)

5. Stress/Not enough sleep

6. Excessive Calories

8. Poor liver function

9. Magnesium deficiency

Start reading labels, doing some research on affordable organic foods you can buy from your area, and be in tune with your body.  If you aren’t feeling quite like yourself, talk with your doctor about possibly getting your hormones checked.   Hopefully you will break your plateau and get back to seeing results!

SIDE NOTE: Recently, I have read that every woman’s “normal” range in hormone levels is unique to her.  So to know your range, get your hormones tested when you are feeling happy, healthy, energetic, and the “best” you.  This way, you have a better idea what is “normal” for you as you get older.

Xo

N