First trimester: big; Second trimester: bigger; Third trimester: biggest. To boot, my appetite suddenly doubled and sure enough, I'm eating for two. If you've read any of my earlier blogs (Aug/Sept) you know that I had the best intentions to exercise daily and stay on top of flabby arms, back fat, and jiggly thighs.
That didn't work out as well as I expected. I still get to the gym most days, but while I was able to do up to an hour of cardio when pregnant with my first child, cardiovascular activities are a huge challenge and knocks me out for the rest of the day. Not advantageous when you're chasing a toddler around. My workouts changed with each trimester:
1st trimester: I (reluctantly) spent a lot of time on the elliptical machine and incorporated yoga and pilates a couple of times a week.
Second trimester: After giving up on cardio, yoga and pilates five times a week was extremely beneficial (in fact, so much so, that I didn't experience much back pain like I did during my first pregnancy).
Third trimester: Walking on a treadmill at the bottom-end of my target heart rate and weights (in the same workout session) several times a week feels good. I continued to attend yoga classes until I couldn't anymore. My gym doesn't offer prenatal yoga, and most of the positions involved lying on my ever-expanding belly and extreme twisting or balancing. I ended up spending way too much time in child's pose, and eventually the baby (nicknamed "Thomas" by Olivia) made it clear that he didn't like yoga so I turned to resistance training instead.
To be fair, my thighs aren't rubbing together this time (though they're far from 'toned'); there's very little back fat and cellulite, but the sausage arms are back. (Don't believe me? Check out my tv spot on http://better.tv/view/C465532P234234V1589199 to see what I mean. And while you're watching, play "count the chins.") Definitely wearing long sleeves from here-on-in.
Another ten weeks to go and I'll keep at it. After all, this baby will be born just in time for bathing suit season...
