Most people assume that pregnancy is just nine months of your life where everything gets put on the back burner, and you’re forced to be really lazy. While it’s definitely true that being pregnant makes you more tired and lethargic, you really don’t have to stop doing a lot of the things you used to love.

One of the main misconceptions is that you can’t stay fit during pregnancy. You can’t keep going to the gym, you shouldn’t lift weights, and you just have to accept that you’ll put on weight and lose your figure. Everything I just said is an utter lie! There’s no reason you can’t keep to a fitness regime while carrying a child. Yes, it’s impossible to go through pregnancy without gaining weight or losing a bit of your shape, but you can still remain physically fit and healthy.

It upsets me that so many expectant mothers think this way. Mostly because it does cause feelings of depression while you’re pregnant, as you think you’ve lost your fit body forever. So, I put together this big blog post to help any pregnant women out. In it, I’ll give you some simple tips that make it easy to stay fit during pregnancy. Before I do this, I want to tell you why it’s beneficial to keep to a fitness regime when you’re carrying a baby.

The Benefits Of Staying Fit While Pregnant

The obvious benefit is that you keep your body in as best shape as possible. You may gain weight from carrying a child and eating more food, but you can keep yourself in check. You’ll still tone up your muscles, leading to a fitter and more athletic appearance. If you really stick to a good regime, you can look as good as you did beforehand, just with a big round pregnant belly!

But, you should also stay fit because it helps your child remain healthy too. If you’re working out and exercising, then you keep your body working well. Complement this with a good diet and your baby will get loads of nutrients while in your womb. Think about when you treat your body badly during pregnancy, what can happen? More often than not, babies are born with complications and health issues. Flip this around and treat your body right, and the opposite will happen.

Thirdly, it can improve your overall mood if you try and stay fit as a pregnant mother. As you can see on edition.cnn.com, exercise makes you happier because it releases endorphins in your body. If you sit on the sofa all day feeling sorry for yourself, then your mood is bound to decline. But, if you’re being active, releasing lots of endorphins, and seeing results, then you’ll be much happier throughout pregnancy.

Finally, it can be very beneficial to stay fit during pregnancy as it makes it easier to carry things on after pregnancy. So, you can get yourself back into the best shape of your life after giving birth!

Tips For Staying Fit During Pregnancy

Now, it’s time to look at some of the tips and ways in which you can stay fit while carrying a baby. Obviously, there are certain things you just can’t do anymore because it’s too dangerous or demanding on your body. There will be no super high-intensity exercises that get you sprinting around a gym throwing weights around. It’s all about finding things that don’t demand too much effort, yet still yield results.

So, bearing this in mind, here are some things you can do to stay fit, along with a few helpful tips to help you see the best results possible:

Do Yoga Everyday

Yoga is easily the best way for pregnant mothers to stay in shape. It’s the ultimate ‘no-excuses’ type of exercise that does more than one thing to benefit you. For one, it keeps your muscles nice and loose, relieving you of any pain you may experience during pregnancy. Back pain is especially common, and yoga routines can counter this and make you feel nice and relaxed. It’s good to do before bed, helping you get a good night of sleep. But, it can also elevate your heart rate a bit, build muscle tone, and burn calories. Some types of yoga can be a little bit more intense than others, meaning you see more calorie burning benefits, but they’re still easy for moms to do.

Follow A Fitness Plan

In my eyes, it’s a lot easier to get fit when you have a plan of sorts to follow. Otherwise, you just have no real structure to your workouts, and it’s easy to skip exercise days because you don’t know what to do. The great thing is, there are sites like MomsIntoFitness.com that have prenatal fitness plans for moms. A plan like this is good because it’s designed for pregnant mothers like you. So, you have all the routines and workouts planned out for you, and you know they’re specifically for people in your position. The fact you have a plan means that you’ll feel bad if you don’t stick to it. It’s added motivation, and you’ll definitely see the benefits.

Walk As Much As Possible

I know plenty of women that used to run a lot but feel like they can’t do this while they’re pregnant. Now, I think you should be able to go on runs when you’ve just entered pregnancy, but there comes a point when it’s a bit too taxing on your body. Instead of just not doing any form of exercise to replace your runs, you should walk instead. Go for long, brisk walks, and you’ll keep yourself fit. There’s plenty of information on mayoclinic.org that proves walking is good for your fitness and health. In fact, some experts say it’s better than running as it’s not as demanding on your joints. Try and walk 10,000 steps per day, this is the recommended amount if you want to stay fit.

Buy A Fitness Tracker

Speaking of walking, it’s a lot easier to reach your walking goals when you have a fitness tracker. Something like a FitBit is great as it tracks your steps, calories burned, resting heart-rate, and so much more. How does this help you stay fit while pregnant? Well, it’s simply added motivation for you when you have something telling you all this information. You feel bad when you look at your wrist and see you’ve barely done any physical activity for the day. What’s more, a lot of fitness trackers actually notify you when you’re lazy. If you haven’t walked for a certain amount of time, they vibrate on your wrist, making you get up and do something. Plus, you can track your progress, which also helps motivate you to exercise more. You’re constantly setting goals and challenges for yourself by seeing if you can beat the fitness stats from the previous day/week.

Back Your Exercise Up With A Healthy Diet

I mentioned this earlier, but exercise isn’t the only thing involved when getting fit. You need to back everything up with a healthy diet – which is easier said than done. Even when you’re not pregnant, it can be hard to stick to a diet as you crave all the naughty stuff.  But, your hormones are all over the place when you’re expecting a baby. Literally, they go nuts, and you crave the weirdest things. Most of the time, your cravings are for sweet treats that aren’t good for you. It leads to binge eating, which is why so many women put in weight when they’re pregnant.

So, how do you stick to a healthy diet? One thing you can do is to throw out all the bad stuff in your home. If you haven’t got loads of cakes and crisps, then it’s obviously harder to eat them! Of course, you can’t just leave your cupboards bare. So, replace these treats with some healthier alternatives. Nuts are a great thing to have as a snack, or rice cakes with a thin bit of chocolate spread on them. There are loads of healthy snacks out there that you can pack in your cupboards to satisfy your cravings.

Don’t Let A Baby Get In The Way Of Your Fitness Goals

Right, there you have it; some of my best advice on staying fit while pregnant. I know it seems like you can’t do much when you’re pregnant, but you can definitely stick to your fitness regime. Okay, it might not be the exact same regime that you had before pregnancy, but it will still keep you in great shape. Follow all my advice/tips, and you’ll find it a lot easier to deal with being pregnant as well.

Of course, as I mentioned right at the start of this piece, you put yourself in a good position for postnatal fitness too. By already exercising during pregnancy, it’s easy to get into the swing of things afterwards. Now, you can get your original fitness goals back on track, and achieve the body of your dreams in no time.