Friday Fit Club

Okay I said I was joining then haven't posted an update.

20 week bump

Basically this was because I didn't actually work out though I did look up work outs. And then didn't do them. Part of this was laziness, but then part was fear.

Fear, you might ask? Well, to be honest I started losing weight for no good reason! I was up two pounds from when I found out I was pregnant at the beginning of week 20, steady for a few weeks... then at the end of week 20 I was back at the same weight as when I found out at week 7! This despite the fact that the beginning of week 20 brought an increase in appetite and I began to eat more. This was worrying me and making me hesitant to work out because when I should be gaining but am losing, burning more calories doesn't sound like the best idea. So even though I'd written that I'd work out more to you, I was hesitant to do so...

Then on Wednesday I weighed myself again. I always weigh myself with as few variables as possible, so I'm pretty sure it was accurate: I had lost half a pound! What the heck?! Here I am at 21 weeks 2 days and I weigh less than when I found out I was pregnant?

I freaked out a bit, but ended up looking up articles about losing weight in pregnancy. And they calmed me down. Basically retrospective studies (looking at medical records after the fact, versus giving on going care during pregnancy) of obese women who lost weight during pregnancy showed that they had a far less chance of having complications during pregnancy like pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. Doctors aren't ready to recommend women TRY to lose weight, since they fear it'd have a negative impact on birth weight (and aside from GD, bigger generally means healthier with newborns.) However if you're obese and weight loss is just happening, like it is for me, it's probably not a bad thing. So that relaxed me. Also, every single article I found mentioned that regardless of weight or whatever that unless they're on bedrest the doctor's recommended exercise for all pregnant women, but especially the obese ones. So, the fear went away and I figure even if it does lead to another pound loss it's better to just exercise.

Around this happening a pregnancy group I'm on facebook with recommended squats as being great for pregnant ladies cause it strengthens the muscles we need for labor, so I did some. I think I did 15 squats before bed. Not a large amount, but something to start me rolling. Then on Thursday I went for a 20 minute walk and did 50 leg lifts on each side in bed. And today I've done 20 squats... but my knees hurt a little. Darn relaxin. So maybe I shouldn't do squats or only do them in increments of ten or something.

So my new goal for this week actually is to look up mini exercises like that and here's my thought: I'll make a list of small bursts of pregnancy safe exercises divided up in small doses. I'll try to do at least one "dose" a day but also try not to do more than 3, considering my weight loss. That way I'm being more active but not overdoing it. I know with working out I tend to be all or nothing, so moderation is good. If later on I start gaining weight, I'll increase my activity with no guilt. Oh, and if I find myself with access to a pool you'll have to drag me out, I'm not coming out until someone forces me. Gosh, I miss swimming.

So that's the goal for the week, to ease myself into deliberate exercising again without over doing it. I'll update y'all on how that goes next week. Also I have a doctor's appointment before then, so I'll be talking about my concerns with her and we'll see if that changes anything.

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

Joining Friday Fit Club

I think this is the week it's starting to look
more bump and less "is she just fat?" but
I'm still not obviously pregnant.

Well on Friday I was looking at the blog reel and saw a blogger I follow, Duckie, introducing a Friday Fit Club to kick off the New Year.

I thought, "That's perfect for Meaningful Activity." Since I announced this pregnancy I've been neglecting this blog... but I also have been neglecting working out. First trimester I was just so exhausted and sick feeling, and then the holidays were a whir. But now I have no excuse and exercise during pregnancy is a good thing.

The rules? We set goals for each week and keep each other accountable with an update and photo each Friday. Easy peasy, right?

For newcomers to my blog I'm 18 going on 19 weeks pregnant with my first. :) I'm due in June and then my focus will shift to losing the baby weight. For now I want to go for having a healthy pregnancy.

So my goals for this week is to find pregnancy safe workouts, and do 3 30 minute sessions. Now that I'm past the first trimester fatigue and nausea I really should concentrate on keeping fit for the delivery and to help prevent gestational diabetes. I also want to try to get back to tracking calories, only now for steady healthy weight gain. Since I found out I was pregnant, I am only 1 pound heavier, even though I look much more so... I went down 5 pound actually by week 12 I think, from nausea, but then around week 13 or 14 started to gain that back. I think I have officially gained one pound more than I was when I found out I was pregnant (at 7 weeks). I am still down from the weight I was I would have conceived, as this baby was a surprise and I was actively dieting and exercising for weight loss then. I am about 8 pounds less than I would have been at conception.

Since I am obese/overweight, the doctors want my weight gain at the end to be 10-15 pounds. I have 21 weeks to go, so if we use my starting weight as when I found out I was pregnant, I should gain about a half pound a week. However, if we use my conception weight then it can be more than that. As long as the baby is growing though, less is okay, but I should be striving for healthy weight gain now, not weight loss or maintenance.

Ultimate Blog Party 2013/ Getting Fit Friday

Okay, this week I'm combining my Fit Friday post with an intro post for the Ultimate Blog Party!

Hi, I'm Pamela. This is Meaningful Activity, which is my fitness blog. This is actually my second blog, because I found that when I would be active I liked to blog about it... but it didn't really fit with the niche of my main blog (the Songs on the Way) so I started a second one just as a health and fitness blog.

Here I blog about my different health and fitness goal stuff. Like I'm redoing the Couch to 5K! I did it once before successfully, completing it this past September. But then I was moving to India... and then moved to India.. and then got married... and I just haven't kept up my fitness.

I also share about having PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and a sleeping disorder (which I am
trying a new treatment for!) and then just random stuff. Like how the weather in India makes it harder to exercise (yep, that's right, I'm in India. I'm an American expat.) Oh, and sometimes I talk about things like using the free Noom Weight Loss app on my smart phone, the youtube fitness videos I've tried out, or the MP3 tracks I'm using for the C25K.

Me after a C25K run

Honestly, this is a very new blog, I just started it in January, so I'm still figuring out what goes on it. So I'd love it if you would join me. And I'll love to network with other health and fitness bloggers, to inspire and encourage me!

As for this week... it's sort of been a bust. Well not really. You know how I mentioned just a couple of paragraphs ago about trying a new treatment for my sleeping disorder? First I should tell you that having a sleeping disorder affects every aspect of my life. I know for sure I would have had a .5 to 1 point higher GPA in college without it, because I was always either sleeping through class or going to class with little or no sleep. I am great at ignoring how bad it was, so every semester I'd be like "This will be the semester I do great!" and then three to six weeks later being like "Oh... right... I hate you sleep!" Yes, sleep and I have been great frenemies. Because basically it eludes me to get to sleep, it eludes me waking up, and it is always completely unpredictable. I've never been able to just lay down and sleep, and once asleep an alarm is no guarantee I will wake up!

And obviously anyone who knows what they say about regular sleep and weight loss knows that some people say without it, you can't lose weight at all. (I have lost a couple of inches, but in my whole life I've never been able to lose more than say, ten pounds. Ever.)

A few years ago when I was newly smacked in the face with the reality of how invasive my sleeping disorder truly is, I realized that my new found desire to someday get my Master's would definitely have to happen after I finally got my sleeping disorder under control, it would be idiocy to do it otherwise. But I didn't have medical insurance to find out what was wrong with me, so that was for someday in the future.

Well, two weeks ago, I got an email from a reader of my regular blog saying that she'd been reading for a while and thought she should speak up. I would complain about my sleeping disorder there from time to time, and it all resonated with her because her daughter had the exact same symptoms. They had gotten her tested and it turned out she had a melatonin deficiency.

When I was a teenager I had tried melatonin, but the first day it had no effect, the second day I slept for 18 hours straight and no one could wake me up. That scared me, so we stopped using it and I've never touched it again, though a few people had recommended it to me over the years.

And now, looking at that incident with the realization that someone else in the world had the same symptoms as me (I've never met anyone who has!) and they were diagnosed with melatonin deficiency... maybe the reason I slept 18 hours was because my body was just needing melatonin so bad that it was like "Okay, quick, let's sleep as long as we can while we have it!"

I mentioned this to the woman who had contacted me, and she said that her daughter had been very groggy that first week, but after that it went away and she'd been normal ever since. So it made me wonder if maybe I'd not given up after two days, I could have solved my sleeping disorder as a teenager.

Linking up with Getting Fit Fridays!

So I talked it over with my husband and mom, and decided to give it a try.

By the way, after we got it, I read on the bottle that it's not recommended for teens. So maybe teenage biochemistry makes the reaction more severe? I don't know.

But I've been taking it since Saturday night (so five doses now). It does work! Whether or not it's the solution, I don't know. I was groggy the first several days, not as much now, but I am finding I'm sleeping slightly more than 8 hours a night (9 to 10) so hopefully that levels out soon.

Anyway, because I'm oversleeping, I'm also missing my exercise-in-the-Indian heat window for the C25K. So I haven't done it this week.

But since regulating my sleeping patterns will change every aspect of my life for the better (including weight loss) I figure a missed week isn't a big deal. And according to my friend, her daughter was "normal" after a week, so maybe next week I'll be normal! And if it takes me two weeks, it'd still be totally worth it!

However, writing this is inspiring me that I can go find another workout video on youtube, and I have no excuse for that!