Before Pregnancy

The exercises featured in this chapter are:

Drop-Down Press
Jumps
Clean and Snap
Drop Press
Front Squat

Okay, first off, this book is for everyone. If you're one of those people who looks at magazine covers and photo spreads and thinks, I could never be like that, then it's meant for you in particular. Don't be put off by those pictures. Anyone can get in shape and stay in shape. It might not have been easy for you to find the motivation to be fit before now, but this is a great time to do it.

I'm a personal trainer and a fitness model, and I've appeared in numerous national magazines. Exercise is such a part of my everyday routine that I didn't want it to change when I discovered I was pregnant. Like most women, I'd heard stories about what pregnancy could do to your mind and body: the pregnancy weight you could never lose, the cellulite, a loss of identity, being overwhelmed by the new baby and a whole new lifestyle. I wanted to be able to keep my weight down and keep my body in roughly the same condition — for me, but also for my baby.

Actually, that brings me to a good second point — let's take a moment to talk about personal trainers. As I said, I'm one myself, and I've worked with many others. However, there have also been long stretches when I didn't have a trainer, and I worked alone. People think having a trainer is some kind of exclusive privilege, almost elitist, but in reality it's usually more of a social occasion than anything else. Sadly, many people don't want a real trainer; they just want someone to hang out with at the gym.

A trainer will not make you lose weight. He or she can help you only if you really want to do it. Money can't buy health, and some people would rather have surgery than spend an honest hour in the gym. If the motivation is coming from you, your trainer will be a guide to help you along the way. If all the motivation is coming from your trainer, you could probably be doing something more useful with your money.

Also, let me warn you: Throughout this book I'm probably going to slip a lot and refer to your baby as she or her. I'm not a psychic — I'm just very biased, going by my own experiences with my daughter, Elli.

Healthy Eating and Nutrition

Lots of people cringe at the world diet. It's come to have many negative connotations. Don't be scared if I mention diet over the next few pages. No one is going to suggest starving yourself or your baby. All we're talking about is what you eat, not how much of it you eat.

Too many people grab health bars and protein shakes instead of real meals. Have you ever read the ingredients in one of those shakes? More to the point, have you ever understood them? Don't fall victim to a corporate marketing ploy. Eat meals that have real food in them.

Eating right is one of the easiest ways to good health. A few years ago, a friend of mine decided to start seeing a personal trainer. The day after his first meeting, though, he was in a bad car crash that sprained his right arm and fractured several of his ribs. At first he was depressed, since he obviously wasn't going to be exercising, but he decided he could at least start following the new patterns of eating his trainer had set out for him. After a month of mending, doing nothing but sitting on the couch and watching television, he'd lost eight pounds.

If you want to make changes to your eating patterns, it's important to start the process before you become pregnant. Pregnancy is not a time to radically alter your diet.

Eating Meals During Pregnancy

First of all, meal portions should be frequent and small, roughly the size of the palm of your hand. While it is not a good idea to overeat, a pregnant woman should be eating enough to provide fuel to her baby. One of the worst things a pregnant woman can do is starve herself during the day and then eat one big meal at night. Protein is very important for a pregnant woman, and she should also remember to eat vegetables and carbs, and to drink plenty of water throughout the day, especially when exercising.

There's no need to exaggerate one's calorie intake and consume more than is required. It's not recommended to take in much sugar during pregnancy, because it stimulates the baby. Coffee, because of its caffeine content, is also a no-no, as are fast foods because they are high in fat and sugar. Pregnant women should allow themselves a "pig-out day" when they can indulge in having one of their favorite foods. That, however, will produce a sluggish, overworked feeling, and they are likely to want to pass up the chance to go on a food binge again.

Smart Meal Planning

How many of us have been to restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory? The meal portions are huge, easily enough for two or three people, and then you follow that up with dessert. ...

We have choices in everything. My favorite saying is "You are what you eat." Few people really think about what that means. Everything we eat while we are pregnant is actually what the baby is going to become. It is said that even the fat cells in your baby are determined while you are pregnant.

Stop for a second, consider what's on your plate, and ask yourself, Do I need this? Do you really need a second helping of it? Is your mind just playing tricks on you because you're depressed or need to comfort yourself? Smart eating and meal planning are essential to having a healthy baby.

The Exercises

There's a current trend in fitness that reflects our fast-paced society. People are rushing through exercises, cramming weights, cardio, and kickboxing into half an hour and then forgetting about it for the rest of the day — sometimes the rest of the week! That works fine in the short term, but years from now you'll be finding or developing injuries, and you'll have no idea where they're coming from. Why? Well, because you forgot about them.

The results of exercises should be functional — you should be able to see and experience them. If you can't be aware of your body, something needs to change. When you're pregnant, it's even more important to take the time to do things right.

The exercises in this book offer you a full-body workout in about half an hour, working whole muscle groups instead of focusing on individual body parts. When muscles are isolated and worked, your body will become imbalanced and look disproportionate. That is why you frequently meet people at the gym who have phenomenal builds but seem hunched or badly proportioned. They've developed some muscles but not others.

Here is the routine I'd been doing before discovering I was pregnant. It incorporates Olympic-style weight lifting exercises. That may sound a bit scary at first (much like that word diet), but the exercises will give you that functional improvement we were just talking about. There is no single repetitious move that will put strain on your joints and...