Exercise/HR questions??

[PaytonPlace]

So my pregnancy w/ my DD I ate crap and didn't exercise and ended up gaining 55 pounds and was a big, huge, enormous pile of flab afterwards....at least I had a cute baby to hold, right??

I am definitely not in that same position this time around. I maintain a balanced healthy diet and I exercise 5-6x per week. I usually run 3x a week and do strength training 2-3x per week. In my opinion, there is a major lack of good information out there about exercise in pregnancy. Are there any updated studies/articles about heart rates? My heart rate naturally gets pretty high, it really doesn't take much effort for mine to be in the 160s-170s, it has always been that way even when I was a very thin, fit teenager. I want to stay fit this pregnancy for the baby & my benefit.

[BlessedNotStressed]

[NekeT]

Since you've already been working out, my 2 cents is to just listen to your body. I worked out all throughout my last pregnancy, and you'll notice that you'll just naturally get tired quicker and some things will naturally get harder, so just pay attention to that and instead of pushing through just adjust your workout.

[geekgolightly]

http://www.amazon.com/Exercising-Thr...1915122&sr=1-1

Well researched and very reassuring about maintaining high levels of fitness.

[petit_bleuet]

Dr. Sears says on page 171 of the 1997 edition of The Pregnancy Book to keep your heart rate below 140 beats per minute. He continues that exercise physiologists recommend between 120 and 140 for cardio depending on age.

He also offers up the talking test (if you can't talk comfortably you're probably exercising too hard) and also reminds women to listen to their bodies like NekeT said. He recommends stopping immediately if you encounter "dizziness, faintness, headaches, shortness of breath, hard heart-pounding or palpitations, uterine contractions, vaginal bleeding or fluid leaking, or pain anywhere."

Congrats on taking better care of yourself this time! I only gained 31 pounds with my last pregnancy but paid little attention to nutrition and got little exercise. I'm trying to do a better job this time around, too!

ETA - I was typing while the above post was written. Hopefully it's not all duplicate info.

[Kidzaplenty]

[acordio]

I don't really know about heart rates. I tend to run on the lower end and never have issues during pregnancy. This is the 1st time I am going into a pregnancy in great shape. I did a half-marathon a week before we found out I was preg and had been working out like 6 times a week too. We were not trying so I had no idea. I have not ran since the race due to a foot injury but am planning to start again tomorrow. I had not worried about my heart rate more about when I get big and being uncomfortable. Anyone on here ever ran all the way thru or well into pregnancy? If so was there any kind of belly support you used?

[Bubblette]

I was in the midst of getting into shape when we found out about our surprise baby!

I've been told that anything I was doing prior to finding out is ok - unless I was running marathons (which I wasn't). I just need to make sure I stay hydrated, don't exhaust myself and if I get hot and sweaty and my heart rate goes up it's fine as long as after a few minutes of slowing down it comes back down. So I figure as long as a listen to my body I can keep up with what I was doing.

[RoseRed]

I know my sister in law ran throughout all her pregnancy. She did a marathon right before she became pregnant and continued throughout. I know that now they say as long as you were doing it before it is alright, the only worry she had was that she said she had to do it very consistently because it was easy for her body to get 'ot of shape' and then she couldn't do it anymore. She lived by the 'exercise youc an talk through rule'