Pro-Sports

So I had all the best intensions to get this pregnancy off to a healthy start. I did the background research on the right kind of diet and exercising.

Ten weeks into the pregnancy, and all I’ve done is walk around the supermarket and made sure I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast. So much for being healthy…

Yeah, I could say that I was extremely tired which is common in the first trimester. I could say that the morning sickness was really bad so I ended up eating whatever I could keep down instead of the kinds of food that was good for the baby. Yada yada yada…

Well, the second trimester is just around the corner and I’m starting to feel perkier so I guess now is a good a time as any to turn over a new leaf and start working out and eating healthier.

Dare I say it? Watch this space?

Popularity: 10% [?]

They say that if you are planning on getting pregnant, it’s advisable that you start altering your dietary habits one month before, so I figured I’m not really jumping the boat by posting this at this point in time.

According to Women’s Health, below are some tips on what you should do about your diet when pregnant. If you want the full write up, click here.

Pregnant women need additional nutrients, but that doesn’t mean she has to eat twice the amount of food. When pregnant, an increase of 300 calories in your diet should be sufficient. What’s more important is what you eat.

A quick summary of the food combinations and their relative amounts to ensure sufficient nutrients are consumed:

Fruits and Vegetables — 7 or more servings of fruits and vegetables combined daily.

One Serving Fruit = 1 medium apple, 1 medium banana, 1/2 cup of chopped fruit, 3/4 cup of fruit juice.

One Serving Vegetables = 1 cup raw leafy vegetables, 1/2 cup of other vegetables (raw or cooked), 3/4 cup vegetable juice.

Whole-grains or Enriched Breads/Cereals — 6 to 9 servings of whole-grain or enriched breads and/or cereals every day.

One Serving Cereal/Bread = 1 slice bread, 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta, 1 cup ready-to-eat cereal.

Dairy Products — 4 or more servings of low-fat or non-fat milk, yogurt, cheese or other dairy products every day.

One Serving Dairy = 1 cup of milk or yogurt, 1 1/2 oz. natural cheese, 2 oz. processed cheese

Proteins — Pregnant women need 10 grams of protein more than non-pregnant women. The daily requirements of a 60kg woman is about 60g of protein, therefore, she would need about 70g of protein when pregnant. That’s about 2-3 servings of protein.

One Serving Protein = 2-3oz. of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish, 1 oz. meat also = 1/2 cup cooked dried beans, 1 egg, 1/2 cup tofu, 1/3 cup nuts, 2 T. peanut butter

Basic nutritional requirements

Folic acid: 400 micrograms (400 mcg) of folic acid every day helps to prevent birth defects. Foods rich in folate are broccoli, asparagus, bananas, oranges, peas, nuts, spaghetti, bread, cereal (fortified cereals - you need to check the nutrient label)

Iron: 30 mg per day, as pregnant women need twice as much as non-pregnant women. Foods rich in iron are lean red meat, fish, poultry, dried fruits, whole-grain breads, and iron-fortified cereals.

Calcium: women aged 19 to 50 years require 1,000 mg/day of calcium. Younger women need 1300 mg/day. Foods rich in calcium, besides your dairy products, are green leafy vegetables, and fortified foods, like cereals.

Water: at least six eight-ounce glasses of water per day plus another glass of water for each hour of activity. Tea and coffee contain caffeine which is a diuretic (makes you lose water), therefore you should add a glass of water for every cup of tea or coffee that you drink.

Popularity: 10% [?]

The moment I told a number of family members and some friends that I was pregnant I was quite startled by the reaction of how conservative a number of them were, for their immediate reaction was to inform me that I ought to stop all my activities and “take it easy”.

Before I became pregnant, I had been determined to keep up my level of activities as I saw fit. Perhaps at that time, I was delving too deep into the realms of the opposite extremes, but I certainly did not and still do not agree with zero activity during pregnancy.

I certainly understand the need to heed my body’s advice, however, I thought it a rather extreme idea that I should lock myself up and do nothing but rest and eat. I’m carrying a baby, not preparing for hibernation.

Since the dawn of ages, women have been toiling in the fields up to the day of labour, ceasing only long enough only to deliver the baby and rest for the remainder of that day before returning to the fields the following day.

Of course, I am hardly of the physique to be toiling day in and day out up until the day of delivery, but then, neither do I belong to the category of the home bound. I have been running races and rock climbing fairly consistently for the last six months before pregnancy.

With so much controversy over this topic, I decided to find out what the experts saying about pregnancy and exercise…

The first obstetrician I saw was of the opinion that if I could maintain a regime of swimming breast stroke up until as close to labour as I am able to, it would encourage an easier and quicker delivery. If it couldn’t be swimming, then as long as I did not do any jumping or exercises that engaged my abdominals, it would be fine.

The second obstetrician agreed that exercise was fine as long as I was not over-exerting myself. Gentle walking on a thread mill was fine, as was gentle cycling on a recumbent cycle. Yoga was allowable as long as I did not push my limits and informed the instructor that I am pregnant. Baby Center also provides a guideline for expecting mothers who wish to continue Yoga.

I also did my own research and found that the views on exercise and pregnancy are still quite varied and somewhat controversial. I guess the problem is because there have been very little research done on exercise and pregnant women. Understandably so, since it is rather uncommon to find a pregnant mother who would willingly subject the development of her child on experimental exercise regimes.

In general most sources agree that if you are normally sedentary, starting an exercise program when you are pregnant may not be the wisest thing to do. However, women who are already accustomed to strenuous activities before becoming pregnant are not likely to harm themselves or their babies if they were to continue these activities during their pregnancy.

In general, most literature encourage some sort of exercise, however there are some recommendations to follow. For instance, they recommend keeping ventilated to avoid overheating, drinking plenty of fluids to keep hydrated, wearing loose fitting clothes that breathe, avoid exercising on hot/humid days, and listening to your body.

Kid’s Health believe that exercise during pregnancy can help mothers relieve back aches, reduce constipation, prevent wear and tear of joints, sleep better, prepare for birth, and regain their pre-pregnant body more quickly.

They also advise that mothers should heed their body and stop exercising when they feel tired, dizzy, feel short of breath, feel pain in their backs or pelvis, or have heart palpitations.

“Dr Guttmacher’s Pregnancy, Birth & Family Planning” advise against exercise if you have had preterm labour or a prior history of one, vaginal bleeding, cervical incompetence, ruptured membranes (broken water bag), a foetus that is not growing properly, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, twins or multiple pregnancy. You should also check with your doctor if you have any pre-pregnant medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease or thyroid disease.

I also did a quick check on running while pregnant since I ran 15km on the Sunday

Runner’s World began with a quote from Olympic champion Joan Samuelson as she talked about running for two: “It was a beautiful winter day – snowy but sunny – and I felt great running on snow-packed roads. I was as pregnant as possible – for that evening, I gave birth. I had gone out for a five-miler, but I felt I could have run forever. No matter how much time passes, I can still mentally put myself on that road. A perfect run on a perfect day.” (From Joan Samuelson’s Running for Women.)

Although running is not entirely discouraged, the general consensus is that it is not for everyone and you should seek your doctor’s advice. A number of sources advise against exercises and sports that involve jumping, bouncing, possibility of injury to the abdomen and sports with a high likelihood of falls.

After all that, I’ve decided to heed the obstetrician’s advice and stick to walking, cycling and swimming – although I have yet to do any of these. I have to admit that I’ve been particularly lazy, but I intend to change that now that the nausea and vomiting is easing off. before I discovered I was pregnant and found the take on it quite varied.

Popularity: 9% [?]

During the post-race discussion, SKT suggested that I stick to a routine of running 2km a day, 6 days a week.

“Do that, and I guarantee your race time will improve,” he said.

I was supposed to test the results of this “training” suggestion at the next race - the 10km category at The PJ Half Marathon.

Regrettably, I have since discovered I’m pregnant so there will be no more races for the next nine months and no chance to test this for a while.

Anyway, in theory, after one month of running 2km a day, 6 days a week, the distance is supposed to be gradually increased.

Anyone care to tell me how it goes?

Popularity: 10% [?]

Call it petty, call it whatever you will…

Sometime back, I read in The Star that only the top 30 women will receive a medal for completing the PJ Half Marathon. Since I am unlikely to ever make it into the top 30 with the kind of commitment I give to my “training” schedule, I’ve decided to stop wasting my time with this race.

Well, since I’m pregnant now, I guess that rules out running altogether, anyway.

Popularity: 11% [?]

A tad overdue, but here is the low down on the Pacesetter’s Race:

Sunday 21 May 2006

Actually, I should begin with the day before… As usual, full arrogance in play, I gave the race as little respect as I would have given any regular 10km race not organised by Pacesetter.

We went to watch “The Da Vinci Code” at GSC 1Utama and then went over to PL & J’s house for supper. By the time I got to bed, it was 2am.

Having spent the earlier part of the day in Brandi’s class, I was pretty beat by this stage. It was quite evident when I mistakenly set my alarm clock at 5:45am thinking I had set it for 5:15am.

Despite the shortage of restful hours, I woke up immediately to the alarm feeling more alert than I ever did on any other race day. I was up the moment I switched off the alarm without even an indulgent stretch in bed. It was probably just as well, since I had fifteen minutes to get ready and arrive at our usual meeting area.

It wasn’t until I received a “wake-up” call from SKT (actually, it wasn’t so much of a wake-up call as it was a “just-checking-if-you’re-on-your-way” call), when I realised my alarm clock mistake.

I hit double time with the lathering of sun screen, took two pieces of bread into the car (all the while regretting that I had left my Power Bar at the other house) and left the house. I made it to the meeting point at five minutes past six, just in time to observe G parking his car.

My bread was extremely dry and I had a difficult time swallowing it. I forced it down all the same, for even I did not have the audacity to attempt 15km on an empty fuel tank. Luckily, SKT had a spare Power Gel that I gulped down gratefully.

Once again, I had succeeded in undertaking almost zero training for this race, and I paid for it with a substantial drop in my timing - clocking in at 1hr 55mins. It took me 1hr and 18mins to complete the first 10km (an extra 8 mins more than my 10km timing).

The only good thing I can recall about the race was that the double-hill was a lot more comfortable than I remembered from previous races. I don’t really know if I can attribute that to past race experience, the fact that I began with a slower running pace, or that there was an improvement in my incline tackling abilities.

My biggest failing in this 15km race was my underestimation of the additional 5km. Most of the races I normally attend are 10km in distance, so I thought, what’s another 5km? Now a half marathon of 21km - that is a respectable distance.

Humbly, I eat my words. After wobbling across the finishing line with legs feeling like jell’O, I promised myself that I would never discount a 15km run as a game to be trifled with.

Even so, the pain was worth it - every last meter just so I could have this:

My precious! The reason behind which I race… This little piece of pewter to mark all my past glories.

Perhaps an absurd reason, it is my reason nonetheless…

Popularity: 14% [?]