Update . . .Jennifer Nicole Lee

Jennifer Nicole Lee

I had a great suggestion from a comment from a reader yesterday (thank you Iandli!). Jennifer Nicole Lee was a housewife, mother of 2, and weighed in at nearly 200 lbs. After she gave birth to her second child, she took a picture of herself in a bikini and was so frustrated by her appearance, she decided then and there to shed the pounds. Here is a before photo:

And here is the after photo:

She has really done a phenomenal job, and now has a bunch of DVDs that detail how you can work out USING your children. Click here to see the selection. You can also read her blog.

I want to reiterate that I haven’t used these videos or even seen them, but I think she should be commended for her amazing turnaround. She has a bootcamp and is a lifestyle consultant, so if you need inspiration to get to the gym, I think you have found it. Here is a vid!

Pre-Natal and Post-Natal Personal Trainer Certification through AFPA

If you are interested in making a career out of Pre-Natal and Post-Natal fitness (I must admit, it did sound attractive to me), you can become a personal trainer with a certificate in pre/post Natal Excercise from the American Fitness Professionals and Associates.

The AFPA Pre/Post Natal Exercise Specialist Certification program will show those who are considering working with, or currently working with pregnant or post pregnancy women, how to design and implement programs that are sensitive to their physical needs.

Topics include prenatal and postnatal physiology adaptations, musculoskeletal & metabolic adaptations, maternal responses to acute exercise, fetal responses to acute exercise, aerobic and resistance-training effects in labor and delivery, exercise guidelines for pre/post partum, nutrient requirements throughout pregnancy.

Caveats: 1) It is pricey at $665. You might want to do a personal training course without the specialization for $335 first, to make sure it is your thing. 2) Check with the gyms in you area first to make sure that they accept that accreditation. When you are contacted by customers, you want to make sure that you can work at the gym!

Why Get Fit?

Pre-pregnancy Exercise Plans for Fit People . . . hard to find

I am getting a bit frustrated searching for an exercise plan for pre-pregnancy. I go to the gym regularly, and it seems like most of the information out there is for overweight, sedentary moms at risk for diabetes. And considering over 50% of America is overweight, I suppose that makes sense. However, I am 5′8″, 137 lbs, and have a BMI of 20.8, and I am not looking for plans that help me work up to 30 minutes of walking 4 times a week. I am looking for specific plans to focus on areas that need the most strength, such as lower back and stomach.

Why is Fitness a Concern?

But let’s go to basics. I found some information in a study on Pre-pregnancy Fitness Levels on Delivery Outcomes.

The importance of physical activity as a cornerstone for treating and preventing chronic disease is well accepted. Paradoxically, however, exercise was historically contraindicated during pregnancy. The theoretical risks to the mother and fetus were felt to outweigh any potential benefits of regular exercise. This sentiment was based more on anecdote and dogma than science. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), therefore, has released a position statement encouraging that pregnant women, unless otherwise medically contraindicated, obtain 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most (preferably all) days of the week.

1 Moderate physical activity is safe, well tolerated, and associated with improved maternal well-being during pregnancy.

2 Less is known, however, about any association of a woman’s fitness prior to pregnancy and subsequent
birth outcomes. The purpose of this pilot study, therefore, was to determine to what extent a woman’s prepregnancy fitness level is associated with the selected birth outcomes of weight, Apgar scoring, mode of delivery, need for pain medication, and breast-feeding.

So what were the results of the study?

Utilizing a unique population of active-duty women and validated measures of fitness, we found that physically fit women request less epidural anesthesia than those who are less fit. This provides further support to previous literature indicating that women in superior physical condition tolerate labor better than those in poor physical condition.

Pre-pregnancy fitness levels, however, were not associated with the mode of delivery, breast-feeding through 2 months postpartum, birth weight, or Apgar scores.

So What Does that Mean?

Being fit will make delivery easier for you, but it won’t affect the birth weight of the baby, if you will have a C-section or not, or change how likely it is that you will breast feed. Anything that makes pregnancy easier for me is going to be a priority. Will let you know when I find that plan for those who go to the gym already . . .

Acupuncture for Pregnancy

I had several hours to kill and ran into a colleague of my mothers who taught her acupuncture and Chinese medicine.  This was something I grew up with in my house, so I am not one of those people that had to be convinced that Eastern medicine was a viable alternative to Western Medicine.

I asked him if he thought it could help some knee pain I was experiencing from my dance class, and he said of course.  Before an acupuncturist treats you like a human pincushion, he asked me about my general health, and I told him about my desire to become pregnant within the year.

The Darwin of Dentists

He then told me about a man named Dr. Westin House Price, wrote down a website for me to check out, and it has been fairly interesting to read up on him.  He was a dentist who went around the world in the 1930s and did research on nutrition and diet and how it affected teeth.  While his main focus was teeth, he did find out some very interesting things about “primitive” diets during pregnancy.  I have taken this from the website of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation

Dr. Price’s investigation showed that primitives understood and practiced preconception nutritional programs for both parents. Many tribes required a period of premarital nutrition, and children were spaced to permit the mother to maintain her full health and strength, thus assuring subsequent offspring of physical excellence. Special foods were often given to pregnant and lactating women, as well as to the maturing boys and girls in preparation for future parenthood. Dr. Price found these foods to be very rich in fat soluble vitamins A and D nutrients found only in animal fats.

These primitives with their fine bodies, homogeneous reproduction, emotional stability and freedom from degenerative ills stand forth in sharp contrast to those subsisting on the impoverished foods of civilization-sugar, white flour, pasteurized milk and convenience foods filled with extenders and additives.

Basically, I am to eat a lot of fat, but not the kind in twinkees and ho-hos, but animal fat, or organic oils like olive, coconut, macadeamia nut, and avocado oils.  I think that won’t be a problem.  He also told me to eat lots of organic butter.

Acupuncture and Pregnancy

But back to the acupuncture and pregnancy . . . Among the many benefits of acupuncture during pregnancy, a recent study has shown its particular effectiveness in relieving morning sickness or the potentially more dangerous hyperemesis gravidarum (severe vomiting during pregnancy). The Australian study published in the journal Birth reportes that of 593 women less than 14 weeks pregnant who participated, those who received traditional acupuncture reported having less frequent and shorter periods of nausea than the women who received no acupuncture. These improvements were felt immediately and lasted throughout the study’s four-week duration. In the first trimester, acupuncture can also relieve fatigue, migraines and bleeding.

Research reported in a November 1998 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that an aspect of acupuncture called moxabustion, when applied to 130 pregnant women with breech presentations, significantly increased the number of head-first births. Used for centuries in China to turn breech babies, moxabustion employs long sticks of the herb moxa to produce a gentle, smoldering heat and a smoke that are held close to an acupuncture point in the little toe. The treatment, most effective at 32 to 36 weeks, should only be used in healthy pregnancies (from Pregnancytoday.com).

I am not scared of needles.  In fact, I am quite intrigued that an acupuncturist can actually jab something two inches into my body, and I pretty much feel nothing.   All the needles he put into my knee were fine, however, the needles in my ear hurt a bit when they were placed.  However, as soon as he left the room, I fell promptly asleep and didn’t wake up for an hour. Couldn’t have hurt that bad.

What exactly are you going to be poking?

Acupuncture treatment is recommended once a month to ensure the optimal health of the mother and the developing fetus at different stages of growth and differentiation. Tradition has it that Zhubin (K9), the “beautiful baby point“, should be needled at the end of the third and sixth months to ensure a happy, healthy, and of course, gorgeous baby. The Chinese name for the point means “guest house”. The Zhubin point, located just below the calf muscle and above the inner ankle bone, is known to calm the mind, relieve anxiety and help to build blood.

It is claimed that “stimulating this point minimizes the transmission of toxins from the mother to the child, increases the health of the baby and its resistance to disease and also tonifies the mother’s Qi.”

In preparation for labor and delivery during the last month of the pregnancy the expectant mom should be seen weekly.

For more info, see these pages at Acufinder.com

How can acupuncture be used in pregnancy?

1. Acupuncture for the healthy mom:
2. Acupuncture for pre-existing medical issues:
3. Acupuncture for pregnancy related conditions:

• Psychological issues
• Physical problems
• Fatigue
• Morning Sickness
• Heartburn
• Constipation
• Hemorrhoids
• Back Pain and Sciatica
• Edema
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Rhinitis of pregnancy

4. Breech Presentation
5. Induction for post due date
6. Labor
7. Acupuncture for Post-partum disorders:

• Fatigue
• Postpartum vaginal discharge
• Postpartum Depression
• Mastitis
• Insufficient or Excessive Lactation
• Post Operative Healing

Hope this opened up some options for your back aches and morning sickness!

A Baby-Ready Bod: Food

Since I am one the of lucky ones who are getting to plan their pregnancy, I am quite concerned with:

• Getting my body in shape so the last months of pregnancy aren’t so painful, and I can better get through labor
• Getting my body into shape so I can bounce back once the baby has been born

How do I do that best? How much should I eat? How much weight should I gain?

Lets start with the last bit first, how much weight should I gain? (all from americanpregnancy.org)

• 7 1/2pounds is about how much the baby will weigh by the end of pregnancy (my husband was 10lbs, I was 6, so I am crossing my fingers the baby will be more like me)
• 1 1/2pounds is how much the placenta weighs.
• 4 pounds is attributed to increased fluid volume.
• 2 pounds is the weight of the uterus.
• 2 pounds is the weight of breast tissue. (YES! Looking forward to this part!)
• 4 pounds is because of increased blood volume (now that is a lot of blood)
• 7 pounds is attributed to maternal stores of fat, protein and other nutrients.
• 2 pounds for the amniotic fluid.

Total: 30 pounds

So when is that supposed to happen?

• First trimester: 3-5 pounds (that is nothing! that is what I gain when I have my period)
• Second trimester: 1-2 pounds per week (13 lbs to 26 lbs)
• Third trimester: 1-2 pounds per week (13 lbs to 26 lbs)

Now, I have seen pregnant friends that when pregnant, tell themselves to go on a free for all and they just eat anything and everything. According to the sources I have found.

• First trimester: you don’t need to change anything!
• Second and Third trimester: an extra 300 calories a day

300 calories a day, that is NOTHING! That is two big spoonfuls of Haagen Dazs. Crap now that just is so lame. That is like . . .. ONE slice of bread with cheese on it, or peanut butter. Some more examples of the pregnancy smorgasbord I can partake in:

• 1 cup of non-fat fruit yogurt and a medium apple
• 1 piece of whole wheat toast spread with 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 cup of beef and bean chili sprinkled with 1/2 ounce cheddar cheese
• 1 cup of raisin bran cereal with 1/2 cup of non-fat milk and a small banana
• 3 ounces roasted lean ham or chicken breast and 1/2 cup sweet potatoes
• 1 flour tortilla (7-inch), 1/2 cup re-fried beans, 1/2 cup cooked broccoli, and 1/2 cup cooked red pepper.

.. Going to think about the exercise plan tomorrow instead. This depressed me too much. Enjoy the pregnancy time-lapse!

One in 6 million

6,000,000 women in the United States will become pregnant in the next year. I hope to become one of them.

I will be living in Texas, and I would really like to avoid being very fat and sweaty and hormonal during the 95 degree summer heat. So that means that I need to time it a bit.

Right now I am researching. Why, you might ask? We know how people get pregnant, what is the big deal?

Folic acid is what started me thinking. You have to take enough folic acid before you get preggers, if you start popping folic acid supplements when you find out, it is just too late. Folic acid is used to make the extra blood your body needs during pregnancy. Neural tube defects usually develop in the first 28 days of pregnancy, often before a woman even knows that she is pregnant. Small window, so best be prepared.

I figure there must be tons of these little things you need to know before you get pregnant, like what sort of exercises to focus on etc. Some studies suggest that the fitness of the mother results in shorter labor, fewer medical interventions, and less exhaustion during labor. That sounds good to me! Oh wait, if you exercise too strenuously, you can restrict oxygen from your uterus. Bad for baby? What is my optimal heart rate so my baby can still get blood, but I can get fit?

I am in love with the idea of baby sign language. I have spent time with friends 1 year – and two year olds, and I have no clue what they are talking about. Becca, a little girl that I know, says “juish” for everything. Everything. And 90% of the time her mom knows exactly what she means. But what about the other 10%?

Babies have the mental capacity to communicate, but the control over their vocal cords hasn’t caught up to their brain. They know they would like something, or what to tell you something, but they can’t say it, only think it. How frustrating would that be? This could be a reason for the “terrible twos.” However, young children do have motor control, and would be able to sign their thoughts if they were only taught it like a language along with speaking.

I think their lives and my lives will be less frustrating, but I need to learn it before they are born, cause something tells me I will be too busy afterwards.

Check back tomorrow to find out more about my my exercise/get-in-shape for baby plan tomorrow and what all that baby weight really is!