How to Stay Fit and Fabulous in Pregnancy!

Our Raise Your Game series continues with a guest post from the lovely Mirka, super blogger at All Baby Advice, mum to Isabelle and one more on the way (due in March!). It’s rare to come across such a strong and serene model of bumpaliciousness, so I asked her if she would share her secrets. Here’s what she had to say:

How to Stay Fit & Fabulous in Pregnancy?

That is a very good question. I can tell you what has helped me to feel fabulous and stay fit.

Being pregnant doesn’t mean you have to stop doing everything you were doing before and sit on your bum and wait for your bundle of joy to arrive.

That road leads to potentially huge weight gain, swollen feet, fingers and feeling miserable. When I was pregnant with our first child, I didn’t do any exercise and even without eating much more, still managed to put on 20kg. I also suffered horrible backache, and to be honest, I didn’t enjoy my pregnancy at all.

I am almost 38 weeks now and this pregnancy has been very different to the first one.

I decided to really look after my fitness, and it has made a huge difference. It is true that in the past few years I have been doing a lot of exercise, I even ran the London Marathon last year. But I believe that anyone can do at least something to stay in shape and also to feel better while pregnant.

So what did I do?

Except the first 2.5 months, when I felt really sick, every week I made sure I went power-walking once or twice a week, and also swimming once or twice a week. That meant making the effort 3 times a week – not to think about it, just do it. It wasn’t always easy, and I know that many of my pregnant friends couldn’t understand how I did it but if you stay strong, you can do it too!

Until yesterday I managed to swim 60 to 80 lengths and power-walk for an hour (5km), but you don’t have to do as much as I did.

Keep it realistic to your fitness level, you can always add more exercises as you go and always make sure you feel comfortable. If you swim 30 lengths instead of 60, well done. If you power-walk for half an hour, great. Everybody is different.

I honestly believe it is all about regularity and also you have to enjoy it. If you don’t like swimming and power-walking, find a different type of exercise that is still safe to do when pregnant.

My GP also mentioned I could run, but I just didn’t feel like it. I swapped running for power-walking instead and really loved it.

I do miss my running and have already bought a running buggy. I cannot wait to start running again once our baby arrives, get back into shape and lose a few kilos too. But not 20 kg like the first time. If I can do it, you can too!

You can find me blogging at allbabyadvice-blog.com and on Twitter as @Kahanka