I know I’m going to receive a lot of negative comments from this question, but I do feel I have a legitimate reason for wanting to maintain fitness during pregnancy. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, and right before I was pregnant I was going through a HUGE flare up. I’m 28 years old, and I went from training for a half marathon to walking with a cane. The muscles in my calves completely atrophied, because I couldn’t bend my knees for more than 3 months.
Thank heavens—now that I’m pregnant, I am mostly in remission. Unfortunately, from not doing anything but sitting for 3 months I put on 25 pounds… and THEN got pregnant. No, I do NOT want to diet— I just want to make up for a little lost ground and not get too heavy during pregnancy (last pregnancy I put on 70 pounds!).
Aside from light swimming (which I am doing) does anyone have any workout routines or suggestions that don’t involve using my knees? I can’t do anything like walking, running, lunges, squats, etc— I essentially have the knees of a 99 year old woman. Detailed suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!
I can’t think of much that doesn’t involve your knees. I understand your concern about getting pregnant after gaining 25 pounds, however, I was still 40 pounds over weight when I discovered I was pregnant. I was in the process of losing it, but it’s very difficult to lose weight in a healthy way while pregnant. You might talk to you OB to see if they know of anything other than swimming- I would say yoga and pilates but I am not sure how much that would hurt your knees. You might just go ahead and start on a sugar free diet- like what they put you on if you have gestational diabetes. It can help you eat well, but not have the sugar which might cause more weight gain than you need.
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