Fact: The whole premise of this website is that I try out a new fitness experiment every month and then report back to you about my adventures.
Fact: I’m pregnant (18 weeks on Saturday).
At first glance you wouldn’t think these two facts would be irreconcilable and, let me assure you, when I was contemplating this, my last pregnancy, I didn’t think they would be. “Nothing will change!” I chirped happily to myself as I slowly felt change creeping over every part of my body. “Okay, so the first tri is hard but if I can just hang in there until the second tri – the “happy tri” – then I’ll be back to my old rip-roaring self” I said through gritted teeth as every workout except for yoga began to feel like an unbearable chore. And then May happened. You may have noticed (or not!) that there was no GFE for May. I tried. I really did. I even came up with a great workout from a celeb trainer who even answered my e-mails! But I couldn’t muster up enough enthusiasm to try it.
I’m going to level with you: I’m feeling fat. I’m tired all the time. Moreover, everything makes me sore. My cardio tolerance is nil. Workouts that were cake 4 months ago, lay me out flat now. It’s all I can do just to show up for my workout every day and do something. Sure, there are good days when I still can get in a 5-mile run and pump some iron. But that’s maybe one day a week. The other 5 days – as the gym buddies can attest – are just doing the bare minimum to get by and then hoping I don’t collapse on the way out to my car. And I’m not the only one. Gym Buddy Allison (22 weeks preggo) is down to 2 days a week in the gym now. I know that pregnancy doesn’t slow some women down at all but for whatever reason it really has me.
Don’t get me wrong, I do feel like exercising is important during this pregnancy. There are many things I love about exercise. First and foremost I get my social time with my friends every day at the gym. I don’t tell them enough but they save me from total insanity on a regular basis. Second, I get those two lovely hours of free babysitting which I desperately need as my youngest has decided to give up napping. Third – and this surprises me – I actually feel pretty good about my body when I’m working out. Yeah, I can’t keep up with my non-preggo friends anymore but yoga pants are very forgiving and when I look in the mirror at the gym, I’m proud that I’m still hanging in there. Fourth, even though the workouts feel hard while I’m doing them, I do feel better after finishing them. I think it does give me some more energy and helps with my mood and I believe that the exercise helps the baby as well (I even have research to back up that last assertion!)
So I’ll keep working out – I haven’t missed a single workout yet! – but I’m afraid that just maintaining the status quo is about all you can expect from me over the next few months. I contemplated doing other Experiments like swimming or eliminating processed food or even cognitive behavioral therapy (because nothing says fun like watching someone write positive mantras 500 times) but it all just made me too tired. Who knows – maybe this will change – but for now I’m going to have to put the experimenting on the backburner.
I feel really bad about this. Not only do I feel like I’m letting you guys down but even moreso I feel like I’ve failed myself. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I wanted to be one of those women who show the world that pregnancy isn’t an illness and that you can still be the same crazyfunactive girl you were before you became an alien host. Except that I’m not. I’m sorry. I’ll still blog and I hope you’ll still read, even though the experimenting part of The Great Fitness Experiment is temporarily on hiatus. Thanks for your understanding.
Charlotte spake thusly:
I’m feeling fat. I’m tired all the time. Moreover, everything makes me sore. My cardio tolerance is nil.Holy Immaculate Conception, that’s my problem! Call the National Enquirer, it turns out that I’m pregnant. For, um, several years.
Seriously, at least this stage will pass. I’m betting your pregnancy won’t last more than a year.
Plus, no need for guilt. Trying to achieve any level of fitness while your body’s doing all that internal work is a fitness experiment all on its own! Go Charlotte!
Nobody is going to think you let us down! You’re pregnant! We love and enjoy YOU! So, write about whatever you want, we’ll still be here.
Isn’t pregnancy a great fitness experiment all on it’s own? Except instead of one month you get a whole nine! You are doing amazingly and for me at least you are showing a wonderful example of all the things you can keep doing during pregnancy and busting a few myths along the way. All my friends seem to be or just were pregnant and you would kick their asses if you were here because most have stopped doing anything! Please don’t feel like you have let ANYONE down.
De-lurking to say what everyone else says – don’t worry about an experiment, just keep posting. Because, y’know, pregnancy is A Great Experiment in and of itself. And what Spring Girl said about being an inspirational pregnant-person-who-still-goes-to-the-gym-at-all is totally the case. So please don’t even think about feeling guilty for this.
of COURSE we’ll still read – no matter what! Please don’t feel like youve let people down – you soooooooooooooooo havent!!!!!!
so there! 🙂
ok this mightcould be the greatest experiment ever, charlotte.
the selflove.
the realizing that you are human and loving yourself and your soontobewithusbaba enough to make the experiment “Can you just be for a while?”
Just hang here with us in blogville and use your amazing skills (mad skillz as the kids no longer say) to write.
To take us on exercise journeys with your words.
To stretch our MINDS and not our (or your) limbs.
This is, IMO, the greatest and most important experiment ever.
xo xo,
Carla
I think the other commenters are right–that blogging about your experiences with exercising (or not) during pregnancy are a great experiment–and people need to know the reality that it isn’t always possible to go along with one’s usual program. It is a truly important experiment in itself, an definitely a chance to explore working within and with the limitations that crop up in life. I know that that’s what I feel like I can learn the most from!
Lady, listen to your body before you get injured and take it easy! Also, I’m not pregnant and can’t run 5 miles in one sitting. Grrr. I know you’re a fitness overachiever and all, but maybe some long walks on an incline would be what the doctor ordered? Still exercise, but not… like… the crazy kind? 🙂
Thank you! Thank you for making me feel normal! I’m only 6.5 weeks and I feel like I can barely get the motivation to work out. I did a power walk yesterday and it nearly killed me (and I do work out 5 days a week most weeks). So I’m glad to hear that pregnancy is impacting your workouts and even your motivation to work out. But knowing that you’re still doing it will help encourage me to still do it.
Now I just have to figure out when because I used to use nap time for work outs, now I seem to need it for my own naps!
I’m not a big swimmer, but I did love the pre-natal exercise class in the pool (at the Y) both times that I was pregnant. It was the one time of day that I could enfold myself in weightlessness and not feel like a beached whale.
Isn’t pregnancy its own fitness experiment?! I love that you are not ignoring your pregnancy on this blog but embracing it. As someone who has been trying to get pregnant for a very long time, your blog inspires me every time i read it. Keep it up and congratulations!
It’s your blog. You can do whatever you want with it, and I promise you’ll still have readers.
I did notice there was no experiment for May, but I’m with everyone else – I just figured pregnancy is enough of a Fitness Experiment on it’s own. Hang in there Charlotte!
I’m totally good with the no experiment idea, but I think swimming, not as an experiment, would be a nice activity for you. My mom once made the statement, “If I have another child, I’ll have them under water.”
LOL! Maybe going in the water a little early is a good idea also?
1. I agree with everyone that pregnancy is it’s own fitness experiment.
2. I also agree that your blog rocks with or without an experiment.
3. I agree with Carla that the “mental” aspect of fitness is sooooo much an important part of fitness/weight loss equation. Emotional, eating, binge eating, the lovely negative voices in my head, all contribute to my fitness/weight loss failings. Perhaps more so than an occasional missed day from the gym.
4. I am so super jealous your gym has free babysitting!!
I agree with the other comments….do what you feel you can do, write about what you want to write about, and we will all be here to enjoy you wit and commentary as you go thru this pregnancy.
Just a thought, but maybe you could see if some of your loyal readers wanted to test out a “Fitness Experiment” of there own and do the occasional post….just a thought!
Your experiment hiatus is totally understandable, Charlotte! You need to do what’s best for you and the little one inside you. 🙂 I’m excited that you’re still going to be writing posts, period, and will keep on reading my favorite blog!
I only read for the pictures, haha. Not really. I agree with the others that exercising during pregnancy is a pretty good experiment. But if you were my friend or family member, I would tell you to stick to workouts that make you feel good while you are doing them.
I run, and I do tempo and interval work, so I understand the whole discomfort during the work out and feeling really good after the workout thing, but there’s a big difference between that and having a crappy workout but feeling happy that you at least did something. I kind of get the impression that you’re falling into the second category a lot.
Maybe a good experiment would be to see if you can chill out and walk or jog easily (no reason it can’t be at the gym so you can have a chance to regain your sanity) and do yoga or whatever your body feels like doing on that day without worrying about what other people will think of you or feeling like a failure for listening to your body.
finally, you admit to being human! lol. I'm pregnant too, and have told myself to exercise at least every other day, even if only for 30 minutes. I'm so freaking tired all the time! But I read the pregnancy book you had recommended way back when, and now I'm scared to stop working out, because it seems that women who work out early in pregnancy, than stop, have more L&D problems than those women who don't work out at all! Yikes!
Charlotte – Rule number one when it comes to blogging – THERE ARE NO RULES. You’re not letting anyone down. We all root for your new child and are amazed by the things you do while he/she is cooking inside. Observe the world from where you are now, sprinkle in some of your thoughts and that will be fine.
Carla is 100% correct. It’s not about your readers and fitness, even though that was the reason for the blog. But to steer away from a monthly experiment can be put on the back-burner for sure! We all care about your health, sanity and well-being during your pregnancy! I know I read your blog cause you are DAMN FUNNY! I love the way you tell stories, gross-outs or not. I still eat my PB toast while reading your blog every day at work. Some times I have to be careful with the vomit stories as I’m a chucker!
PS: Even if you wanted to sit in the lobby for the full 2 hours, you can. As long as you don’t leave the gym, you could take a 2 hour long shower if you wanted to. (Just don’t take the pager in with you!) 🙂
I am going to laugh at Merry’s comment all day long! 🙂
No worries honey – you are, afterall, completing a pretty big experiment day-in and day-out! In fact, you don’t even get a rest day from this one, so I think you’re doing fabulous! And now I started reading all the other comments and I see that pretty much everyone else wrote the same stuff! 🙂 We just love you Charlotte, we’re not here JUST for the experiments.
Oh, come on, you wussy! Don’t poop out on us, now! I mean, it’s not like your body’s creating a new LIFE or anyth . . . oh. Um. Wait.
LOL, seriously, just do what you can. We’ll still be here, even if there’s no official experiment. (And not to sound TOO weird, but as someone who’s never been pregnant, I find it fascinating to read about what you can and can’t do, and how it changes.)
First, you’re writing is fun and the highlight of my mornings… whatever you choose to write about.
Second, instead of showing the world that you can be the same while pregnant… you can show the world that it’s okay to listen to what your body needs and adjust your activities to that.
I think we all want to keep going no matter what and not let anything get in our way, but coming from someone who got seriously ill last year and absolutely HAD to start listening to my body more closely and tailoring each day to how my body was doing… it’s not a bad thing. And we should be able to do that without all of the guilt about what we should be doing.
So do what you gotta do… we’ll still be here. And damn girl, you’ll still be impressing us with all that you do.
Don’t worry! I think that pregnancy is a pretty good reason for not doing crazy fitness antics 😉 Why don’t you get some people to do a little guest blogging and have someone else do a strange and unusual fitness experiment, in between your own regular (non-fitness experiment) blog posts?
Also 18 weeks already! Time sure flies.
Not only are you GROWING AN ENTIRE HUMAN BEING INSIDE YOUR BODY, but you are chasing after the other 3 MALE people you grew!
It’s a great thing you’re doing. Pregnancy isn’t an illness, but it does sometimes require some different patterns of behavior.
Listen to your body and take care of yourself. We’ll be here, experiment or no.
(Maybe you could temporarily re-name the site “The Great Pregnancy Experiment.”)
Oh, and LOVE the pic!
I hate to sound like a broken record, but I felt the same way during my pregnancy and I now know I was depressed. As in, clinically, not just feeling mopey.
Fat. Unmotivated. Down. Down. Down. Sad. Bad about myself.
Have you checked with your doc?
Why not ask one of your gym buddies to do an experiment and give weekly updates? It wouldnt be the same, but it’d be something.
btw, you’re not fat. Just saying.
You rock, and you gotta do what you feel is good for you. You are only human, and if you’re too exhausted, you gotta take it down a notch. And these are all things I will have to repeat over and over to myself if/when/ever I go through this, because I can see that I’d be really (unreasonably, of course) disappointed with myself that I couldn’t push through and just deal with it. Then I’d realize that it’s for a good reason and I’d tell my brain to stuff it and find something else to be awesome at for a while. At least in Quix happy fun fantasy land that is – never been there so I can’t say fo sho.
You’ll find that as your pregnancy advances that your baby will demand more oxygen from you, and this will increase your rate of perceived exertion. So your cardiovascular capacity is not actually nil, even though it feel that wat, it’s busy growing your baby. Since the placenta stops growing at 20 weeks, its ability to transport oxygen and nutrients becomes limited. From this point onward, pregnant women should slowly taper down the intensity of their workouts.
More information on prenatal and postpartum fitness and exercise can be found at http://www.befitmom.com
Growing people is hard work. Doing that while doing a workout can’t possibly feel the same as doing it while not growing a person. And no, you are not getting fat. I saw you today and you have this little round spot where you have an extra person. You are almost half way through your pregnancy – of course you aren’t going to look the same as you did 5 months ago. Don’t be so hard on yourself! You are doing a great job. 🙂 As far as the GFE, they are lots of fun to read, but not if they are created at the expense of your health and family.
Uh…seems to me you’re undergoing the biggest GFE ever: being pregnant and working out.
Don’t sweat it. (HA! See what I did there?) We love you without FEs; we love you with.
I’d love to see an experiment that involves doing exactly what your pregnant body feels like doing. (Mine felt like eating entire pies all by myself in single 24-hour periods. That was strange.)
Your posts are so fun to read. I’ll keep reading without experiments and appreciate that you’re doing what’s best for you and mini-pumpkin. If you take a break from posting entirely, I’ll have my reader poised to alert me to anything new.
It makes me happy that you’re taking care of yourself and your needs. What a great role model!
NO GUILT! That is the mantra for you! You have great stuff to read whether it is fitness or not.. you are an awesome writer! I would read if you were writing about a dead rat because you would make it entertaining! Heck, the whole poop, fart, pee stuff was hilarious and so true. Many of us will not write about that!
Take this time for you, enjoy the babysitting time & maybe come with me on that self-worth journey! From some of your comments on my site, seems like we are very similar in that way…. we just can't find it!
Heck I have never been pregnant & feel like you do sometimes! 🙂
You have a healthy baby on the way so keep yourself & the baby healthy by "giving in" to what is right for you at this point in time!
I will be back tomorrow!
I’m GLAD you are taking a temporary hiatus from your experiments!! Just don’t take a hiatus from blogging and I think everyone will remain happy!! 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I feel so much better knowing that an incredibly fit pregnant woman (YOU)at my exact same stage of pregnancy is not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Because this mama is actually fat (seriously) and is feeling like a wimp/weakling/fatso at the Y and abusing the childcare too, five or six days a week. Thanks for sharing. Now I know that I am not a total wimp when I slack off from my workouts.
Cardio? Heck, my weight routine has me huffing and puffing just fine. But I'm sticking it out too, especially as I'm borderline gestational diabetic and need the exercise (and a restrictive diet) to keep my blood sugar in line.
No experiments? No big deal. No blogs from Charlotte? Despair! Keep doing what you can and remind yourself that your uterus is doing one heck of a workout 24/7 to be followed by a mega workout (hello pain tolerance, endurance, squeezing, pushing, meditation/relaxation/whatever) that would make most men want to die.
Sure, it'd be great to be one of those perky, fit, pregnant superwomen that never stop during pregnancy, much less slow down, but I'm guessing that either these women are younger, have fewer or no other children, or we're not getting the full story. I was insanely active with my first child, 5 years ago, but it is different this time around. Listen to your body– and maybe not so much to your head?
girl–please cut yourself some slack! I guarantee you do more exercise in a week than most people do in a month.
or more. 🙂
and I feel your pain/exhaustion right now. Not only are you BUILDING A LIFE, but you have 3 other little guys who drain your energy every single day.
The first pregnancy is cake.
The second is a challenge.
The third has kicked my butt, so I cannot even fathom how tired YOU must be!
hang in there and write what you want, WHEN you want!
(and swing by Chicago in July, ok?) 🙂
Wanted to share that we had the nicest "family time" last evening huddled around the computer reading your blog! Mom, Dad and about 5 kiddos… too funny. Keep writing we love it.
Babes 5 and 6 were the hardest to gestate for me…. tired ALL THE TIME. Your work load increases exponentially each time! Take care.
Looks as though everybody else said what I wanted to say.
We love you no matter what you write about, and the fitness experiment part can certainly be put on hold until after your baby is born.
Write what you want to write about! We'll still read it!
Charlotte,
Are you kidding? You have so not failed my friend! 18 weeks pregnant and haven't missed a workout…you're my hero. Seriously. 🙂
Oh thank GOD–you ARE human! And, newsflash sister–You ARE having an active, physically fit pregnancy. You are growing a human being. Definitely takes precedence over blogging. What up with the soreness? I was complete opposite–never sore. Blows my theory that relaxin keeps you from being sore. Oh well! For me, it's postpartum that has swiped my groove. I'm still feeling like a sliver of myself. And I'm ok with it. And I'm ok that I'm 15 lbs heavier. And I love the little dog weenie in the photo.
I'm late here, but Charlotte, for goodness sake, we love ALL your posts, and I think the fact that your still working out at all is an inspiration.
Listen to your body and your readers and take it as easy as you need to!
Not only are you NOT letting us down, THANK YOU.
I had my fourth baby eight weeks ago(a girl, after three boys – do you think THAT was fodder for a mild freakout?), and I just eeked through working out during my pregnancy. I felt fat. And tired. And bored by the kind of exercising I could do without contracting like crazy for the last trimester. Every time I dragged myself to the gym, I felt like a lazy slacker cow for dreading it. Yes I felt better after, yes I knew it was benefitting me and the baby, but gah. I wanted to go home and nap.
Thank you for making me feel better about my effort. I did my best. You're doing your best. And now, when I'm finally back at the gym and berating myself because a whole week AND a half into exercising again and I'm STILL NOT back to where I was, I will continue to do the best I can.
You're an inspiration, in so many ways.
*considers a chorus of "The Wind Beneath My Wings."*
hmmm…
*decides against it.*
"I wanted to be one of those women who show the world that pregnancy isn't an illness and that you can still be the same crazyfunactive girl you were before you became an alien host."
You're right. It's so not an illness. But it IS a sacrifice. A dose of alien hosting makes me a better human.
Um, hello. You're human. Welcome to the human race.
Oh Charlotte honey, you haven't let any of us down.
Pregnancy is not an illness–you're absolutely right! But it does require a certain amount of grace…towards yourself.
Your body is busy taking care of two people–of course you're going to be tired–and I don't think any of your regular readers hold you in contempt for that.
Just take care of yourself, and let us know how you're doing, okay?
We'll look forward to the experiments when your body is okay with doing them again.
Love,