Week 8 - Every workout feels like I'm starting from scratch

How difficult can it be to remain fit and active in the first trimester? The literature says that you should and are able to do what you have been doing before you got pregnant.

But they forgot to mention that your body constantly fights against you. I have been lucky, no morning sickness, but I feel as though I am fatigued all the time. Every workout is like the first week of working out when you have been in active for years. I have to drag myself. Afterwards I feel great, but starting has been an issue.

Food:

I have no crazy cravings. In fact, the only things I am eating more off, which is similar to my first pregnancy, is citrus fruits and pineapple. For some reason, these are the only things that seem to get rid of the funny taste in my mouth. I don't think this is bad, at least I'm getting a healthy dose of fibre and vitamins. My diet remains much the same. I am not yet eating in amounts that could be described as "for two". I will avoid that this time round (remind me in six months or so).


So how has my workout regime looked like?

Tuesday - Legs and Shoulders - The very same that I have been doing. I avoided step ups because I wasn't feeling too good. However, I did walking lunges with a bar, single leg press....It was good. I wobbled home after.

Wednesday - Back and Triceps - This was a terrific workout. I had a class to teach wednesday so I had the added cardio of one hour zumba outside. I heat up easily now and I am taking copious amounts of water.

Thursday - I didn't make it to the gym but I did kick boxing and kettle bell training at home. This was a difficult workout. I strained on the plyo but I'm not ready to give that up yet.

Friday - A bit of cardio and chest and biceps. Yes I am still lying down on the bench. I will continue to do this until about 16 weeks when the pressure will be too much to bear.

Saturday - Awesome class. Thanks to everyone who turned up! My Mom came for Zumba....how cool is that?

Today - I want to do full body dumbbell strength today. It's family day and we are about to go out. So it all depends on time. I won't stress about it. Tomorrow is legs and I will probably get two workouts in as I choreograph some new stuff for my classes.

Take heart if you're tired all the time. It takes an enormous amount of will power to get up and running when your body is working against you. But you can do it.

Have an active Sunday!

Fitness, Kenyan Mama Style!

“Perhaps fitness is not a good career for a woman of reproductive age....” Said my Husband. I know he said it from a good place, he is my rock, he has been supportive of me since I decided to take fitness up full time. Leaving the sitting room to me in the evenings after our baby has fallen asleep so that I can choreograph my classes in peace, indulging my trips for events, enduring changes in diet, but you see, we did not foresee this happening so soon after I had begun. There were two lines on the stick. We were expecting another mini me. 

I am a mother of one. My new career was born out of losing weight and coming back to self after baby number one. I had done it through hard work, through a lot of research and studying, I had even taken up a course on personal training and sought certification in Zumba. It wasn’t about losing weight anymore, I wanted to spread this new happy place I had discovered, that we all have the power to transform ourselves, inside and out.

We moved to Nairobi from Nakuru in August. This was a new and exciting chapter for me. Once the house had come together, I set about knocking doors, marketing myself, teaching free classes....everything was beginning to come together. I was getting a schedule, enjoying my work, choreographing new classes all the time and loving it. 

But then my shoes started getting a little smaller....really! Tight and tighter. I didn’t know this could happen? (in retrospect my body reacted rather fast)....I seemed to be bloated all the time, and that ab definition? What Ab definition? 

The clincher? I went to a pool party and donned a small top to teach Zumba. We had fun. We shimmied, we danced, we had a terrific time. And we went home, tired, partied out. ....then the photos and the videos came out. My abs looked completely wrecked. I am a bit narcissistic you see, :-P I know how things are supposed to look with the hard work I put in, and they didn’t reflect it. It was time to pee on a stick. 

...that last line was for the dramatic effect...I walked into a hospital and took a pregnancy test...less dramatic....but I wanted to be sure. 

We are expecting another Mini Me. 

Yay! Yay. Yay?

How does this affect my work, my career, my own body image? It is important to be confident as a trainer, inspiring and motivating others is only done when you are in a good place yourself. 

So we talked, we mulled it over, my husband and I...and finally we decided....

This little baby is going to be a Maasai warrior at birth. 

Eh? 

Yes I said it! Mum’s going to be what she preaches everyday. That pregnancy is not a disease. That we can be active through out, that actually getting your legs off of the coffee table and getting them moving is beneficial to you, and your little one. My little baby is going to be born a Spartan, a Warrior, He/She is going to be born swinging a kettlebell ....ouch that might be painful...maybe just holding up a fist. 

So I started showing a little early...happens with subsequent pregnancies. I’m about 7 and a half weeks in. The doctor seemed amused when I told him my abs told me I was pregnant....he doesn’t understand ego....but he was sweet. 

So here I am....putting myself out there once again....putting my own tagline to the test. Fitness, Kenyan Mama Style! 

This is today, after an hour and a half of kick boxing and kettle bell training. 

Hello, I’m Miss Fit Kenya....and I’m expecting. 

Someone did a recording an posted it on youtube....

And here's the link!

It was during the Sentao class. The first time they were doing sentao. Fun crowd!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeidKVDPznw

I've been up to a little bit of this and that

Moving to Nairobi has been awesome! The people here and about are so welcoming plus we get to sweat it out together. Here are some photos from Meru over the weekend where we went to have a fitness party with fellow Zumba instructor Grace. We were guests of Nick (very welcoming people)...We had lots of fun

Here I am...teaching sentao...you do a push up on a chair like this.....Yes you can do a push up to the beat of music

And they were such sweethearts, everyone did the push ups....

Here we are working abs with one of my favourite songs to teach.....Papaoutai

I have no idea what song this was but we were having fun!

Nick, Grace and myself....don't let her small stature fool you, that little girl jumps around like a bouncing ball when she's teaching

When are you going to come for one of my fitness parties?

Have a terrific week!