Catchup Week 11- Week 20

11 weeks Maxing out on deadlift at 160lbs

Week 11 I brought back a little gluten into my diet because of laziness and saw a decrease in energy and moodiness so by the end of the week I cut it out again and felt great.

12 weeks deadlifting 145lbs x 5

Week 12 I felt very good! We were in the middle of a program that included higher reps at a lower weight which tested me in new ways. I'd much rather do higher weight and lower reps!! 

My body weight started to increase fast so I revamped my diet and was even more careful how much sugar I was consuming and made sure to get all carbs from fresh veggies. 

13 weeks Squatting 120lbs x 5

Week 13 Gained a total of 4lbs since the beginning of pregnancy and felt really good. My drink choice of the week was raw egg, kefir and whey blended together. It wasn't as bad as it sounds... but not delicious. Started walking or jogging to get in some cardio which seems to really help in maintaing my weight. People don't understand or believe me when I say I could gain a pound a day while pregnant. I'm somewhat jealous of all the women that can eat whatever they want and only gain 20-30lbs throughout their pregnancy. But again, if that was my story, I would not be as careful about what I ate, so in the end, I'm grateful I have to work so hard to stay at a reasonable weight. 

14 weeks 183lb RDL

Week 14 Some days I didn't even feel like I was pregnant. Maybe that has to do with hitting the second trimester.  I pushed hard at the gym while being careful to listen to my body.

Week 15 Decided to try intermittent fasting.  Eating one big meal a day then doing small snacks for the remainder of the day so I still got in all my calories. I found that I started gaining weight faster than I was comfortable with so I went back to five small meals a day. Proud to say that at this point I hadn't missed a workout in my entire pregnancy. 

16 weeks hitting benching PR 90lbs

Week 16 was max out week for Bluegrass Barbell. Because of the heavy lifting week in front of me, I packed in the protein and good fats and felt ready to go each day. 

Bench PR from 80lbs to 90lbs

Deadlift went nowhere :(

Squat PR went from 140lbs to 150lbs

For the first time in the pregnancy I had lower back and left hip issues. After working with the Chiropractor I found out that it's a common problem for pregnant women to experience pelvis tilting. Part of this, for me, was caused but muscle imbalance and exacerbated by pregnancy, loose ligaments and a curvature of my spine. 

*I heard the babys heartbeat and felt baby move for the first time!!!  :) 

Week 17 6lbs of total weight gain and felt on top of the world. My hip still hurt but I spent extra time stretching and saw the Chiropractor and message therapist that week which seemed to help a lot. I took it easy on squats and did not deadlift at all. 

Week 18 7lbs of total weight gain. I felt great and had energy from the moment I woke up. I'm not a morning person so this improvement in energy was significant! I worked hard in the gym and managed any lows in my day by taking Coenzymate B Complex and within 20 minutes would feel like a new person. The heavy lifts continued to feel normal other than a little hip pain that I continued to work on by stretching. 

Week 19 My hip pain peaked this week and I was starting to get worried that it would keep me from squatting and deadlifting. My Coach decided to stretch my legs and back. While he was twisting, turning and pushing on my legs, I thought about killing him because it hurt that bad. I walked out of 6th Gear that night concerned and questioning his sanity. The next day...  I was pain free! Faith in my Coach was restored :) The pain came back a little a few days later, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it'd been. I tried some stretches that my body responded well to and it gradually disappeared. 

This week I increased the amount of meat I'd been eating instead of relying on whey so much.  

 

 

20 weeks 5:30am birthday workout. 

 Bench Press 87lbsx3 (PR)

Deadlift 170x3 (PR)

Squat 125x3

Week 20 was a good week! I hit two PRs on my birthday and had a wonderful weekend with my family. However, the downside of being away from home is the temptation of bad food. I'm very strong at home... because I limit what is allowed in the house :) So maybe it's a false strength because out in public I still have a very hard time resisting bread and sweets. My sister in law made amazing snicker-doodle cookies (I had four),  ate rolls with soup,  snagged a small piece of pizza from my sister, ate theater popcorn while at the movies and had a soda at a pub with my sisters. Just those exceptions were enough to make me gain 4lbs. Hard to believe, right? But I'm telling you, my body holds on to anything and everything while I'm preggo. All I have to do is look at food and I gain a pound. I think it's weird and I definitely know it's frustrating. It's been suggested to me that I may have higher estrogen levels than some, which make me hold onto those extra calories.

 I'm halfway finished growing a baby! Hooray. Selfishly, I'm already struggling with feeling thick and can't wait to get back to my pre-preggo self.