Keeping in shape while pregnant

 

After Kim Kardashian’s much-publicized weight gain during her preganancy and Kate Middleton’s equally-publicized lack thereof, I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about the imminent pound pile on.

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But, there’s no reason to eat for two (by the way, the extra kilojoules you need for the baby are equivalent to 1 small tub of yoghurt or a slice of toast and cheese) and exercise need not fall by the way side for the entire 9 months. I maintained my 3 times a week beach promenade walk with my husband. Since I was 8 months pregnant in mid summer, we would time our walks to co-incide with sunset. Romantic and practical 🙂 We would walk for 30-40 minutes at a gentle pace.

Towards the end of the 38th week, we would walk 10 minutes, then rest – he’s roll me to my feet for the next 10 minutes and we’d manage 30 in total 😉 I discovered that Pilates (if you start this form of exercise before) is a fantastic way to maintain your strength and prepare yourself physically for birth. My instructor, helped me not to balloon too much and to maintain muscle memory. Hopefully it shouldn’t take too long to pop back into shape, but don’t use Hollywood standards as par for the course.

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Your health and your baby’s health is paramount and you need not be ready for a swimsuit shoot 1 month after a baby – leave that to Heidi Klum 😉 Another great form of exercise while pregnant is . We featured them on my show “Glambition” – this is the link to the Yummy Mummy episode in which we did a feature on them: . Janine Habana also has a facility called – there’s a great insert on her discussing pre and post pregnancy fitness with fitness expert . I spent quite a bit of time at my favourite women-only gym on Kloof Street in the Lifestyles on Kloof Centre called Zone Fitness – and PreggiBellies classes are also presented there once a week.

Keep fit and healthy during your pregnancy – it’s good for you and the baby and helps recovery post birth.

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20 Comments

  1. Petuela Wills Africa
    Tue, 08 April 2014
    Reply

    You look amazing Jo. How do you keep stretchmarks at bay?

  2. Carmen
    Tue, 08 April 2014
    Reply

    You looked great while preggies Jo!!!!

  3. Amanda Loqo
    Tue, 08 April 2014
    Reply

    :)Looking great

  4. Tue, 08 April 2014
    Reply

    you look beautiful Jo!!

  5. Tue, 08 April 2014
    Reply

    Thanks Cheri, Amanda and Carmen 🙂 And Petuela, i used Bio Oil from the start -morning and night. Key is to keep moisturised. Genetics also plays a role – my mom did not have stretch marks. She used Happy Event (33 years ago!) and also had great results.

  6. Tue, 08 April 2014
    Reply

    You look amazing pregnant Joanne! Well done for keeping fit during pregnancy.

  7. Louisa Ramonyai
    Tue, 08 April 2014
    Reply

    You look amazing Joanne. After having my last baby in 2009, i am still strugling to get my tummy back in to shape.

  8. Lesley
    Tue, 08 April 2014
    Reply

    Beautiful, may god bless you and baba. I haven’t had a baby at all and my tummy has never been at bay.
    Commom Jo pls give us some tips and baby pic please

  9. Karosha Govender
    Wed, 09 April 2014
    Reply

    You and your precious baby bump look super sweet.
    All the best on your pregnancy and for the future.
    XoXo

  10. Murchell
    Wed, 09 April 2014
    Reply

    U look preggie beautiful Jo-anne….;-) anD so blessed…..love u!

  11. Anastacia
    Wed, 09 April 2014
    Reply

    Congratulations to you and your husband and the village that’ll form part of his upbringing! You are such an inspiration to me as a young coloured woman; a shining example of what it means to wait. God bless you for making his privacy your top priority. Enjoy him!
    Loads of love,
    Ana xo

  12. Michilene
    Wed, 09 April 2014
    Reply

    Love the blog! I really liked the Woolworths Preggy Jeans. They costs about R400 for really good quality and still looked great post pregnancy. Oh, and Mr Price have funkier, younger designs for younger mommies. Didn’t suit me but definitely a winner for the hipsters out there 🙂

  13. Adêle Bonita Scheepers
    Fri, 11 April 2014
    Reply

    Aggggge jinne man, Mrs Held you look so cute with that belly… 😛

  14. Sat, 12 April 2014
    Reply

    Thanks for all the feedback and kind comments. Michilene, you are right, those are great jeans. My CherryMelon ones cost even less though – I think R280 🙂 Being fit during your pregnancy also helps your recovery after birth. And carrying around a heavy baby – exercise those biceps, ladies 😉 You’ll thank me when baby arrives! xx

  15. Sun, 13 April 2014
    Reply

    Always wanted to try out Pilates! So interesting that one only needs so few extra calories for the baby.

  16. Mon, 14 April 2014
    Reply

    You look gorgeous! Great posts by the way.

    Vanessa

  17. Wendy Cox
    Mon, 14 April 2014
    Reply

    you sure looked beautiful while preggies you will be back to shape very soon good luck xxx

  18. Tue, 15 April 2014
    Reply

    Absolutely stunning! Love you to bits!

  19. Mpho Molokwane
    Wed, 23 April 2014
    Reply

    you look great.

  20. Lyn Peters
    Mon, 17 August 2015
    Reply

    Love you too bit- You are such an imspiration

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