Fit & Healthy Pregnancy: How to Stay Strong and in Shape for You and Your Baby

by Kristina Pinto, Rachel Kramer (Contribution by)

Overview

Exercise during pregnancy isn’t just safe, it’s healthy for you and your baby. Fit&Healthy Pregnancy will help new mothers experience an easier, healthier pregnancy and a faster return to fitness after delivery.

Fit&Healthy Pregnancy dispels generations of old wives’ tales about exercise and pregnancy so active women can stay strong and in shape. This book from running coach Dr. Kristina Pinto and triathlete Rachel Kramer, MD goes beyond labor and delivery through the "fourth trimester,” helping new mothers return to fitness after they’ve had their babies.

Fit&Healthy Pregnancy reviews up-to-date research to show that exercise during pregnancy isn’t just safe, it’s ideal for health and wellness. Pinto and Kramer guide moms-to-be through each trimester, showing how their bodies, nutrition needs, and workouts will change. The authors cover the months following delivery, when women adapt to a new lifestyle that balances family, fitness, self, and perhaps a return to work. They offer smart guidance and tips on breastfeeding, sleep training, nutrition and hydration, weight loss, and how to transition back into workouts and training.

Fit&Healthy Pregnancy includes

• Trimester guides to body changes, nutrition, and emotional health
• Guidance on exercise, rest, body temperature, injury prevention
• Guidelines and suggested workouts for running, swimming, and cycling
• Strength and flexibility exercises to reduce discomfort and chance of injury
• Tips on exercise gear for each trimester
• Symptoms of common pregnancy conditions and when to see a doctor
• Three chapters of expert guidance on returning to fitness after delivery

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937716363
Publisher:	VeloPress
Publication date:	06/04/2013
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Dr. Kristina Pinto received her Ed.D. in human development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2005. A specialist in women's health and psychology, she has been a distance runner since 1998, completing 10 marathons and a 90km run in the Australian outback. Dr. Pinto is now a running coach with her business Mile Mannered Running as well as a fitness author who has published in Runners World and Women's Running. She wrote the featured blog Marathon Mama for Competitor Magazine and has published her research in many journals. Profiled in the Boston Globe for her writing and coaching, she currently writes the blog Mother Running Rampant. Dr. Pinto is mom to son Henry, who bikes next to her while she trains on their country roads north of Boston.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I: NINE MONTHS OF HEALTH&WELLNESS

1: Building the Base for Your Ultra-Event: Exercise and Fertility, BMI, Nutrition and Conception, How Much to Exercise, Training During Pregnancy, Talking to Your Doctor, Exercise and Your Growing Baby, Weight Gain, Keeping a Fit Mind

2: Your First Trimester: On Your Mark...: Your Body; Nutrition; Keeping a Fit Mind; Keeping a Fit Body; Guidelines for Running, Cycling, and Swimming; Strength and Flexibility; Gear

3: Wonder Woman, Activate Your Second Trimester: Your Body; Nutrition; Keeping a Fit Mind; Keeping a Fit Body; Guidelines for Running, Cycling, and Swimming; Strength and Flexibility; Gear

4: Your Third Trimester: The Push to the Finish Line: Your Body; Nutrition; Keeping a Fit Mind; Keeping a Fit Body; Guidelines for Running, Cycling, and Swimming; Strength and Flexibility; Gear

5: Delivering Your Personal Best: Labor and Childbirth: Mental Toughness, Breathing and Visualization, Optimal Fetal Positioning, Labor and Delivery, Gear for the Big Day

PART II: THE FOURTH TRIMESTER

6: From Bib Numbers to Bibs: Your First Three Weeks with Your Baby: Your Body, Breast Feeding, Nutrition for Recovery from Labor, Keeping a Fit Mind, A Safe Return to Training, Postpartum Stretching and Flexibility, Gear for Bringing Home Baby, Postpartum Clothes

7: Mamas in Motion: Getting Back on Your Feet: Your Body; Postpartum Fitness; Guidelines for Running, Cycling, and Swimming; Returning to Racing; The Childbirth Fitness Boost; Workouts for Cardio and Muscle Strength; Gear Guide: Trainers, Joggers, Treadmills

8: At Home with Your Fit Self: Striking the Workout-Family Balance: Your Body, Nutrition for Active Moms and Families, Empowering Your Fit Self, Mastering the Workout-Family Balance, High-Quality Training, Focus on Health and Wellness

Notes

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Mothers-to-be hoping to stay fit during pregnancy will gain new allies in Pinto and Kramer. The authors' bold approach not only normalizes a highly physically active pregnancy, it makes exercise (even strenuous exercise, if desired) an imperative throughout the trimesters. These two marathoning mothers wrote the book out of necessity: too many pregnant women hear the antiquated (and no longer ACOG-supported) view from doctors that any exercise raising heart rate to over 140 beats per minute is unhealthy, and they suggest using the Borg scale instead, a numbered scale of perceived exertion (Additionally, the authors invoke a golden rule of exercise intensity: "If it doesn't feel good, don't do it."). Pinto and Kramer include comprehensive fitness and safety guidelines for all four "trimesters": the pregnancy itself and the first three postpartum months. Readers are offered accessible, modern medical knowledge of healthy nutrition for pregnant athletes, pregnancy itself, labor, and post-partum questions, beyond the somewhat unconventional attitude expressed toward high fitness goals. Inspirational mom-athlete stories—such as Emily Baer's nursing breaks at 2007's Hardrock 100 Endurance Run (she finished eighth overall)—prove that goals of athleticism and parenting can be achieved simultaneously. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"A compelling and uplifting guide about how to remain fit during pregnancy...Fit & Healthy Pregnancy sensibly guides mothers-to-be through each trimester. Written in an encouraging tone, this comprehensive primer offers realistic workout suggestions and helpful wellness tips for every step of the way."

Competitor magazine

A superb resource...Amazing scope...Applicable for women at all fitness levels. Recommended reading for any mom who wants to learn more about staying active, sane, and healthy as a mom.

BreakingMuscle.com

"Designed for everyone from veteran competitive athletes to recent fitness enthusiasts, Fit & Healthy Pregnancy is the go-to guide for expectant women who want to stay active throughout pregnancy."

Triathlete magazine

"Fit & Healthy Pregnancy is knowledgeable and accessible, full of information that will arm readers when dealing with doubting doctors and relatives as well as providing the motivation to maintain (or even improve) their fitness throughout the nine months of pregnancy and beyond. This book is an invaluable addition to the reading list of every expecting mama."

San Francisco Book Review

"A compelling and uplifting guide about how to remain fit during pregnancy…Fit & Healthy Pregnancy sensibly guides mothers-to-be through each trimester. Written in an encouraging tone, this comprehensive primer offers realistic workout suggestions and helpful wellness tips for every step of the way." Competitor magazine

"Designed for everyone from veteran competitive athletes to recent fitness enthusiasts, Fit & Healthy Pregnancy is the go-to guide for expectant women who want to stay active throughout pregnancy." Triathlete magazine

"Fit & Healthy Pregnancy is knowledgeable and accessible, full of information that will arm readers when dealing with doubting doctors and relatives as well as providing the motivation to maintain (or even improve) their fitness throughout the nine months of pregnancy and beyond. This book is an invaluable addition to the reading list of every expecting mama." San Francisco Book Review

"A superb resource…Amazing scope…Applicable for women at all fitness levels. Recommended reading for any mom who wants to learn more about staying active, sane, and healthy as a mom." BreakingMuscle.com

From the Publisher