Bun in the Oven: Fat Fitness

Then ... morning sickness hit, and all of my high-minded ambitions went straight out the window. Swim? Walk? Like, on purpose? You had to be kidding. I was lucky to have enough energy to get to work every day. However, after surviving something quite comparable to a six-week-long hangover, I reemerged, ready to hit the gym and get back into the swing of things. By then it was late June, when the weather was still downright frosty here in A-town. Amazingly enough, I did manage to recoup for a fairly comprehensive fitness routine. It has paid off nicely, with a 5-month weight gain of only 8 pounds, and a general feeling of spunk and energy over the last few months. There are an astounding number of options for prenatal fitness in our über-jock city. Here are just a few.

For me, a return to my pre-pregnancy lifestyle with a few additions and modifications worked best. I restarted workouts with Amalia Litras, a smart, intuitive, and well-educated trainer at Grass Iron Fitness. I've been seeing Amalia for about two years, so she knows my existing limitations, and has a bead on where I tend to push myself and where I tend to slack off. Lifting weekly has helped my overall fitness immensely -- especially with lower back soreness and general stiffness, which returns with a vengeance if I miss even one session. If you decide to pick up a new trainer after pregnancy hits, it's probably smart to go with someone who focuses on prenatal workouts, such as Darline Tuner-Lee, Casey Neuwirth, or Kristen Tuner. The best idea, though, is to develop a routine and relationship with any good, well-qualified trainer long before you even consider TTC.

I've also loved swimming. Being in the water is so freeing when you're feeling all fat and unwieldy. Even though many of the public pools are now closed, the nice nippy ones -- Deep Eddy and Barton Springs -- are still going strong. Plus there's Stacy Park, all year round, for the Southies. Or, if you want to pony up some membership dough, head over to the Y, Pure Austin Fitness, the JCAA, or 24 Hour Fitness, just to name a few, to while away some time coasting back and forth in a cool and inviting pool. Open water swimming -- which was a passion of mine -- is a big no-no, especially in an area like ours that suffers persistent droughts, which can create breeding grounds for nasty amoebas. (2006 has actually been a great summer for water quality; nevertheless, lake and river swimming is an activity where it's better for a PG woman to be safe than sorry.)

And then there's yoga. I'm not into it, but heaps and heaps of evidence point to yoga being the perfect prenatal exercise. To that end, the readiest choice is Yoga Yoga, with four studios around town and prenatal classes on schedule at every location. For regular strikers of downward dog, the only practice I'd definitely avoid is the trendy new hot yoga -- though that's something I plan to check out once the baby arrives. Yoga in a sauna? Call me sick, but that sounds like a blast.

The benefits of working out while pregnant have been two-fold. There's the obvious: I've stayed trim (uh, relatively speaking) and I feel great. But I've also enjoyed sharing the excitement with, and getting a little extra attention from, my fellow gym rats. I work out at a very small joint -- Hyde Park Gym -- and the folks there have had fun supporting and teasing me about my changing shape. Similarly, when I head for the pool, especially if I've got a fellow preggie in tow, the smiles of encouragement are downright inspiring. Or maybe those smiles are really suppressed snickers at our spandex-stretched bellies and waddling walk...? Anyway, it's all about staying in the thick of things in our fabulous, fit city, and it's been both fun and rewarding to bring my bun along for the ride.