The Waiting Game

Soooo, I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant (woohoo) but I haven't taken a pregnancy test yet because I wanted to give it a few more days. I'm ready to take a test and find out for sure, I'm tired of waiting! Today is Tuesday, I'm thinking I should give it until Saturday to find out. Meanwhile I'm doing everything I normally would, no morning sickness, although I'm feeling extra tired and hungry today. I'm starting to be grossed out by certain cuts, or types, of meat. For example Michael and I made a pasta sauce yesterday and put ground deer in it. I normally love deer meat, however yesterday we started eating it and I thought it tasted pretty odd. Not enough to make me stop eating it, but it just wasn't as enjoyable and I remember....weird huh?  

I'm still working out regularly, lifting weights and getting back into running. Right now I'm on a pull up kick! Every time I see a bar (normally in the gym) I jump up and do a few pull ups, kipping pull ups, but hey that's a start! Thanks to my friend Monica D. who's been helping me with Crossfit, I can now do those : )

Eating Healthy

Eating healthy is a way of life for me, I have worked hard to make this discipline a habit for me. It is a misconception that if you exercise then you can just eat all the junk food you want. Exercise and proper nutrition go hand in hand! I am not a fan of dieting, just eat healthy! Make it a part of who you are! Does that meant I never eat desserts or "junk food?" Of course not, I just have them occasionally. But I will say that the longer I have been eating nutritious foods the less and less I seem to crave junky foods. I am a big proponent of cooking for yourself, I think it helps you appreciate what you're eating and gets you to think more about what you are putting into your body, not the mention the activity of cooking burns calories. Here are examples of foods I cook for myself throughout the day. 

Breakfast: Eggs and Oatmeal with Raisins, Cinnamon, and Walnuts

Lunch: Turkey, cheese, hummus sand which, with steamed Broccoli and  Cottage Cheese

Another Possible Lunch: Green Salad with egg, peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers

Dinner: Farfalle Pomodoro, with a side of steamed broccoli

Dinner: Chili-glazed salmon, with steamed broccolini, and red kidney beans sauted with red bell pepper and onions

Dinner: Spinach Fettucini  with citrus basil pesto sauce and chicken, with a side of creamy brussel sprouts

Pregnant Runners

Taken immediately after crossing the finish line of  my first half marathon

Today I weigh about 120 pounds, I say "about" because honestly I haven't checked in a few weeks but I doubt it's changed. A year ago at this time I weighed 110 pounds and I was training for my first Half Marathon. It was called Chosen: Marathon For Adoption, run in New Braunfels. Prior to that Race I had done many 5ks and one 10k. I love running and I just wanted to take on the challenge of the half marathon!

After I finished that half marathon I decided it was time to try something entirely new. I'd always wanted to be stronger and to put on more muscle but I thought I was just someone who had a hard time gaining muscle. But then one day another personal trainer at USAA who also happened to be a body builder came up to me and said I should train for a figure competition. So to make a long story short, for three months I trained as if I was going to compete, although I never did end up competing. However I did put on about 8 pounds of muscle before getting back into running but even since then I've continued my weight lifting and obviously continued to put on weight! I love it, I never thought I'd be able to put on that much muscle, but that was only because I'd never really tried! Now I have a good balance between weight lifting and running and I'd love to continue both during my pregnancy. I've heard some runners say that running while pregnant felt weird, but I've also seen examples of runners that continued running through their pregnancy. For example Kara Goucher and Paula Radcliffe are both Olympic runners who were featured in several magazines as "Pregnant Runners." I'm sure even they slowed their pace to at least a 7 minute mile during pregnancy!

Kara Goucher and Paula Radcliffe

Paula pregnant and outrunning the men!

Welcome to my first ever blog!

Well I am starting my new blog today! I've had this idea for a while, because the truth is I've been thinking about becoming pregnant for a while and I always wondered how my life would change during pregnancy. Primarily wondering how can I exercise during my pregnancy? I have since done plenty of research and learned that exercise during pregnancy is perfectly safe provided I am not considered "high risk" and the exercises I choose during pregnancy are similar to what I was doing prior to becoming pregnant. I've always been a runner but I've never run a full marathon, is pregnancy the time to start training for a marathon? Probably not. You get the idea.
Anyway this is the first month I have been trying to get pregnant and I hope that I am already but it's still too early to test, I need to give that at least another week maybe two. I can't wait to find out if I'm pregnant! I can't wait to surprise my family and friends with the news, as long as I can keep this blog secret until I'm ready! Alright well that's enough for today soon I will start blogging about my workout routines and even what I am eating! A healthy diet and structured exercise routine go hand in hand!