Sluggish and easily winded

J

justindesiree

New member
Hi y’all! Guys I’m feeling so demoralized! I’m 36F first time mom and I’m not like an incredibly jacked fit person or anything but before getting pregnant I trained for powerlifting 3-4 days a week, jogged 2-3 days a week, and played tennis a few times a week along with long walks etc so I feel I was in pretty good physical condition! My blood pressure was always well in the normal range and I felt healthy- I ran a 10 mile race in October and competed in my sixth powerlifting meet in December.

Fast forward to now, I’m 8 weeks pregnant and man I just feel BAD! I can’t find the motivation to lift and when I do I get really bad reflux. I tried playing tennis with hubby last night and got so winded and exhausted. Even going for walks takes me out. even when i wake up feeling pretty energetic, Im afraid to try to exercise because i dont want to feel bad later.

my goal for pregnancy was to stay active and fit as possible for myself and baby but i just cant find the energy. What should i do? appreciate your advice and tips!!!
 
@justindesiree 8 weeks just sucks shit, you’re totally normal. I think the best we can do for fitness is hit the ground running before getting pregnant, then coast on that momentum through the first trimester and try to resume a more normal routine in the second trimester. I’m 15 weeks and I JUST started doing cardio again slightly. All the jumping around made me queasy.
 
@justindesiree I was fit before getting pregnant and feeling good. Hit week 5 of pregnancy and have been a slug person up to present. It’s sucks feeling lazy but I keep telling myself it’s okay to let my body rest. I’m 13 weeks and feel worse than ever. I ran 2 miles a week ago and was super sick for two days afterwards. Then went swimming g with my husband and was sick for an entire day afterwards. Both activities felt great while I did them, but it was a signal from my body to rest. It’s okay to rest. Mental fitness and learning to relax are just as important too.
 
@jaz08 Hi are you me?? I just had to sleep 2 hours after walking 2 miles (which is my typical daily bare minimum). I feel so slow and moving feels heavy. I thought second tri was supposed to be better!
 
@justindesiree The first trimester is hard. Definitely harder than the rest of pregnancy. The energy will come back but right now you’re growing a whole new person. Focus on walking, easy stretches, and eating well.
 
@justindesiree rest!! you're growing an entire body and an entire organ. your body is doing an insane amount of work right now. when you feel up to it later in the pregnancy you'll get back to staying active and fit!
 
@justindesiree I’m 9w4d. I did strength training 3x a week, cardio 3-4x and walked my dog twice a day. Now, I can barely walk from my car to my door without being tired lol. I try to get to the gym and do things but I’ve had to significantly lower my weights because it was just too much for me and I’d get winded and my heart rate was skyrocketing.

I’m doing what I can and that’s all I can do. We’re growing humans! It’s crazy! Give it some time. Just do what you can and don’t pressure yourself to do what you can’t. You’ll be okay.
 
@nikolaj I used to do dumbbell lunges with only 30lbs. I literally can’t even do them anymore lol. My heart rate was like 145 after my first set. So I lowered my weights and it’s a bit better but wow lol
 
@justindesiree Solidarity, sister.

First tri just BLOWS. A big one. And I think the only way we make it worse is by getting down on ourselves when we can’t function at our pre-pregnancy level. Look at it like just needing to get through this Next short block of time because second trimester will be better.

During my first trimester debilitation, there were some days where I made it from the bed to the couch and some days where I could flop onto the floor and do some floor yoga, or walk the dogs. But there was nothing outside of that that was attainable during that time.

I’m 24 weeks now and have been back to regularly scheduled programming since the beginning of my second trimester. I still breathe like a fat dragon and definitely have more fatigue than I did pre-pregnancy but it’s tolerable and doable and I’m making it work.

You will get there - just give yourself GRACE until then. Xo
 
@justindesiree Try to keep up a routine of showing up for some form of exercise, so you maintain the space in your schedule, but it's okay to lower expectations and just do a walk or light weights for a couple weeks. Most people seem to have a 2-6 week shitty period in the first trimester before feeling good enough to get back to a real routine, but you never expect it because baby is like... Still the size of a seed.
 
@justindesiree This is literally how I knew I was pregnant, a long bike ride I was easily able to complete before suddenly my heart was pounding and I was so winded for seemingly no reason. Went home and tested: positive. The heart pounding never went away the whole pregnancy, but I was able to keep cycling at a lower intensity until around week 34.
 
@justindesiree Ten weeks, and trying to get back into my normal routine to meet my goals before end of 2nd trimester. Had to take weeks six-nine off completely due to morning, afternoon, evening sickness. Incredible how much fitness I lost in three weeks. Can barely breathe. And just like you, if I overdo it physically, I feel like absolute shit for an entire day after. So frustrating. But… also a good time to practice acceptance. I pressure myself intensely and this pregnancy is forcing me to reckon with that. My only advice is to examine where that pressure to do XZY is coming from and ask yourself if you can find a way to release it, even just for today.
 
@justindesiree First trimester just laid me out flat. I went from working out 5 times a week to twice…the entire first tri. It got much better in the second trimester! I was able to keep up an every other day schedule until 34 weeks when baby dropped.
 
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