Hello agaaain,

All throughout my pregnancy I've gotten questions about how much weight I've gained and what I eat and how I've stayed relatively small. The truth is, I have gained so much weight that I'm not exactly sure how people aren't cutting me off from binging on my cravings. At this point I've gained over 30 pounds. I'm not sure where all that is, or why it's not showing, but I have definitely gained my fair share of weight. I get comments all the time on how "small" I am and what I've been doing to keep the baby weight off, so I thought I would address all those questions with a quick little post! This is a touchy subject because everyone's body is different, this is just what has worked for me.

First off, I'm going to say I did diet a little bit during my pregnancy which was not the smartest idea and I do not recommend it. My baby girl is underweight at the moment and I'm fully convinced that's why. While I was dieting I barely ate any meat and stuck to a mostly raw and vegan style diet. I did that for a little over two months before deciding it wasn't the best thing for Leighton. SO, now I stick with eating until I'm full. I've also had a rough time with solely drinking water. I love flavored teas and cokes, (bad I know) so I've started making fruit infused water by just chopping up my favorites fruits and letting them soak in some water all night. My favorite is Strawberry and lemon! Since I stopped dieting I've still kept with the mostly raw, plant based items, but also throw in a bunch of healthy fats such as peanuts and chicken. I like to eat fish as much as possible, my favorites being tilapia and salmon. Recently, I've been trying to eat some foods that might help bulk baby girl up. I've been loving beans, rice, and rice pasta with avocados. Of course I indulge in my favorite cravings all the time. I would be lying if I said there hasn't been days when I laid in bed all day eating nothing but packaged pastries and drinking cokes. I don't really restrict myself from eating anything unless it's bad for Leighton. So all in all I try to eat whatever is best for L, while also making sure my cravings are satisfied.

Yoga and pilates have been life savers thus far. I started to do yoga during my second trimester when the back pain started hitting me. I would usually do a 15 minute yoga routine and a 2-mile walk around my neighborhood. I love looking on youtube for yoga and pilates videos and just going along with them. Plus, it's an excuse to wear yoga pants and who doesn't love that.

As far as working out goes, I try to keep it relatively low-impact with minimal cardio. So strength training is basically all I got. When I want to do a full workout this is what I do:

20 minute walk on treadmill or around neighborhood

20 squats w 10 pound weight

15 lunges each leg

15 bicep curls w weight

30 second plank

10 pushups

30 calf raises

Cool down with 10 minutes on the stair stepper

I would repeat this twice, with the exception of the walk and cool down. Staying active as much as possible has really helped me preserve my energy, and help relieve stress! As I'm entering into my 8th month it's been getting a lot harder to find the energy to get up and work out so I may be done with these workouts until post-baby. All in all, always ask your doctor before starting a new workout routine!