Category: Pregnancy

Kristin

“I was the kid who HATED gym class growing up. I did the minimum to get by. But I’ve always been a girl after a challenge.

When I was 21 I decided to start a Couch to 5k program. I ran some races and was sporadic, until 2011 when I decided I wanted to train for a half marathon. Like I said, I’m a girl after a challenge (so why not jump from a 5k to a half, right?). In 2012 I ran my first two, and only timed, half marathons, 5 months apart from each other.

After that, I was hooked and I continued to run intermittently. Around 2014, I started trying to conceive, which proved difficult, and in 2015 we turned to IVF, so I was required to stop running. It was worth the pause when my twin boys were born in 2016.

After that, running was put on the back burner, between becoming a mom and going through nurse practitioner school. I still enjoyed exercising, and thought it was a great way to release stress and have “me” time. I turned to home workouts instead, out of convenience.

Fast forward to 2020. My boys are older now. I’m a nurse practitioner.

We are in a pandemic. While I had continued to exercise, I found I missed running. It was one of the one safe things I could do during this scary, stressful time. So I bought some new running shoes and started running diligently again, 3-4 days a week.

Then I signed up for my first marathon. Remember those half marathons I ran? In 2012? Yeah, I hadn’t run that long or far in ages. My marathon is in April 2021. I’m hoping it’s live, but even if it isn’t, I am grateful for the training experience I have had so far. I’m officially halfway there, and I am amazed and proud of what my body can do.

I run and exercise for myself. It’s my time alone to just turn off my brain and move my body. But I also do it for my boys, who see me and tell me they want to exercise just like me. One of my sons has even gone on some runs with me, and I hope that will be something we can do together for years to come.

I have recently started a new phase in my journey: coaching. I want to share my love of running and exercise with people who may be a little nervous to begin, but have a “why” for getting started. It’s not always easy, but it will always be worth doing, and nothing makes me happier than cheering people on and helping them reach their goals.”

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Gemma Marriage

“Growing up I always loved being out on my roller skates, sometimes whilst my brothers pulled me along from their BMX bikes! I basically wanted to be in Starlight Express! In school I hated PE, I wasn’t popular and didn’t enjoy any of the activities offered, so I didn’t really get involved in sport.

Fast forward to 2012, I moved to Suffolk to support my husband who unfortunately lost his life to cancer. Finding myself far away from friends and family but needing a support network I reminisced about my childhood roller skates and decided to try out for the local roller derby team.

I was instantly hooked! It’s a full contact team sport, and I love that I can take out all my stress by hitting other people on skates, but it’s also very tactical, so every training session I can lose myself thinking about strategy and gameplay, giving me a chance to switch off from real life.

Eight years on, I still skate at least once a week. We are not able to play competitively at the moment due to coronavirus, so I’m going back to my roots and taking my wheels outside. Right now I’m taking part in a virtual roller marathon, raising funds for a community skating project.

In 2019 I gave birth to my son, and now I’m finding toddler friendly ways that I can skate. Skating was great exercise physically through pregnancy and brilliant for my mental health during the post-natal period. Through derby I have many new friends for life, skating has had a massive positive boost for both my mind and body!”

Family Female Gym Training Humans of HIIT Pregnancy Sport Weight Loss Workouts Classes

Lauren Gift

I was relatively active throughout my childhood. I played soccer and a lot of driveway basketball. I stayed out from morning until night and ran around the neighborhood.

I didn’t really struggle with weight as a child or even a teen. I did however gain a lot of weight my first pregnancy at 21 years old. Being young I was able to get the weight off relatively quickly but definitely not in a healthy manner.

I then went on to have three more kids and every child it was more and more difficult to shed baby weight so I kind of lost motivation and gave up.

In 2016 my oldest son was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes at age 8. It was a huge roadblock for us and completely unexpected. Our world was turned upside down and suddenly my child was forced to have shots all day long every day in order to live. We had no choice but to pay close attention to food labels in order to count carbs for him to know how much insulin he needed.

This was a very eye opening experience. Not only did it get me paying attention to labels which I hadn’t previously done, it got me thinking more about health in general. This was the start of my new lifestyle.

I decided to join a network marketing business for health and fitness which lasted a few years and in that time I created some bad habits. Truthfully, I’m still thankful for the experience because it got me where I am today. It was a stepping stone on the path to where I’m at.

I now do ZOOM workouts in the morning with a few of my girl friends. We get up early and workout “together” virtually. My choice of workout always involves weights. I love lifting and feeling strong. It gives me a confidence I wouldn’t otherwise have. Plus, cardio is hardio. It’s definitely not my cup of tea and that’s ok!

Working out with my friends virtually is my favorite part of the day. I absolutely love motivating and helping others. We all deserve to feel great about ourselves. We need to treat ourselves with respect and love and what better way than through health and fitness?

I’m not done with my journey and still have a ways to go, but I’m closer today than I have been in a long time. That’s because I made the choice to just do it and you can too. Change is hard and uncomfortable but being uncomfortable is part of the change.

You can’t have a lifestyle change without changing your lifestyle. You’ve got this! I believe in you.

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Family Female Gym Training Humans of HIIT Injury Mental Health Pregnancy Weight Loss

Miranda McIntyre

“Depending on who you ask they would say my journey is complete or only beginning. I see it as a consistent journey.

I started my weight loss portion of my journey in 2010. I can not tell you my exact starting weight as I had become far too ashamed and afraid to know the truth, so I base my start at my last known doctor’s weigh in. 265lbs. I guarantee you I was well over that at the start of everything.

A little bit of background, I was a super skinny high energy kid, until I was about ten. Then my whole body composition and view of myself started to change. I hit puberty earlier than all my friends and started to gain weight very easily. I was 140lbs in fifth grade. From there I moved to a new town and school just before junior high. That added to me withdrawing and becoming far less active. Fast forward to high school graduation year, stress of school and the rest of my life facing me head on I gained more weight. Enough that my dress for grad didn’t fit well even with two layers of compressive garments to help sausage me into it. 184lbs at 18, it was extremely depressing for me. I was aware I was big, bigger than most of my friends. So I tried to hide my insecurity with being the helpful smiling friend. Pushing aside my own feelings, it wasn’t as if I wasn’t happy. I just didn’t deal with things when I should have. I suppressed a lot.

Pushing forward, I was married 29 days after my 21st birthday and got pregnant on my wedding night. Surprise! Definitely not something you plan to have happen. Though as unready as I was then, you honestly are never actually ready for kids. They come into your life and shake it all sorts of crazy in the best ways possible. Once my daughter arrived, my life didn’t change much in the way of my health. Two years later, I was pregnant with my son. His birth was traumatic on my body and my mental health. I developed postpartum depression, which manifested in me being only concerned with my kids. I didn’t want and need to have connections with friends or other family. Not even my husband. Needless to say my marriage dissolved and we divorced when my kids were 3 and 1. Though I began to make a few online friends, who were mums with kids the same age as mine. None of my friends were in that area of life yet; though they absolutely adored my kids.

The end of my marriage thrust me into living in a new city and back at home with my mum and dad for a couple years. It was within that time when I finally hit my “reason why” moment. I couldn’t make it up the stairs chasing my toddler without struggling to breathe. I decided since it was just me and my kids, I had to do everything in my power to be better for them. To make sure I was around as long as possible for them.

There I was at 27 years old trying to start my life over again and make the right choices for my health. I set myself as a priority for the first time in so many years. I struggled with that because I was so used to putting others ahead was always my way. Changing my diet, eating smaller portions, cutting out pop was the start. I then did the hard part. I would wait until my kids were asleep and go to the basement and work out to Jillian Michaels dvd’s and do minimum three Zumba songs on the Wii as cardio. This was my life for almost a year, every single night. I didn’t feel comfortable going to a gym. I had no idea what I was to even do at a gym. I started to research and after a while when I was not progressing much further with my home workouts, I found weight myself using my community sports complex gym. I was still sticking mostly to cardio because I had a delusional view of what my goal was. Skinny was the only goal that seemed to be in my mind; anything but fat. I had a new job which was very physically demanding now, my food intake was minimal. I had slipped into a very dangerous mindset.

I wanted to try running a Mud Hero Obstacle course. So in 2014 I did it! I was extremely proud of myself, I manage the run in under an hour and felt amazing for doing it. I was at my lowest weight 117lbs…..and I was still not happy nor was I actually healthy yet. I hit a wall in life again. I made some changes, was able to get my kids and myself into our own place. I had managed to move up in my company into an office position. I had a new drive to succeed. I also started a relationship with an amazing man. Life was improving. So needless to say going from a job that was physical and barely eating to a desk job and snacking of office snacks, my weight began to rise. I was becoming paranoid of the weight-gain, I was weighing myself 4 times a day. Knowing exactly if I limited myself to exact foods, I would gain an ounce. It was extremely damaging, thankfully I had my boyfriend who cared enough to push the hard conversation with me. To help me to see the truth in own worth and that I didn’t need to find value in the scale. That I didn’t need to fear, that I would get back to being over 265lbs. He helped me to see that I was strong, that because I was determined not to let myself get so overweight again I wouldn’t. He also pointed out that I needed to break away from the unhealthy need to be “skinny” that I needed to be healthy. Regardless that if for my body that means being closer to 135-140lbs.

I still have moments of struggle, but I wanted to find strength over being skinny. I needed to find what was MY healthy. I took that challenge of running the Mud Hero into running multiple Spartan Races, the community was so supportive and encouraging in finding your strengths and pushing your goals. I adjusted my training to include weight lifting and I could not have been happier! I even completed my Trifecta which is running a Sprint, Super and Beast in one season. The Spartan Beast was 24km+ up and down a mountain with obstacles, 33* blazing sun. I finished in 6 hours all alone. I got a finishers medal, a t-shirt and second degree sunburn! Beyond all that I proved to myself I can overcome anything. I hung up my racing glory for the past couple years since I was pretty darn banged up from multiple injuries, but my weightlifting has continued. I spoiled myself with new workout gear when I started my Spartan journey, that is how I found Gymshark and it changed my life. The clothes gave me a new found confidence in my body along with new connections in the fitness world. I have learnt so much from others whose journeys I have begun to follow. I took part in two Gymshark 66 challenges, I loved the engaging support and friends it has brought into my life. This isn’t just a company it is a family world wide. I even won third place in the 2019 campaign! I was dumbstruck! The fitness journey I am on is not a start and stop race. This is a lifestyle for me, ever evolving and being exactly what I need to live my truest healthiest life. I now love and appreciate my body, embrace my story, celebrate my shape even if it wasn’t the ideal of media. I share my journey to help anyone who was ever in the place I was, to know you can continue, you can change, you can adapt, it isn’t failing if you need to change your plans. It is only failing if you stop and you give up.

I am beyond grateful for my kids for being the reason that pushed me forward and continue to drive me. My boyfriend who loves me no matter what I am going through. To my friends who have joined me on this crazy lifestyle change and embraced their journey. I am proud and never want to stop this drive towards living my life instead of must numbingly let it pass foggy in front on me. I look forward to 5am gym sessions, hiking, family movie nights with lots of snacks, to balance in all parts of my life.”

Female Humans of HIIT Pregnancy Running Workouts Classes

Amy Molesworth

“The year before falling pregnant I was at my very fittest, running 5km in 25 minutes and 10km in 52 minutes. I ran or went to gym classes 6 times a week, as well as eating a fairly healthy diet. Exercising during pregnancy has been a challenge, at the beginning it was like I wasn’t pregnant I could do everything the same as normal but obviously being a little more cautious to not overdo it. Then I started to notice that it took me longer to run 5km, I had to stop for water more frequently from about week 14 onwards.

Come week 24 although I wasn’t majorly showing yet, I couldn’t really run due to needing the toilet so desperately. I didn’t normally actually need to go, it was just where the baby was getting bigger and pushing on my bladder. I wasn’t accepting that my body wasn’t letting me run and I tried to persevere for weeks but now I go for long walks and try to include a few small jogs in between, if I feel comfortable enough to do so. I do pregnancy workouts from YouTube and other apps too, which are good but at first it felt like I was cheating because they didn’t seem hard enough. The further I go on this journey, the harder they have become because of the extra weight I’m carrying, not to mention the fatigue that I feel after doing even a small task, let alone working out.

One person said, “exercise in pregnancy is not about having an exercise goal it’s about keeping you and your baby healthy” and that’s something I have grown to learn over time. Body change in pregnancy has definitely been the hardest part for me though, I didn’t accept my body changing and at first it’s because I just looked bloated and did for quite some time, so it wasn’t obvious I was pregnant. I’m 30 weeks pregnant now and the main thing I’ve learnt during this experience, is to not put too much pressure on yourself.”

Family Female Gym Training Humans of HIIT Mental Health Pregnancy Weight Loss

Maryam Qureshi

“Growing up I was always at a pretty healthy weight, but I was never a very active person. I got married at the age of 19 and just a few months after I got pregnant with my first child. Back then there was no social media to help guide me along or motivate me to be healthy during my pregnancy. I gained a lot of weight and found myself struggling to lose it. Shortly after I got pregnant again and by the end of this pregnancy I was severely overweight.

Here I was….a newlywed and a young mother of two. I had gained so much weight in such a short amount of time. I became very depressed and felt trapped in a body that wasn’t me. I had zero self confidence and lost my sense of worth. Fast forward a few more years and 2 more pregnancies. I was so happy to be a mom to these amazing kids but somewhere along the way I started to forget about myself. I didn’t give myself priority. I hated the person I saw in the mirror. By this time I was severely depressed and obese.

Until one day, 4 years ago, I said enough is enough! I joined a gym and started eating healthier. At first I absolutely hated the gym. I had no idea what I was doing. I would cry almost every single day and wanted to quit so many times. But I didn’t give up. Every single day I would dedicate some time to myself, I would give myself priority. Here we are today. I am still working towards my goals but I am so much healthier and happier. Exercise saved my life. Being active has completely changed my whole outlook and attitude. I have so much more self confidence now and I am proud of the person I have become! My message to anyone reading this is to never give up on yourself.”

Family Female Humans of HIIT Pregnancy Sport

Lynn Smaggus

“I grew up on a farm, so I was always outdoors and active at an early age. Throughout my school years I was very successful in competitive sports, with track and field being my main focus. I have a twin sister who competed alongside of me, and it really became a huge part of my identity. We were often spotlighted in local papers, and were quite well known for our athletic success around our area.

I met my husband in my mid twenties. He had 3 children from prior relationships, and I basically put my own health on the “back burner”. I lost myself further, once I realized I struggled with fertility issues. I became consumed with repetitive heartbreak and really lost myself.

A few months before I was going to turn 40, I realized I had to take back control of my life. I began working out from home, and I got my weight back under control and refound my joy. I am 43 years old, and really do feel better than I ever have. I even threw javelin competitively for the first time in over 20 years, last summer at a couple of track meets in the masters category. Now I enjoy helping others get started on their own fitness journeys, using the same online workouts that have helped me so much. I truly want as many people as possible to feel as good as I do, and realize that age really is only a number.”

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Sue Tetley

“My relationship with sport and exercise has been rather mixed throughout my life. I was never particularly sporty as a child. I enjoyed sprinting and doing the long jump. I went to school in the 80’s to mid 90’s and still remember very clearly waiting to be picked for teams. I was generally picked somewhere in the middle or towards the end. Never a good thing for a child’s self-esteem.

As a teenager, I really got into racket sports, badminton initially then squash. I had a few friends who were at a similar level and would enjoy playing weekly. At the age of 18 I went to Loughborough University to study psychology. I was aware this was a very sporty university, but that wasn’t really a consideration when I went there. The level of even the inter-mural hall sports was very high. It did put me off trying much sport there. I chose to do karate as it was something I could start with as a beginner and work up the grades. I enjoyed this and did it for a few years. Twenty odd years on, I wish I had made more of the available facilities.

Following university, I started to dabble in running and did my first race for life. Prior to that, I don’t think I’d ever run 5K before. A few years later, I did my first half marathon in Nottingham where I was living at the time. This was a huge achievement for me. It was great that lots of my friends did the event as well. Throughout my 20’s and 30’s I was always rather inconsistent with exercise, training for an event and then not doing much afterwards. I was definitely a ‘Yo Yo’ exerciser.

In my mid 30’s exercise took on a different and more cathartic role and really helped me with my mental well-being as well as physical well-being whilst going through multiple rounds of IVF. After each failed attempt, I would enter a running event or cycling event. After I had decided to stop treatment and choose to adopt instead, I threw myself into a more consistent pattern of exercise.

Around 4 years ago a friend of mine spent about 6 months trying to persuade me to join the local triathlon club. Initially I thought I wasn’t good enough at any of the disciplines, however, soon realised that this didn’t matter at all. I was getting injured just running. I started PT sessions and soon realised I needed to do loads more strength and conditioning to prevent injury. Joining TRISudbury was a real turning point for me. I had never been part of a club before and had always exercised on my own. I really started to enjoy training with groups and have made some great friends.

I have now done many triathlons and taken on new challenges each year. I also discovered my love of swimming in open water and last summer did a 2 mile swim in the Serpentine. I really love challenging myself. I’m never going to be the fastest, however, I am mentally tough and won’t give up on my goals. My next challenge will be a half ironman distance triathlon. In addition to this, I also became the Welfare Officer for the club for 2 years. I am now one of the club’s Mental Health Champions. At the AGM earlier this year, I was delighted this year to be given the female Grindstone award and became a This Girl Can Ambassador for Suffolk as well.

I am nearly 43 and I totally believe that if you work hard and never give up on your goals you can achieve anything. It’s so important to me to be a good role model for my little girl. I am fitter now than I ever have been and would say to anyone to never let anyone tell you that you cannot achieve something!”

Thank you from the Humans of HIIT community for sharing your story!