It has been a whirlwind of diet, exercise, and sleep habits since February of last year...
During two rounds of Insanity with a break in between, from March to August, I slept extremely well, and ate fewer calories and then also healthier foods with constant tracking on myfitnesspal.com.
Slept well, but did not track calories during an intensely physical two-week kayak trip to the Grand Canyon in September.
In October and November, I opted for some low-impact interval training, and 5 cups of fruits and veggies a day without tracking calories. [For more info on low-impact (and weight-losing) interval training, check out the Immortality Edge book.]
Over the holidays, I became pregnant, and during the first trimester ate "whatever" and did not exercise besides some occasional walking because I was trying to be careful during the first trimester, plus I was super tired and sleeping a lot. However, I was told that mild exercise was allowed: yoga, swimming, dancing, etc.
After two days of painful cramping and bloating and a little bleeding in January, I was instructed to hold off on all exercise except walking. Worried about a 4x4x4 cm fibroid that had to be "monitored", lest it grew from increased hormones and thereby affected the style of delivery, I took it upon myself to "naturally shrink" the fibroid according to blogs that were not meant for pregnant women specifically, and avoided dairy, white sugar, refined carbs, red meat, and soy in January and February.
After much fatigue and probable iron deficiency by March, I was told the fibroid either stayed the same or shrunk, but that it had become darker -- something undesirable during pregnancy would be if necrosis of the fibroid would lead to excretions that cause pain or premature contractions. It couldn't be too big or too small. While below-average baby size could have been due to food habits, it may have been because of my small frame or my ethnicity, but with the smaller baby size and atrioventricular septal defect (heart valve not fully developed), I decided to "eat whatever" again for a month. No bleeding for awhile, so mild exercise became allowed again, but I still did not exercise, which probably was why I wasn't sleeping well.
In April, after first organic deer meat and then all kinds of meat and increased energy, it seemed the ice cream and pasta and lack of exercise led to failing the 1-hour glucose test by "2 points".
In May, I have started walking 30-60 minutes a day (3000-6000 steps) at 1.0 or 1.3 speed on LifeSpan walking treadmill desk, my energy levels are more stable, while I avoid sugar and refined carbs and get sleep when I can. I also started listening to HypBirth to help with breathing and visualizing -- sort of meditative and aware hypnosis -- and will soon start prenatal yoga. (I miss biking and harder, more efficient interval workouts, but at least I can shave a 3-hour daily plan of walking, yoga, and hypnosis to 2 hours with working/surfing/reading at the treadmill desk.)
Tomorrow is my 3-hour test for gestational diabetes. I am not overweight by any means, but it will still be good to make sure I do or don't have gestational diabetes, or to have more resolve in exercising and eating sensibly and not so strictly in the next few months before birth.
After birth, I hope to follow traditional Chinese confinement herbal recipes and rest at home for the first post-partum month. Sleep will probably be intermittent, but I might find a night nurse or nanny to help.
THEN, hopefully I can start to re-examine my food and exercise habits. Think: sushi and some caffeine and eventually back to interval training. We'll see how the sleeping goes, but hopefully some exercise, night nursing, books on baby sleep and advice from friends will help.
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