The Exhausted Mama: Should You Exercise On Little Sleep?

If sleep is limited, the risk of injury spikes.  Performance levels will be half of what you’re normally used to, which will either A, disappoint and discourage you, or B, cause you to overexert yourself.

As much as it sucks, especially if you’re pregnant or a sleep-deprived mommy trying to fit in workouts, taking a day to rest is necessary.  It might be a no brainer to some, but for the beginner or the woman who wants to accelerate her fitness/weight loss this is so frustrating!  You’d much rather workout than take the opportunity to nap if it arises.  You’re already seizing extra ways you can exercise and balance everything else, you really don’t have time for this!

But you do.  Believe it or not, tissue repair happens when you’re getting ZZZ’s, so even if you worked out with weights the day before and you wanted to do cardio the next, accepting that chance to nap instead of exercise is still better than logging those burned calories.  This means aiding the process in building toned muscles, which is good!

Think you’re getting enough sleep, even with a crying baby or pregnancy insomnia, but still lack the energy you’re positive you should have?  Ask yourself these two questions, you might be surprised what they reveal to you.

Prenatal Vitamins – Which brand is right for you?

Hate swallowing pills? Don’t we all!

Thankfully, the “tasty gummy craze” bit onto Prenatals. Not only are they easy to chew and come in tropical flavors, they might just assist you in the first trimester when morning sickness strikes, and the idea of taking medication makes you gag.

Folic acid isn’t the only top priority in your daily vitamin – studies show that especially beginning in your second trimester, the need for extra iron and calcium is incredibly important for optimal baby development and growth. Plus, if you’re facing food aversions, sometimes the only way to ensure you’re getting to that magic milligram number is to take a vitamin.

Swinging back towards the title of this post – what are your options for these must have pills? Does organic really mean anything? How important is a prenatal with DHA, really? And can you purchase the bare minimum generic brand and still hit the healthy baby-growing jackpot?

Household Cleaning Products That Make Pregnancy A Breeze

Growing bellies and impeding backaches ahead! Plus, with mood swings banging on your door, is it really that easy to keep a positive attitude with cleaning?

Yes! Contrary to belief, pregnant women are more capable than given credit when it comes to cleaning. The “rules” about lifting, pushing, or pulling… Old wive’s tales these days. You all know this with my opinions on weight lifting for exercise.  Of course every woman has an individual pace she works at, and anytime she needs to rest for a break she should take it. Pregnancy isn’t the time to set a new world record of how many “Wax-ons, wax-offs” you can accomplish!

That being said, there are some neat ways to keep your home spotless up until the day you deliver, ones that will make it easier on both your body and mentality. I find cleaning a huge stress reliever, and everybody loves a pleasantly organized home.

I’ve discovered through my home-keeping some fantastic products – tools and cleaners alike – that have been life savers as my baby grows. I’d love to share them with you!

Sneaky Little Fast-Food Tricks For The Healthy Mom (Or Preggo!)

Can you smell it?

Convenience is a tempting little devil, especially if you’re out running errands and you know by the time you get home you’re not going to feel like cooking.  It’s also true if you’re pregnant, and the little monster precious baby in your womb is screaming, “CAKE!  Burgers… no wait, I meant fried chicken! Yeah, fried chicken!”

I don’t condone eating out.  Not one bit!  I try to “eat clean”, but I love my fast-food joints just as much as the next.  And with a little discipline and planning, you can make your stops at them guilt-free.

Moderation by tracking calories, fats, saturated fats, sugars and sodium is the key.  If you know what you’re putting in your body at every meal, you should know, for example, how many grams of allotted protein you have left that day that you can use, or fat, or sugar… you get my drift.  Would you get more bang for your buck eating unprocessed foods at home?  Well, of course!

But sometimes a girl’s gotta have her a decadent quickie at the local burger joint.  Plus, it’s cheap.  And you’ll soon learn in this blog, that I do love to budget.

Here are a few of my tried and true methods: