This Is How To Prevent Gaining Extra Pregnancy Weight

IFBB Figure Pro Jessie Hilgenberg ate healthily when expectant so she could get into competition-winning shape after giving birth. Use her get-lean secrets to look sexier and fitter.

Plan for success

You can prepare for pregnancy by simply taking care of your body. For me, I just made it a lifestyle of training hard and with intensity, tracking my food, taking quality supplements and drinking plenty of water.

Being fit before you get pregnant makes everything about your gestation period, labour and postnatal a lot more enjoyable. In fact, women who are moderately healthily pre-pregnancy don’t gain as much weight during labour as their less active counterparts, found a study in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Something as easy as a regular 20-minute stroll to the local park will make the road back to your old body much easier and faster.

Exercise to both feel healthier

I didn’t try to set any personal bests or win any prizes during my pregnancy and I just kept doing what I was doing. If you don’t have a high-risk pregnancy, there’s no reason why you should stop working out.

In fact, research done at the University of Alberta, US, found that pregnant women who exercise could significantly lower their risk of a C-section and giving birth to large babies. So use your common sense and good judgment. If something doesn’t feel right, stop doing it or make an adjustment.

My weight on squats and deadlifts went down about 50% during my third trimester, but that didn’t mean I stopped.

Take care of yourself and do yoga and stretch every day. I also had a massage every other week. If you find an experienced massage therapist, they’ll know how to work with your growing belly.

Don’t fight your cravings

Pregnant or not, eating is all about moderation. I continued to track all of my food and macros during my pregnancy, just as I had before it. Having that flexibility in my diet made it possible to make room for foods I craved.

Remember to allow yourself to enjoy your pregnancy, but don’t use it as an excuse to put on sweatpants and eat whatever you want.

You have a growing baby inside you and you need to make sure you provide him or her with the best nutrients and enough water every day. Eating too much junk food can make your child crave it when they’re older, found research in The FASEB Journal. So your food choices now could affect them for life.

Cut down meal prep time

Throughout my entire pregnancy, and especially afterward, I ordered B-Elite Fuel meals. I knew if I always had some in my freezer, they would be my go-to during pregnancy when I was having cravings or experiencing food aversions and couldn’t think of anything to eat. I would heat my favourite B-Elite meal up, add some cheese or avocado and my favourite seasonings and be set.

Post pregnancy is when they helped so much. I was suddenly a brand new mum with a newborn and my own business, so there was no such thing as maternity leave for me. I had to keep my calories high in order to keep my milk supply plentiful for breastfeeding, so staying well fed was more important than ever before.

Being so busy while learning all about motherhood made food prep non-existent. I ordered enough B-Elite Fuel meals so that I could have one of them per day, in addition to my morning oatmeal and eggs and a family dinner that my husband, Alex, would cook. These meals were one of the most important factors for me getting back into shape while keeping my milk supply up.

I’d also suggest adding some salsa, cheese, avocado, lemon, salt and pepper to the B-Elite Fuel meals if you want to add a bit more flavour. With each meal, I either ate it in the portions it came in (protein, carb and veggie), diced it and mixed it into a bowl or wrapped it all in a tortilla, which was my favourite.

Supplement yourself healthy

Throughout my pregnancy, the supplements I used were NLA for Her’s Her Whey, Her Aminos, Her Omegas, CLA and Her Multi. My doctor was comfortable with my supplement choices and I didn’t take any thermogenics or pre-workouts during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Find health advice in every issue of TRAIN for HER magazine.