I have always been an active person and have learned that physical health is very much related to your mental health. It is very difficult to have one without the other.

In August of 2019, I took a pregnancy test that turned out to be negative. This was not the first pregnancy test and luckily I had not quite reached discouragement at this point. My husband and I were living in Florida for the summer and would be driving home to Utah soon.

Because of my negative test, I was not looking for any signs of pregnancy. On our drive home, I noticed a few different things that started to make me wonder if my test was incorrect. Now these are not necessarily signs for everyone, however I started noticing I was extremely thirsty, ALL THE TIME. Which, in turn, meant that we had to make frequent stops to the bathroom. I was also extremely hungry. Additionally, I had really bad back cramps. Which I naturally related to being seated for a 38 hour drive. I kind of brushed off those symptoms, because HELLO, my test was negative.

After arriving in Utah, we immediately got back into our workout routine. My husband and I would go to the gym every day. I often did HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts. Anyone who has done these before knows that they leave you WINDED. After trying to keep up with one of my regular workout routines, I became very winded and tired. I felt like I could not keep up with myself and it was very frustrating. At this point, I knew something was up.

The next day, I took a pregnancy test, and sure enough, it came out POSITIVE. We were ecstatic! Among many other thoughts running through my head, one was about fitness. My whole life I had learned that my mental health has heavily relied on my physical health.

During pregnancy, your body goes through lots of changes that affect your mental and physical. I had worked so hard for the majority of my life to be healthy and it was not going to end here. In fact, I felt it to be more important now than ever, to take care of myself. Not only to keep my baby as happy and healthy as possible, but also to take care of myself. I knew I needed to take responsibility of what I could control during this process. It has been such a positive experience and has become something I am very passionate about. I want to share with others, so here I am!

Not only do I want to help mothers who have similar goals to mine, but I also want to inspire those that may be just starting their fitness journey. I have talked to so many moms who regretted not exercising during their pregnancy. I wanted to create a space of helpful resources and supportive women so that we can all help each other! I encourage you all to set some goals. To hold myself accountable and give you ideas, here are mine:

1. Fit in some type of movement, every day for 30 min. I have an Apple Watch that helps me track this. 
2. Do strength/cardio exercises at least three times a week for an hour. 
3. Drink LOTS of water. 
4. Take my prenatal supplement every day. 
5. Eat protein with every meal. 
6. No soda. 
7. limited caffeine. 
8. Do not be afraid to take naps, growing a baby is exhausting. 🙂