Why is it so easy?

I've been thinking about why it's so much easier for me to make healthful choices while I'm pregnant than when I'm not. I don't think it's just because my choices affect the baby, though that's the most obvious. I've concluded it's the lack of restriction. I feel like I can eat however much I want. So if after eating all the stuff that's nutritionally required, I still feel like some candy or ice cream, cool. Where as non-pregnant, I focus more on weight loss/maintenance and the idea that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. So do I want an egg sandwich for breakfast or an caloric-ly equal portion of brownies? For non-pregnant me, brownies would frequently win. But pregnant me is realizing that when I eat healthfully, the cravings for the nutritionally void are not only fewer, but less intense.
And because it's fun, here's a side by side comparison of yesterday, 31w3d, and five weeks ago, 26w3d. It was actually kind of comforting to be able to see a difference because although it certainly feels like Baby B is bigger and stronger, sometimes it seems like my belly isn't getting any bigger. It is! And could I possibly carry any lower? :)


ETA: A friend wanted to see a pic from my last pregnancy. Here I am at 31w4d with my daughter. It's cleverly cropped because I didn't like seeing my big ol' butt, but I can still see in my face the fact that I'm about 20lbs heavier than I am now!

*Crazy* Pregnancy Strength

This morning I added 5lbs to the chest press machine. For a total of 5lbs. That's right, the weight of the equipment alone was all I could manage to get through 3 sets of 10. So watch out, I can now hurl a small cat across a field should it have the gall to piss me off LOL
I'm learning to ignore my "all or nothing" mentality. I find now that my heart rate barely gets up before I feel out of breath. I'm not sure why, since as recently confirmed, this baby is low in my pelvis. But somehow my lung capacity has been affected. Maybe it's hormonal. Anyway, part of me wants to either try to push past that or just quit because if I can't go harder than that "it's not worth it." So, I'm still on the bike, step mill and elliptical, going slower than I want to, accepting that the activity is still "worth it."

30 weeks and 3 days

I had an appointment with my midwife today. Everything is great, even my blood pressure, which had started to creep up around now in my pregnancy with my daughter. The baby already has his/her head engaged in my pelvis. Hmmm, might that be why I can't run more than one day at a time? LOL! Baby noggin bruising up my insides...

Karma...

...or something... was looking favorably upon me today! It was a BEAUTIFUL day to run. Cornflower-blue skies dotted with cotton-candy clouds, high in the 60s and a breeze that wasn't too windy. Just in time to keep me motivated. If I didn't know that my ligaments and pubic bone would scream at me tomorrow, I would've thrown in an extra mile...

Strange, strange people

First of all, Happy Mothers' Day!
Now, this morning at the gym I opted to stay downstairs in the dedicated women's gym because climbing the stairs to the regular cardio area puts me so out of breath when I come in the early morning without having eaten much (the gym playroom opens later on Sundays, so I leave my daughter at home and show up nice and early by myself). There was this older lady in there, and the whole time I'm doing cardio, she's singing out loud to herself and cussing at the machines. Since she had earphones in, I don't know if she realized she was talking so loud, or if she thought we all really wanted to hear her self-narration. And then when I start doing my weights, she comments on my pliet squats. But again, loudly, and to herself. Apparently, she thought I was killing my knees. Squats can be hard on the knees, but I know I have great form, so... shut up old lady LOL And then she started contemplating the meaning of the initials on the rear of my cheer shorts. She correctly concluded that it must be a California University. By then I just wanted to get away from her. Luckily I was done, and so I did!
I'm not feeling as enthusiastic about my workouts anymore. My energy levels have seriously nose-dived. I feel like I'm back in the first trimester where I force it because I know I'll feel better for having done it. And I do feel better afterward and I of course enjoy the results, I'm just saying my gung-ho spirit has taken a hit LOL Just 10 more weeks. I can make it :)
Last, here I am post-gym this last Friday, about to go play at the park:

Ego boost!

I mostly find my confidence from within but it's definitely still nice to hear something complimentary! The clerk at the front desk of my gym told me that I was 'so beautiful' and marveled that I was still up on the machines going strong. Then a little bit later at Costco, I was at will-call picking up my jamba juice gift cards ($50 worth for just $39.99!), and a female employee came up to me and told me that I was "doing something right" because my body is "bangin'" and told me to shut up when I told her I was 7mo along.
So either prenatal exercise is doing my body right, or those purple yoga shorts are magical! LOL

AND! I did look up more info on water workouts a while ago and wanted to post a link for anyone who was looking for ideas:
http://www.theharrier.com/marcbloomrunning/trn/waterworkouts.php