Tyra Turner, new Fit Mama 2B!

Hi Ladies, Tyra Turner here your newest Fit Mama 2B blogger. I’m 34 years old and have been married to the wonderful Chad Turner for 6 years. I couldn’t be more excited to share my experiences as I make my way through my first pregnancy. I guess I should give you a little background information before I start to babble. There are 2 things I’ve always wanted to do in my life. First and foremost I’ve wanted to be a mom, and secondly I’ve dreamt of being a professional athlete. The past 12 years I’ve been focusing on the latter. Playing professional volleyball has allowed me to travel the world, make amazing friends and of course remain fit. I honestly hate to admit it, but I think I’m actually a pretty selfish person. Since becoming a pro beach volleyball player I’ve put my nutritional and physical needs above almost everything. Some people think I’m like a machine. I literally think of food as fuel. Only high test for this hot rod.

Tyra Turner

So here comes the challenge. It’s no longer about me. This hot rod now has a baby on board. From the second the ultrasound showed that little flicker of a heartbeat I handed over the wheel. Yes, my little baby boy Mommy will do whatever you say. Selfish to selfless I guess???

While working out and eating I promise to:

-stop when you want me too

-slow down if you insist

-monitor my heart rate

-refuel when you ask

-yes, I’ll add more carbs and dairy into my diet

-Nap (haven’t taken one of these since I was probably 2 or 3 years old)

I’m joining you in my 26th week of pregnancy so I’ll have to give you a speedy recap of the prior weeks. First trimester for me was pretty uneventful. I was never sick and actually played 2 international tournaments. I spent weeks 8-10 competing in China and Thailand. The only things that grew during those weeks were my excitement and my chest. Yes, my swimsuit tops were definitely too small. Weeks 10-14 I actually had some major fatigue.  I’m not a napper, so when my husband came home and saw me passed out on the couch he freaked out. Each day around 2pm I managed a little siesta. I don’t know how working women do it!!! My hats off to you all. You are studs, give yourself a pat on the back. From weeks 15-26(current) I’ve been blessed with an abundance of energy. No it’s not like before baby Turner but I still frequent the gym and play volleyball on the beach.

I think the changes in my body are similar to many moms, but they are just happening at a later date. I’m 6’1” and have a larger muscular frame than most women. A personal goal of mine as a Fit Mama 2B has been to share changes specific to my body type. It’s been difficult for me to find information about pregnant women built and shaped like myself. I hope in my future blogs to relay my own tid bits on workouts, nutrition/diet, weight gain, and everything else under the sun as a pregnant woman. I know we’re all built differently so I’ve always felt the more information the better. If one thing I write helps or encourages a new or experienced mom then I’ll be grateful. I look forward to chatting again soon…

All Smiles,

Tyra Turner

Our Fit Mama 2B Katie Lindquist Jameson welcomed into the world the little baby boy we all came to know and love on this blog that she affectionately called  “Baby Ralphie”.   On February 18, at 10:46am this cute bundle of joy blessed the Jameson family.  By the way, they didn’t name him Ralphie, but his middle name is Ralph.  Trevor Ralph Jameson weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz and was a whopping 22 inches long!

Congratulations Katie!

Enjoy your sweet baby boy.

We LOVED joining you on your Fit Mama 2 B journey, and we know you are going to be a GREAT MOM!

May God bless you and your family.

You’ve got to LOVE this picture of baby Trevor! He’s already had his first photo shoot!  Adorable!

Annett Davis, Olympian & Founder of Fit Moms Fit Kids

The magic numbers:  25-35 pounds.  Read any of the pregnancy books and they all say that a woman should gain anywhere between 25 and 35 pounds.  Piece of cake, I thought.  I’ll stay active, eat right, and I should be closer to that 25 number.  Maybe below?   I mean, I’m the “Fit Mama 2 Be” right?

Well, let’s start at the beginning.  Trimester 1: I was still playing professional beach volleyball, lifting weights, running sprints, and finishing the school year teaching kindergarten.  I wasn’t eating as healthily as my pre-pregnancy routine, but I wasn’t eating purely junk, either.  I managed to get down a couple fruits and veggies each day. I hardly gained any weight at all (3 pounds, I think) and worried that I was depriving my baby, but I was constantly reassured by my doctor that “Baby Ralphie” was growing normally and I had nothing to worry about.

Trimester 2: No more volleyball for me (the AVP tour going bankrupt kinda made my timing with this pregnancy thing look genius).  I continued my workout regime with yoga twice a week, lifting twice a week, and boot camp or stride class 1-2 times a week.  Overall, a pretty decent workout plan for this Fit Mama 2 Be.  I was getting in about 1.5 hours of physical activity daily, and I felt great.  My eating improved a little as my appetite seemed to return and I could eat chicken and salads and healthier foods again (see below for my new favorite way to eat beets).  Total weight gain:  25 pounds!!!!  What?!  This was supposed to be my final number…my “I only gained 25 pounds” so I can brag about it number.    Twenty-eight weeks and 25 pounds. And 12 weeks to go. What a failure!

Well, I’m here to tell you (and to reassure myself) not to listen to the books.  Sure, they mean well and they give you a general idea of what to expect, but everyone and every body is different.  Maybe 25-35 pounds is the average weight for women to gain.  Maybe it’s a conservative number and health professionals just want you to aim for the range.  I don’t know exactly how they came up with those numbers, but I’m over them.  I’m over obsessing about them.  Over worrying that I’m blowing up like a balloon.  I am over those numbers!

I workout every day.  And hard.  I start every workout with the elliptical machine for 20-30 minutes. I do squats, lunges, dead lifts, pull ups, bar dips, and anything else that strikes my fancy.  I do the ladder for footwork, sprinting off the end.  I workout hard!!! I can run circles around non-prego ladies. And I’m topping the charts in weight gain.  How do you explain that?

I’ve stopped trying to explain it.  I know that I’m fit.  I am doing my best. I am staying committed to a workout plan and eating right (usually).  The books may tell me that I’m gaining too much weight, but I don’t care.  Baby Ralphie has a strong heart beat (150 beats per minute) and he kicks and turns, wiggles, hiccups, dances and lets me know he’s fine all day long.  He’s thriving in this ever expanding belly of mine, and that is the only thing that matters.

So, if you’re like me, and you just can’t seem to stay in that “magic number” range, I say just stay active, try to eat right, and don’t worry so much.  Enjoy this magical time with your own “Little Ralphie”.  It’ll be over before we know it (and a whole new wonderful life will begin).

Here is a recipe I’ve been enjoying.  I sort of improvised from a beet salad I had at a restaurant.  It’s one more way I’m getting myself to eat my veggies.  You can add different veggies to it (for instance I threw in some chopped grilled asparagus that we had left over from dinner the other night, and it was great).  Enjoy!  And let me know what you think.

Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

1 or 2 large beets
4 oz. crumbled goat cheese (Trader Joe’s has this for about $2.00)
1 handful of dried cranberries
1 handful slivered almonds

Cut beets into chunks.  Boil for about 30 minutes (or until tender). Drain and cool.  Slice beets into small pieces.  Dump in a big bowl.  Add the goat cheese, cranberries, and almonds and mix it all up.  Enjoy it warm or cold.

Katie Lindquist Jameson, Pro Beach Volleyball Player, Teacher, and Fit Mama To Be

****Information contained in this website is not meant to be taken as medical advice, we are not licensed medical physicians; the information presented should not replace the medical advice of your doctor or pediatrician.

pickles & ice cream...

Huge green salads with lots of veggies.  Grilled fish with brown rice and asparagus.  BBQ chicken with quinoa and grilled corn.  You’re thinking this is the diet of the Fit Mama to Be, right?  WRONG!
Before becoming pregnant I vowed to myself that I would put only healthy, nutritious foods into my body.  I would set my fetus on the right track to a healthy lifestyle by feeding him only the best foods made with the freshest ingredients, jam packed with vitamins and good stuff to ensure his love for fruits and veggies.

Unfortunately, Baby Ralphie had other things in mind.  He definitely had his own agenda, as well as an uncanny power to steer my car to a drive thru window.  Funny how powerful a 1.5 pound unborn baby can be!

The simple fact is, during that first trimester, no matter how much I knew that eating a big salad loaded with broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, and beets would provide my baby with loads of vitamins, I could not get myself to eat one. Mine and my husband’s staple dinner, grilled chicken with brown rice and some sort of vegetable never once made it to the table in those first 3 months.  Although I pretty much skipped the morning sickness phase,  food aversions and lack of appetite made it hard to eat the way I had envisioned.  No chicken and salads for me.  I wanted corn dogs, In ’n’ Out, and avocado egg rolls.

So, how to eat right during pregnancy?  I can’t say I have the answer to this one.  My advice is this:  eat the healthiest thing you can stand to look at.  For me, I went through a soup phase.  It was all I wanted to eat at night, and I figured that with the meat and veggies in most soups, it wasn’t the worst thing I could be eating.   I even pulled the “pregnancy card” and called my mom and asked her to make me a big batch of her famous butternut squash soup.  I only had to ask once.  The next week I got chicken tortellini.  The following week clam chowder. And this past week beef and barley soup.  Although I have passed the lack of appetite phase, soup is still my meal of choice (and luckily my mom is a great cook who happens to live nearby!).

Another thing I have come to depend on is my morning fruit smoothie.  My breakfast of choice has always been vanilla yogurt with blueberries and sliced almonds.  It’s funny how barfing something up once can completely turn you against it.  I haven’t had yogurt since.  Now, I rely on my smoothie to get me through the first hour or two of the morning.  And here’s my favorite trick:  I put a huge handful of spinach in.  You can’t even taste it.  Now I don’t feel so guilty for passing on the big salad.  I know that I’m getting a large serving of spinach each day.  And since pregnant women often become slightly anemic, I’m getting a huge dose of iron to combat that.  See below for my favorite smoothie recipe.

My last tidbit for all you fit mamas to be…always be prepared for hunger to strike.  I never leave home without a few healthy snacks in my purse and a big bottle of cold water.  This way, I am less inclined to grab the first thing I see at the checkout counter or succumb to Baby Ralphie steering me to Weinerschnitzel.  Now that fall is here and the new crop of Fuji Apples has arrived, I never leave home without one.  They are my absolute favorite thing about fall.  Some other healthy snacks I’ve come to depend on are oranges, bananas, raw veggies (jicama, carrots, bell peppers), cottage cheese, and dried fruit.  Of course, as I’m writing this I keep having to wipe my fingers from the bag of cheese puffs sitting next to me, but next I’ll go eat an apple and feel better about myself.

Katie’s Favorite Smoothie

We call it the “Spangoflaxein”

(recipe credit to my husband, who came up with this delightful concoction).

1 cup frozen mangos
1 cup canned or fresh pineapple
a large handful of spinach
1 scoop whey protein isolate
half a scoop ground flax seeds
water
(measurements are approximate)
Blend and enjoy!

Don’t be scared away by the color (Frankenstein green). It puts me in an island state of mind, even on those mornings after Little Ralphie has kept me up kicking and doing the Lambada in my belly.

If you haven’t taken the pledge to be a Fit Mom with Fit Kids, do so now and spread the word!  We haven’t reached our 10,000 mark yet but we are on our way!  Sign up on the right side of the page.  Also, SUBSCRIBE to get our articles sent straight to your email so you won’t miss anything! We need your help to reverse the trend of obesity in America.  It starts with YOU Fit Mom!  We can do it!

Katie Lindquist Jameson, Pro Beach Volleyball Player, Teacher, and Fit Mama To Be