Some form of physical exercise in pregnancy can really help you enjoy a healthy pregnancy. Exercise can reduce stress and help send away the blues, helps you maintain your weight and can soothe pregnancy niggles like backache and headaches. Generally speaking, if you've exercised before pregnancy, you can continue to exercise during your pregnancy. You just need to ensure you don't get overheated or dehydrated. However, it's always best to seek the advice of your caregiver before starting on any exercise regime - just to be on the safe side.
Even if you're not a gym bunny, you can still get some exercise - and, believe it or not, exercise can even be fun. Seriously. It helps to find something that's easy to fit into your life - and that you enjoy doing. Gentle regular exercise can be a great way to get a bit of me-time too. If you are not particularly keen on the thought of 'exercise' here are a few suggestions to help get you started with some gentle physical activity.
Walking
Swimming
Yoga
Bicycle riding
Belly dancing
Walking. Walking can be a convenient way to ease yourself into some physical activity. It is an exercise that can be continued into pregnancy, and discovering some 'regular runs' may benefit you when you need an outing with a new baby, especially if you live in an area that has a park, or scenic walk, bush, river or beach. Walking can be done on fine days (or with a raincoat if you are keen), and on weekends with friends or family.
To incorporate a walk on a regular basis, you may start considering walking to the shops, rather than driving. If you catch the bus or train to work, try getting off one stop before yours, and walk a little for the rest of the way. (You can pack a pair of sandshoes to change into if you need to.) If this works out well, you may wish to get off at the second stop beforehand, and so on (depending on how far the stops are apart and how much time you have).