Fit Mom: Inspired by Pregnancy, Now Personal Trainer

Fit Mom: Inspired by Pregnancy, Now Inspiring Others

Amber Dobecka is a fitness competitor and a personal trainer. She's also an Orange Theory Fitness coach, cycling instructor, yoga instructor, and owner of A.M. Fit. During her pregnancy, Amber kept up with her busy schedule of classes and her personal fitness routine. She shared some of her pregnant workouts on social media, which is how I came to meet her.

In the comments section of my article on the ISSA blog called "How to Break Down Barriers to Fitness and Motivate Your Postpartum Client", a reader shared a link to Amber's Facebook page. I checked out the link and what I found was amazing: I saw a very pregnant, very strong-looking young woman repping out burpees, hammer curls, power jacks, bench hops, and some fairly intense combo moves. The word that came to mind was, "wow".

I was obviously impressed, but I was also curious to hear about how this first-time mom felt about her pregnancy journey and what she thought of my article, so I gave her a call.

Amber's Pregnant Workout Journey

My first impression was that Amber is sweet and inspiring to talk to. Her energy is contagious, and her passion for her work is obvious, even over the phone. She's dedicated to her fitness and the people she coaches, so we talked about what fitness and pregnancy meant to her.

"It's very rare that I go a day without working out for at least 45 minutes," she said. "Little by little, pregnancy simply slowed me down, but the one thing I didn't do was stop."

Instead of calling it quits on her fitness routine, Amber said she tried to listen to her body more, watching for bad pain versus good pain and using her history of training with a heart rate monitor to help her recognize when she had reached her intensity limit.

Activity is important to overall health, but rest is just as important and becomes even more so during pregnancy since a woman's body is busy creating a small human and expending a lot of energy and resources to do it. Rest, Amber told me, is crucial for moms who plan to stay active.

"While pregnant, I hardly went a day without at least an hour nap, and I usually got into bed (phone-free and TV-free) before 11 p.m."

As we talked, I got the impression that the exhaustion and fatigue that plague many women during the first and third trimesters were not a problem for Amber. When I asked her how she overcame the urge to stay in bed, she offered this advice:

"Don't miss a workout!"

She went on to say, "Whatever happens, unless mandated by a doctor, I'd encourage pregnant women to try to stay as active as possible. In my experience, I felt so much better during, and after working out then on days I didn't."

Pregnancy and Food - It's Not a Free-for-All

During pregnancy, diet often becomes an issue. The old adage, "you're eating for two" can be used as an excuse to make poor choices.

But Amber wanted to make sure she gained the right amount of weight and ate foods that supported her health and that of the baby. She has some great advice for pregnant moms, based on her experiences:

• Amber found that eating small, more frequent meals helped to prevent bloating and supported good digestion.

• She ate a lot of vegetables, like leafy green salads, butternut squash, broccoli, green beans, and tomatoes.

• For her desserts, she chose low-sugar fruits and berries to provide extra nutrition and support from anti-oxidants and phytonutrients.

• With her heavy workout regimen, Amber found it was important to eat plenty of protein. While pregnant she especially enjoyed chicken breast, egg whites, low-fat cottage cheese, turkey breast, and extra-lean ground beef, and also supplemented with whey protein isolate.

• To balance out her macronutrients and to help stay full, Amber chose healthy fats from foods like avocados, almonds, and olive oil.

Benefits of Maintaining Fitness...and the Pressure to Lose the Baby Weight

As I talked about in my previous article about motivating postpartum clients, maintaining one's current fitness level throughout pregnancy has a lot of benefits according to scientific studies. What I wanted to hear from Amber was whether those benefits are real, outside of the studies. She agrees, but points out that those benefits are different for each woman:

"Now, (6 weeks post-delivery), I can see progress week to week. I still feel soft in my tummy area, but I know that it's still been a short time of recovery."

What's interesting to note is that Amber and her husband struggled to get pregnant. She attributes a history of dieting and excess exercise to part of the issue, but she also wanted to share something a bit more personal. Amber admitted to me that she had been afraid of being a mother and "getting fat."

"I used to put my value in how fit I was. I no longer do. Being pregnant ignited an energy to train for the right reasons, finally. Not a physical energy, so much, but a motivation to think beyond myself."

In my article, I mentioned the heavy influence society has on a new mom's postpartum fitness expectations. Women are expected to be perfectly fit and slim soon after having a baby, which is an unfair and unrealistic expectation. But women are also held to fairly high standards of beauty and fitness outside of motherhood. This burden leads many women to disordered eating and obsessive exercise routines.

I love the perspective Amber shares with us about how she overcame body image issues as a result of her pregnancy:

"Since I struggled to get pregnant and also struggled with so many body image issues in my past, being pregnant prompted the most optimistic outlook I've ever had regarding my body. My body may never look or feel the same as it once did, but I'm confident that my perspective of my body will never be what it once was either."

Inspiring Others: Mothers, Non-Moms, Even Men

This healthy balance of body appreciation and self-care is what excites me about Amber's role as a health coach and new mom.

Amber can empathize with other new moms about all the joys and struggles of caring for a baby. But much more than offering empathy, Amber can serve as a role model for other moms. Furthermore, her inspiring attitude is not just reserved for mothers.

Amber also met a man in her gym who said he struggled to make it to his training session that day. He said he was struggling with low self-esteem and feeling "crappy," but seeing her made him feel like he, too, could get and stay fit.

Of that experience, Amber said, "an active, healthy pregnant woman who still pushes herself... is kind of taboo in today's society... I think many people (who saw the video and watched her workout in the gym) were inspired to meet their challenges head on."

Staying fit during pregnancy is a challenge, but Amber is excited to share her journey to motivate other pregnant moms to stick with it so they can have the healthiest pregnancy possible and give their baby a healthy start.

"Pregnant or not, I think God's given me a desire to encourage others to find strength in the struggle and seek freedom from the pressure we feel from ourselves and others."

The moral of the story is that each person's story is different. We must embrace our journey and encourage other people on their journeys. If you're about to be a mom, have just become a mom, or have been a mom for several years, be encouraged that everything you've been through has brought you to this moment. Motherhood is a gift, enjoy it.