Trainer Jillian Michaels did a live interview with US Magazine to promote her new book, Yeah Baby! The Modern Mama’s Guide to Mastering Pregnancy, Having a Healthy Baby, and Bouncing Back Better Than Ever. Jillian wrote the book after her experience following her partner Heidi’s pregnancy and birth in 2012. Jillian and Heidi went to a fertility clinic to get pregnant, and Jillian said that doctors tried to get Heidi go to on the drugs Clomid and HCG to increase her fertility and she pushed back against that, insisting that Heidi didn’t need that because she was already ovulating. Jillian also complained about the prenatal vitamins the fertility clinic gave Heidi, because they had unnatural ingredients. It sounds a little extreme to me, those ingredients aren’t “poison,” but here’s what she said about that, and about her advice to mothers on getting back in shape postpartum:
On the prenatal vitamin given to her partner at a fertility clinic
At the number one fertility clinic on the west coast they give her a prenatal vitamin. So me being a nut, I read it. ‘Red number 40, hydrogenated oil, propylene glycol’ these are just a few and that’s a really toxic preservative. I was like ‘you’re giving a pregnant woman a pill full of poison.’ So I got a team of doctors and a registered dietitian to write the meal plan and a pregnancy fitness expert… to write the book here literally.
Do you have to shift your workout before you get pregnant?
You want to get yourself down to a healthy weight. Some of those markers [like gestational diabetes] have to do with body weight affecting your hormones. When it comes to your fitness regimen, don’t go too crazy. Exercise is interpreted by the body as stress. [Intense exercise] can affect your fertility. [She also recommends you keep you iron, calcium and magnesium levels up] Clean foods, eliminate the chemicals now.
On exercise recommendations while pregnant
First semester there really aren’t a ton of modifications. Second trimester [you have to check for diastasis recti] You don’t want to be doing a ton of ballistic or explosive exercises like plyometric or Olympic lifts. You don’t want to be crunching, you don’t want to be rotating. You want to strengthen your pelvic floor, you do want to maintain a strong core. [Without doing too much core work. She recommends modifying exercises.] Don’t go over 140 bpm.
Postpartum exercise recommendations
The delivery you have is going to impact [it]. If you did get diastasis recti, a C-section [or] an episiotomy you want to talk to your doctor. In the week we give a six week walking regimen to build you back gradually. From there we start to gradually rehab, build up core strength, posture, strengthen the back… by six months you should be back to prepregnancy fitness level, bang it out.
When I read the article on US’s site about this interview I rankled a little at the quote “by six months you should be back to prepregnancy fitness level,” quote because holy crap that was not realistic for me and like Chrissy Teigen I do not consider that realistic for most moms. However in context, when I saw the video, it was clear that Jillian is talking about the plan in her book and how following it should bring someone back to being fit. I prefer the advice of a more moderate and older fitness expert, Denise Austin, who says it takes nine months to have a baby and that it should take nine months to get back in shape. (I’m paraphrasing because I’m going from memory.)
As for her comments on prenatal vitamins being poison – come on. They may have some unnatural ingredients but from what I can find propylene glycol is approved by the FDA and is metabolized into lactic acid in the body. It’s considered safe. People can be allergic to red dye number 40 and it has been show to affect the unborn babies of pregnant rats – when consumed as 10% of their overall diet. So while I may object to her calling prenatal vitamins poison, I get avoiding red dye 40 while pregnant. Plus doctors recommend avoiding trans fat as well. But how much of that stuff is in the pill actually?
photos credit: WENN.com
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