Maria Kang

My Pregnancy Fitness Goals

Posted by Maria Kang on July 31, 2008

As you guys could imagine, I’ve been doing A LOT of research on pregnancy – especially in the amount of activity you can have and what foods to eat and avoid.  Most women that I’ve talked to have gained 50+ lbs during pregnancy. My sister (who eats a lot and doesn’t workout, but IS small framed) gained around 75lbs. SO! If you can only imagine my fears…know that I have a lot of them!

However! All fears are quenched through proper education and understanding your body more. For instance, being pregnant doesn’t mean that you are supposed to ‘eat for two.’ You are only essentially eating 300 more calories than you normally do. For me, when I diet, I stay around 1300-1600 calories. My normal diet should  be around 1900-2100 calories. These days, I eat approximately 2000-2400.

And YES, I still write everything down!  My goal is to gain between 30-35 pounds. So far, I’ve gained a healthy 7lbs – and I’m 17 weeks pregnant now. According to some weight calculators, I’m a little bit on the lighter side in terms of weight gain. But I have NO worries as my doctor says I’m perfectly fine.

I didn’t experience any morning sickness or nausea in my first trimester (I don’t think that runs in my family) – as I mentioned before, the only thing I get is a lot of fatigue!

I wanted to workout Mon and Tues – but I ended up swimming and taking Tiger for a walk instead. These days: any activity, whether performed in the gym or not, is good activity! This morning I did Taebo and tonight I plan on taking Zumba!

A lot of people ask how you stay fit during pregnancy and my answer is: “make sure you are fit before you are pregnant.” Most often starting a new fitness program when you never had one before is hard for your body, especially when its producing a little one.

In that same spirit – the best way to be fit after you give birth is to not gain a lot of weight during pregnancy. The healthy weight gain is 25-35 lbs.


I took this picture after my workout yesterday. I did upper body and cardio with my girlfriend, Steph. I admit I am sticking my belly out a little bit more – but I also had an extra big belly (than usual) that day.

Maria Kang

I did Taebo on YOUTUBE this morning.

Posted by Maria Kang on July 31, 2008

I feel like I’m the queen of circumstances…I wake up this morning, check my email and decide to do a small workout before my appointment later. My DVD wasn’t working – and I have no patience to figure all the kinks out so I decide to go to YOUTUBE and search for Taebo. Since they only host videos with ten-minute intervals, I had to go through Tabeo 1/5, 2/5 etc..

It was funny – but it definitely go the job done!!

This reminds me of other times I did the craziest things just to get a workout in:

- I performed sit ups on the benches in the Hong Kong airport when I was 16

- In my small room in China, I kickboxed, jogged in place and performed plyometrics to Chinese music in the background.

- On long drives I would squeeze my glutes and core (performing isometric work) while sitting

- In Tahoe, I would pick up large rocks and utilize them as weights for squats, lunges and deadlifts

SEE! There is so much to do if you have the mindset you are going to do it no matter what!

This is what I did this morning:

Maria Kang

Kathy Griffin: being 47 and staying FIT

Posted by Maria Kang on July 31, 2008

Check out the new Fitness magazine coming out on August 14th! They’ve got a GREAT interview with funny lady, Kathy Griffin. Not only does she talk about her experiences with plastic surgery, but they also discuss in length how it feels like to be living in a 47-year old body both physically and mentally.

Here are some excerpts of that interview:

ON AN ENVIABLE HOLLYWOOD FIGURE: “I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m never going to be Jennifer Aniston. I spent too long trying to get a body like Jennifer Aniston. It never worked. I had liposuction, and everything else. Then I realized, oh, what if I just ate better and exercised.”

ON BEING 47: “I’ll say to my younger friends, C’mon I have a hot body, right? I mean not a hot body Hollywood style. But it’s hot for 47. So that’s my new thing. I like my body now. For 47, it’s pretty darn good. For 27, it’s not great. For 47, it’s pretty good…I actually obsessed about it so much more. That’s really the best thing about 47. When I think about when I was 27, it was all I thought about. I was constantly denying foods that I wanted and binging on foods when I was hungry and going on every crazy diet. Now it’s on my mind of course, but…I’ve come to accept I’m going to fluctuate five pounds over the year.”

ON WORKING OUT: “It doesn’t mean you have to schlep to the gym every day or have a trainer or whatever. So that’s something I’m more open to. And exercise doesn’t always have to be this nightmare trip to the gym. For me, when I started going to the gym, I would feel inadequate. I’d be next to the bimbo with the perfect body and big tits and I’d be kind of going if I worked out more I could look like her. And I was never going to look like her. And I’m actually doing fine not looking like her—and most women do fine not looking like her.”

ON STANDUP EXERCISE: “Also, by the way, I just want to say that when you’re doing standup for two hours a show and two shows a night, that’s a workout itself. So when I’m walking off stage covered in sweat that’s got to be some kind of workout.”

THOUGHTS ON HER BODY NOW: “I like my body now more than I did two decades ago.”

HER FAVE SNACK: “Peanut butter. It’s pure protein but won’t drag you down like a burger. When I’m on tour, I have my own personal jar—I’m fancy like that—and I eat it with a spoon.”


you may have seen Kathy on Bravo’s “WORK OUT”


on stage with her pants down!


check out Fitness magazine on stands next month!

Maria Kang

Daily Fitness Motivation – July 31

Posted by Maria Kang on July 31, 2008

Here’s your weekly dose of inspiring role models!

Maria Kang

Fit Celebrity Dogs!

Posted by Maria Kang on July 30, 2008

I think in order to be a celebrity you must:

- be very fit
- own a dog
- have a great pair of sunglasses!

Lately I’ve been walking my dog a lot more – especially since I can’t perform very intense exercises. Together we’ve been maintaining/losing weight since we go on walks that range half and hour to one full hour or more! Check out these fit celebrity dog owners!


Rachel Bilson


Hillary Duff


Giselle

 
Matthew McConaughy


Jennifer Aniston


Leonardo DiCaprio


Jessica Biel

 
This is me with my dog, Tiger!!