February Feature: Personal Trainer, Nutritionist and New Mum “Ingerindubai”

Happy Friday Fitnuts!

For this month’s feature, we have the lovely Inger A.K.A @ingerindubai. If you haven’t been following her on instagram or snapchat, please do! Her energy is contagious!

 

IMG_6233

 

Tell us a little about yourself 

I am a 30 year old girl from a small town called Egersund in Norway. In 2011 I moved to Dubai with my husband where we have set up our own gym and physiotherapy center called Scandinavian Health & Performance (www.shpdubai.com). There I work as a personal trainer and nutritionist. In December 2015 I became a mom for the very first time, and life is better than ever!

IMG_5365

 Tell us about SHP

At SHP we offer personal training in a private environment, nutrition consultations and physiotherapy.  My husband set it up from scratch, without any knowledge of how to do so, or a big budget to help on the way. So it is safe to say I am very proud of what he has accomplished!

I have personally followed your pre- and post natal journey on social media as I was pregnant at the same time. Your posts are highly motivating and I know you have and still inspire many. What can you tell us about your pregnancy journey?

I have nothing to compare to, but I must say I had a very good pregnancy. The hardest bit was keeping it a secret in the beginning, because I wanted to shout the good news to the world! My plan was to eat very healthy for the baby and to not gain any weight until I had to, but lets just say that plan didn’t really work. I was nauseous the first trimester and ate what I could. One week I lived off baguettes with cheese, butter and jam- not exactly nutrient dense food for the little one in my belly! I felt tired as well, but found that exercise gave me energy, so I kept that part up the best I could. My pelvis started hurting in week 13, so after that I couldn’t run or do any unilateral movements in the gym, but being a personal trainer I knew very well how to work around it. Luckily I could still do squats, which I love, and I did a lot. Like really, a lot.
IMG_4003

What advice can you give mamas-to-be on staying fit and healthy?

This one is a bit difficult cause you have two different kind of women. Some women come to me afraid to gain weight and ask me how they can improve their fitness while pregnant. To these women my advice is to not stress about stuff like that and rather try to enjoy this period of life- after all they have the rest of their life to “get back in shape”. To the women who use pregnancy as an excuse to lay on the couch all day I try to advice them that movement, if not painful, will actually help the energy level more than a nap. And you don’t have to go crazy in the gym like I did. A brisk walk or a swim is just as good. Anything is better than nothing. Also, you don’t eat for two people, that is totally a myth 😉
IMG_3643

What are your favorite pregnancy exercises?

I focused mainly on strength training as I wanted to keep as much muscle mass as possible. The squat has always been my favourite exercise, and I was very happy to be able to still do it while pregnant.

What can you tell us about your postpartum recover plan? What is your advice for any new mama trying to get back into shape?  

I had no plan really, and maybe not stressing about it has been helping me actually get back into shape. I wanted to hit the gym quite early after I had our daughter, and did a workout 9 days after. The following day I did not. And that is how I did it, I played it day by day and did what felt right there and then. The first two weeks I walked a lot with the stroller- mainly to show it, and our daughter off 😉
My advice for women after pregnancy is the same as for women that wants to workout during pregnancy; listen to your body. It knows better than any doctor, trainer og person on social media (I have had a lot of opinions from those guys!) what is good for your body and not. Don’t stress about getting back into shape, because that will eventually work against you. Enjoy the time with your newborn, he/she will be tiny only one time, while you have the rest of your life to exercise.
IMG_3702IMG_5718

What is your secret? Becoming a mother is a blessing but can also be overwhelming. You make having a baby seem like a breeze.

Haha, well I have had very little reason to complain! First of all our daughter is a very good baby. She sleeps and eats well and have really made motherhood easy for me. I also had my mom over from Norway for almost an entire month right after we had our daughter, which was really helpful. And then there’s the things about Dubai that really make everything so much more convenient; ordering in food if we don’t want to cook, and having a maid that cleans the apartment each week. With these huge benefits I am not allowed to complain- my friends back in Norway would kill me 😉
IMG_5360

What’s ur favorite quote/ motto live by?

Hmm, I don’t really have a motto I think, but I do like to see the glass as half full instead of half empty. So for instance I could be sad about the fact that my parents live in a different country and don’t get to spend so much time with their granddaughter, but rather I focus on the fact of how lucky we are to have weeks of quality time whenever they come to visit.
Also, another good motto to live buy is to learn how to not give a f**k. It is a wonderful, relieving feeling not to care about what other think or believe about you.

What does a typical day look like in Inger’s world? What’s a typical day in terms of meals and fitness?

Oooh, my days are not so typical anymore, but let’s try. Coffee, eggs and carrots for breakfast. Maybe a square or two of dark chocolate, or a quest bar if I have.
Lunch is very often eggs again, or leftovers from dinner the day before. Or a smoothie.
Then most likely more coffee and dark chocolate or fruit.
Dinner is anything that is cooked quickly. It always have been, I man I like to cook, but I don’t like to wait when I am hungry. So usually we cook something with minced meat, chicken or salmon with vegetables and rice.
Definitely more chocolate for dessert 😉
I either go for a walk with the stroller or go to the gym, and I try to do at least one of these each day. I usually do full body circuits with cleans, presses, squats, lunges and pullups.
IMG_6807

If you had to choose just one thing to eat over and over again, what would it be?

Eggs. I know because I have been eating it over and over again for the last 5 years at least!

What’s a qu I should have asked but didn’t? And answer 🙂

If I always have been into fitness, and the answer would have been no. When I was young my entire family played tennis. I couldn’t understand that people would pay money to play, when I would pay money to get out of playing.

Finally, Where can we keep up with u ?

@ingerindubai on Instagram and if you can read norwegian www.ingerindubai.com 😉

You may also like

Leave a Reply