Weight gain

[SweetPea86]

Hi I was 12 stone when I fell pregnant my midwife made a point of telling me to gain no more than 7lbs which seems a bit unrealistic.

I'm 34 weeks and I'm 14 stone. Now I know some of that is the baby but I lost weight in first trimester due to sickness. Even now I don't eat as much as I did before I was preg yet the pounds are hitting me like now tomorrow. I've cut out takes aways have the odd one. Some days my hungar is bad but the majority of the time I'm eating fine only 3 meals a day.

Before pregnancy I loved snacks on a evening and I don't do that know for the pure fact I get full quicker and heartburn.

So how come weight is piling on is it just purely baby. I'm not really sure how much weight is baby but the midwife has me worried surely baby weight is more than 7lbs :s

[1muddymummy]

im 35+2 and started at 9 stone and I'm 11 now so a similar amount and I would say all my weight is baby. still exercise lots and fit into old clothes but have a big bump.

[Mummyk1982]

If you don't eat as often as you should (ie when you're hungry), your body will store what you do eat in order to break it down when you're hungry- so you can inadvertently put weight on.
I was 10 stone when fell pregnany, am now almost 38 weeks an when I checked my weight about 10 days ago I was 12 stone- so similar weight gain to you. There is down thing on the internet which accounts for the weight gain- I'll see if I can find it

[Foxeym]

I shouldn't worry, I've had 3DC and all 3 times I've put on 3.5 stone no matter how careful I've been. It's just what my body naturally does. Just go with it, it will come off after. My DC3 is 19 weeks and I'm the same now as before without dieting, just healthy eating and walking.

[Rockchick1984]

Was your starting BMI quite high if you were advised to only gain 7lbs? I think actual baby weight is about 1st, generally if you are a normal weight to start then your body needs to build up its fat stores as well but obviously this isn't necessary if you are overweight to begin with, and gaining more weight increases the risks of some pregnancy conditions eg gestational diabetes.

[Writerwannabe83]

You were told not to put on more than 7lbs?? What on earth??
How can you control how much pregnancy weight you gain??

I'm just over 36 weeks and have put on 37lbs so far.

I reckon by the time baby arrives I will have put on at least 3 stone which is what I thought was normal?!

[Rockchick1984]

Writer it depends on the OP's BMI as I said above. If overweight / obese to start with then there are risks attached to weight gain during pregnancy.

[Writerwannabe83]

But surely the pregnancy alone is going to weigh more than 7lbs??
I.e the baby, the placenta, the retained fluid, the extra blood volume etc...

I understand about watching what you eat so weight gain isn't due to that....but a 7lb limit? Seriously?

[colleysmill]

7lb doesn't seem an awful lot to put on.

I used a link from a thread I found on here to just keep an eye on my weight gain which uses your height and starting weight for recommendation of how much to gain www.kidspot.com.au./weightgain

I weighed much more than to start with than you OP although I was quite fit running 3-4 Times a week and put on about 15lbs, 8 of which was baby.

[whereisshe]

Weight gain in pregnancy is one of those hotly debated things where there is limited evidence for some of the advice.

Your midwife should provide you with the evidence to back up the 7lb gain statement, because if it's bad advice that's not actually substantiated by recent research you risk other side effects from calorie restriction.

I put on 4 stone during pregnancy, mainly from eating my normal diet (which is quite healthy, not much snacking or crap) but literally for two of me especially in the first trimester. That was from a starting BMI of 21. Within about 4 weeks of DD's birth I'd lost 2.5 stone of that, so obviously I just store a lot of fluid etc. the rest is coming off at about the rate it went on, so I expect I'll be back to normal within 6-12 months.

Women are all different though with regard to weight gain - average is really not helpful in this area because there is so much (healthy) variation.

[Biffle]

Every pg is different. With my daughters I was around 11st7lbs when I fell and 5'2" ... i put on around 4stone but was within 7lbs of my pre pregnancy weight after they were born as I carried a lot of fluid. This time round I had put on 9lbs by 8 weeks and am still only 9lbs heavier at 24 weeks. I don't think I am doing anything different this time round it just seems to be a different pregnancy, although this time I started at 14stone!

[Tea1Sugar]

I was 8st 4lbs pre pregnancy and am now 10st 7lbs with the worlds biggest bump (which the world feels they can touch, grab, comment on grrr). 33 weeks tomorrow x

[moomin35]

I've put on 25 llbs at 27 weeks :-( Pregnancy calculators tell me this is waaay too much.

[PonceyPeas]

I put on 2.5 stone when I was pregnant and I didn't eat for twi. Baby was only 5lb 6oz, so no way it was all 'baby'. However without one day of dieting, I'd lost all the weight within 6 months. Every womans body reacts differently to pregnancy. Yes, you can be careful with what you eat but in my opinion your body will gain as much weight (be in fat, water, baby, placenta etc) as it needs to to sustain the pregnancy.

And your midwife is talking out her arse when she says to only gain 7lb. That would mean dieting throughout your pregnancy as effectively you would have to lose weight to only gain 7lb.