Help! I'm starving but surely I should curb the calories a bit!

[mogwai]

am 31 weeks with first baby. The received wisdom seems to be that I need an intake of about 2,300 calories by this stage. I'm hovering around that mark, usually a bit more, but I'm starving. I'm eating good quality stuff; fish, veg, fruit, wholemeal everything.

I lost four stones a couple of years ago through calorie counting and exercise, and I kept it off but always had to stick to about 1800 cals a day afterwards otherwise it went back on almost immediately.

The whole weight gain thing is distressing me, and I feel torn between eating when I'm hungry and sticking to the 2,300 calories mark. I know excess weight will have to come off somehow afterwards, and I'm growing quite nicely, I just wondered whether anyone else feels a bit stuck on this subject and what to do for the best.

My poor dh is sick of me feeling so fed up about the food issues, I thought I'd bother you lot instead!

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

mogwai, is the received wisdom from your gp or midwife?

[debs26]

ds1: i ate anything i could get my hands on, including whole 6 packs of fromage frais. put on 1 1/2 stone.

ds2: i probably didnt eat enough because i didnt want to put on weight. no fromage frais 6 packs - lost 2 wisdom teeth and had 3 fillings. put on 1 1/2 stone

ds3: ate loads, mostly healthy but wasnt scared to scoff the odd large bar of choc. put on 1 1/2 stone

anyone else notice a pattern here? really wouldnt worry about a few extra calories here and there.is better to put on a bit of weight and stay healthy imo

[mogwai]

Um Puff, it's from neither. It's from loads of nutrition books I have at home (some even say 2,100 cals! thats a whole bowl of cereal!!) and from some of the pregnancy books.

You know the sort of advice "You don't need to eat for two, you only need an extra 300 calories, and that's only in the third trimester, which means you need 2,300 calories"

[morningpaper]

No advice here, I've eaten a whole layer of Black Magic today (16 weeks) and put on 4 stone last time. Absolute heffa.

[marthamoo]

Pregnancy is no time to be thinking about your weight - if you are hungry, then eat! Try and make it vaguely healthy - a cheese salad sandwich rather than a half pound bar of Dairy Milk (says she who ate about five Double Deckers a day throughout pregnancy No.1 - really took that eating for two thing to heart).

[mogwai]

I'd bloody LOVE a whole layer of Thorntons (big box) but I couldn't cope with the 4 stones, I don't think.

Still, those chocs taste so good.....

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Oh right mogwai - yes remember reading that too, but had forgotten!

When I (accidentally and miraculously due to zero sex life) became pregnant with ds2, I was extremely overweight and v worried about how much more I would put on.

I talked to my doctor and midwife about it at length. Their view was I should eat what I want, but avoid/severely limit certain foods eg pastry, biscuits, butter, chocolate etc - the usual high fat stuff.

Other than that, I ate and drank what I wanted - full fat milk, mountains of pasta, chicken, fish, fruit, veg (I think I ate my own bodyweight in bananas I was so bloody hungry). Anyway, upshot was, I only put on 10lbs during the pregnancy and the baby weighed nearly 9lbs at birth.

I ate loads - don't go hungry - eat what you want, but just avoid the naughty stuff if poss .

[mogwai]

Puff! Bananas! I have also eaten my own body weight in the bloody things! I hope I can still face them afterwards.

I can't believe you put on so little weight. I guess I'm a heffa hiding in a normal sized body when I'm not pg - perhaps the hormones bring it out? Suffice to say I also followed the advice to "buy your pre-pregnancy size" when it came to maternity clothes, which doesn't work out at all - I've gone up a size top and bottom in maternity clothes.

Have just had a nice bowl of all bran as the consensus seems to be that I should eat if I am hungry...perhaps if it's healthy stuff, the extra padding won't hang around too stubbornly afterwards?

One of my books says that the extra padding is nature's baby sling (you know, your arse grows so you can balance a baby on it). I could have balanced a whole hockey team on one buttock, I can't help thinking the extra padding is taking the piss......

[JennyWren]

Hi Mogwai,

I'm 32 weeks pregnant now, and sometimes I find that I am also very hungry - and then other times I don't. It seems to go in fits and starts, and has done ever since I first became pregnant. I'm having my first baby, so I don't have any previous experience, but I figure that my body knows what is best for me right now. So I just try to stick to healthy things most of the time - I have decided that a little bit of what you fancy does you good, as my granny would say, and it is fine to have a sweet or some chocolate if I want an occasional treat, but if I am eating because I am hungry it needs to be 'proper food' - no 'empty' calories. I have a bag of apples on my desk at work, and a tub of dry cereal in my desk that I can just add milk to when I need it, and I eat those instead of raiding the chocolate/crisp machine. I am eating a normal breakfast, lunch and dinner but also eating a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and that is OK. At the end of the day, if I have 2 or even 3 extra apples/bowls of cereal in a day then so be it. I'm slap bang in the middle of the range of weight that my pregnancy book says I should be putting on, so I think that sometimes my metabolism is just higher, and the baby's demands are greater - he/she hasn't read the book, after all!

So, this isn't a medical opinion, but I think that if you are hungry - eat. Just try to eat sensibly, and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Hope this helps...

[lavenderrr]

JUST EAT, your baby needs all the energy now and so do you

[JennyWren]

OK, I just re-read that post - make that a packet of sweets

[18mumtobe]

hi mogwai

im 35 wks pg today and have put on about 1 1/2 stone now. i don't really take any notice of how many calories i should have. i suffered with m/s for the first 5 1/2 mths and lots nearly 2 stone (but its all back on now plus 1 1/2 stone more) because of the sickness i haven't really been eating heathly at all as find it hard to eat big meals all in one go, so have to eat little and often which means i just eat snacky foods all day like crips, yogurts and ice lollies, but i do eat alot of friut when i think my stomach will handle it.
i don't think you should worry about what your eating to much, and if your feeling hungry then its your body's way of asking for more food which must mean it needs it. its probley your baby thats needing the food so just think about it like he's having all the calories not you .

hope you feel better about it soon. take care xxx

[Katts]

Mogwai,

Have you read much about Glycemic Index? I'm no expert but basically some foods burn off quicker because of there higher Glycemic Index. And some foods are more likely to make you feel full longer because of their low glycemic index. I think if you eat foods with a low glycemic index it should stabilise your blood sugar a bit more and maybe stop you from feeling starving.

I'm sure you can google for a list of low GI foods - can't remember off hand.

Anyway, just an idea.

[mogwai]

thanks katts, hadn't thought of that. I suppose it's like doing the GI diet in reverse. I actually have a low GI diet naturally, I had a look at the diet once and realised I more or less followed it anyway, just through the foods I prefer.

So that means I can have cocopops.....

[Katts]

Heh heh...I did the low carb thing a couple of years ago lost about 40 pounds and found I no logner got hungry in between meals. Since then I've tried to avoid refined carbs, sugar and have gained about 10 pounds back. But feel much better for it. Of course that's all gone out the window with the pregnancy. I've tried to eat healthy but expecially for the first 2 months all I wanted was chips and bacon sandwiches. But I still stick to things like - no-sugar-added meusli in the morning, snacking on cheese or nuts rather than something sweet. I say this as I nibble on a sugar loaded ginger biscuit

[mogwai]

I also lost my four stones on a low carb thing (by accident rather than by design - I was calorie counting, which meant goodbye to bread, rice, pasta etc). I found it was a great way to stay healthy and we rarely bought bread before I was pg, never had pasta, rice or potatoes, just stacks of veggies.

When I became pg I couldn't face the veggies. I only wanted salt and vinegar crisps, bacon butties etc. I realised this would become a problem, especially as I could easily eat a whole big bag of kettle chips if left unsupervised. So - hehe- I took to licking the buggers instead! It sounds disgusting (it IS disgusting) but it was the flavour I wanted, not the crisps, so I just licked the flavour off whenever I got a craving. At my worst, I licked a whole bag in the car park at Tesco (had to have a carrier bag to put the used ones into - never repeated the mistake of putting them back into the bag!). I must have looked a sight.

I now crave heinz steam puddings, but as they come in a tin, I haven't licked any of them yet. I have handled them in the supermarket though.

You gotta admire the willpower!!!

[Katts]

PMSL at the crisps! I might give that a try! Why are vinegary things so damn good?!

[mogwai]

ha!

no idea - I really want vinegar though! Glad I'm not the only one (though suspect I'm the only one who's been licking kettle chips!)

The problem with kettle chips is the shape - there's so much flavour lurking in the folds, you have to perform serious tongue acrobatics to get at it. Sometimes you have to put the whole crisp in your mouth and then it's only serious willpower that will allow you to remove it again. I told my dh I know how men must feel if they using the "withdrawal" method. He thinks I'm nuts

[Expectantmum]

Mogwai, I, like you, am 31 weeks pg. I wasn't particularly slim when I fell pg, was an average size 14 and probably 11 stone. I discussed the diet issue with my midwife when she asked if I wanted to be weighed two weeks ago. She laughed when I said I didn't mind, as long as she didn't tell me!! I think I've put on about 2 stone, although I am wearing size 16 "normal" elasticated waist trousers/skirts, and "maternity" clothes, so I don't think I'm doing too bad. She said it doesn't really matter how much you put on now (unless of course you gain weight drastically) as you can concentrate on losing it afterwards. She also said that in reality you should be eating an extra 500 cals a day throughout the whole of your pregnancy. To give you another idea, my friend is six weeks ahead of me, was a very slim size 8, extremely healthy eater and has still gained 4 stone. It doesn't help at all, and to be honest, I can't say as I have been overly hungry throughout this pregnancy, so I just have three normal main meals a day, and maybe a late morning and late afternoon snack which might be chocolate or some biscuits. TBH its depressing enough losing sight of your feet, without having to worry about what to eat too! Hope you are feeling well!!

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Think I need to explain why I only put on 10lbs during my second pregnancy, just in case everyone is a bit shocked - I was nearly 8 stone overweight to start with , and despite eating well, but avoiding the naughty stuff, I only really put on baby weight - unbelievable to me still as I still ate loads.

First baby - I started out a normal weight (probably 1 and a half stone heavier than I should have been), but that time I put on 4 and a half stone.

[mogwai]

expectant mum, have you tried licking kettle chips?

[Expectantmum]

Also have another friend who is mad for vinegar and I quite often find her sitting at her desk licking a bag of salt and vinegar chip sticks!! Must be easier than Kettle chips!

[Expectantmum]

No mogwai, I think I can honestly say there is nothing that I have craved. The one thing I do miss is pate on toast and a nice glass of ice cold white wine, which I fully intend to be my first meal once DB comes along

[mogwai]

I think I shold patent a salt and vinegar lollipop for expectant mums.

[Katts]

I haven't craved vinegar exactly. It just tastes so good! First noticed it when I tried a big ole gherkin and the taste was just pure heaven!!! That kind of freaked me out though because of the old pickles and ice cream craving myth about pregnancy. Haven't gone any further than the occasional gherkin or 4 though. So far...