to ask how much you managed to control pregnancy weight gain?

[dietcoketime69]

I'm currently expecting dc1 and in 1st trimester. I'm curious to know more about how realistic it is to try to control weight gain during pregnancy.

I'm normally a healthy BMI and as I'm sure is similar for lots of women, I'm hoping to be able to monitor my weight gain to avoid it going through the roof... cue everybody telling me I'm looking at this through rose tinted glasses!!

I completely understand weight gain is inevitable/healthy etc and would never consider "dieting" during pregnancy - I'm just keen to hear experiences from women who have been there and done that :-)

Would love to hear your stories, whether you felt you succeeded in keeping your weight gain in check or whether your good intentions just went to pot?! :-)

Stuff like bread and pasta makes you crave more bread and pasta though, that's the problem. That's what happened to me in my first pregnancy.

I would argue that cravings for cake can be switched to something else. And I say this as a dedicated cake eater.

yes if you're not too ill (nauseous) and you don't eat all the pies. I put on quite a lot in the first 12 weeks (half a stone or so as opposed to the four pounds per the guidelines) due to the morning sickness, but once it wore off I ate normally and ended up putting on two stone. Lost a stone with the birth (baby was 8lb 2 but placenta and fluid weigh a lot) and then the other stone came off with breastfeeding and walking with a pram on mat leave. i walked everywhere.

Mates who have put on lots of weight just usually ate too much. Some women just give up when they get pregnant and think they don't have to worry. Four stone is a lot of weight to put on tho

And as others in this thread have said tho breastfeeding doesn't always lead to weight gain - I lost half a stone in six weeks but I ended up giving up breastfeeding and with hindsight I don't think I was eating enough. Constantly ravenous. Friends who have breastfed most successfully didn't lose weight until they stopped - not sure if they were just better at feeding the hunger or if there's something in the myth that the body holds onto the fat.

That gives me hope, northernruth about the giving up bf-ing maybe helping me lose weight! I am still bf-ing at 18 months, and I honestly have never found weight so bloody hard to shift in my life. I still have almost a stone to go . Always found weight loss straightforward before, once I put my mind to it, but really struggling at the moment!

When I was breastfeeding I reckon I lost about half a pound to a pound a month. I was ravenous all the time and constantly scoffing. I fed each of my kids for over a year, and gave up because I felt I was getting too thin.

Five stone wi dd1 (I was verrrry thin when i conceived though) - but omg never again!

Pregnant again, fingers x I will have more self control ...

I always put on weight when pg due to being hugely hungry all the time , just like i am before my period. Imagine you have not eaten for 24 hours - that is how starving I feel. Being on crutches doesn't help or feeling knackered all the time.

It must be hormonal, I eat v healthily when not pregnant. I put on two stone this time, though a fair bit of that was water.

I put on 11lb and my baby was 8lb 7. I only ever ate for 1, avoided junk and went swimming every week. When I got too uncomfortable to swim I went to aqua natal

I've always been slimmish (size 10-12, BMI 22) and kept my weight stable with some effort to eat well and exercise but not enormous self-deprivation. When I have needed to lose a few pounds, I have calorie counted so I know the value of food and exercise, and how much fuel my body needs.

However, hormones do funny things to me. I piled on the weight when I was briefly on the pill, and it dropped off me when I stopped taking it. The only other time I have gained weight quickly pre-preg was when I took some hormonal fertility drugs - I was putting on 2-3lbs a week whilst eating normally and exercising.

I had IVF so I was on progesterone supplements for the first 12 weeks, in addition to all the natural hormone changes. Between BFP at 4 weeks and 10 weeks, I gained 10 lbs. I was really shocked. I have never gained so much weight in such a short space of time. I was eating a little more than usual to keep the nausea at bay, but not silly amounts. Certainly not the extra 35,000 calories over those 6 weeks, that the weight gain would suggest. Since, then I have been gaining at a more moderate pace but am still over where the charts reckon I should be because of that gain in the early weeks (currently 22lbs up at 24 weeks).

Why would you put on weight? Well, I was horribly ill for the full nine months. Could only stomach starchy carbs like crisps and toast. Couldn't keep down plain water so drank far more sugary drinks eg lemonade than I ever would normally. Had no energy whatsoever, the fatigue was unbelievable throughout so I couldn't exercise. Clearly, some people are able to eat healthily and stay active but pregnancy was not like that for me at all.

northern Friends who have breastfed most successfully didn't lose weight until they stopped

Actually my DD was EBF for 6mo, and was BF till 18mo. So I think I'm very successful with it. I'm one of those who found breastfeeding a weight loss magnet. I got very very skinny (under recommend BMI, as I'm normally at the low end, 19-20). What I found is that you are recommended an extra 500 calories for bf. However, without the constant nauseousness and the need to eat to stop it, I just stopped eating so much. I would be back to my normal intake of food, three meals a day. And I think that's why I couldn't keep the weight up at a normal level.

I was lucky to not have any morning sickness so I managed to keep up with my usual gym schedule. I ate the same amount as I always did (though I might've attacked the office biscuit tin with more vigour!) and did 5 exercise classes a week (down from my usual 7) til 36 weeks, then dropped body combat and attack for only pump til 38 weeks. I then gave up the gym in favour of two weeks of daily pregnancy yoga and most days walked the mile to the yoga studio too.

I put on 5 kilos in pregnancy, baby was 3.8 kilos, I was back in my pre-pregnancy clothes within a fortnight and thanks to breastfeeding now weigh about 5 kilos less than I did when I got pregnant. I only manage to get to the gym a couple of times a week now but am hoping to up that to 3-4 times soon. I'm only 12 weeks post partum so am going to take it easy.

I took the "9m to put it on, 9m to get it off" approach and just ate whatever I fancied, 3 slices of toast every morning till 14wks and all the rest

My colleague said I was like a hamster grazing all morning on fruit and nuts

Put on 3.5 stone, it was all gone by the time DD was 7m old. Walk lots and eat sensibly once baby's here and you'll be fine!

This is turning into a bit of a stealth - boast thread methinks!

Gestational diabetes helped me!
No sugar, no sweets, no cakes, no biscuits, very little bread (high in sugar), no fruit or juice. Lots of oatcakes, cheese, meat, eggs and salted peanut butter (no sugar one) and veg.

I put on 4 stone with both babies. The first 2 stone disappeared really quickly. I'm still struggling to lose the 2nd two stone and my kids are 8 and 6! I put on stone within weeks of getting pregnant both times partly because my boobs went from a 34 B to a G in four weeks. I have terrible stretch marks on them because of it.
I wish now I'd been more careful about what I ate as it's miserable still being porky years later.

Is this really an AIBU scenario ?

Anyway, I am not the Thread Police.

I put about a stone on with my first and 1.5 stones with the second. I think the trick is not to overeat. It's not Rocket Science.

I put on 4st with DS and will probably be the same with this one. I didn't think that was too much tbh . I was told a stone per trimester is the norm. DS was over 9lbs and i lost 2st just at the birth/in hospital for a week post birth. The other 2st stayed on for the whole time i bfed (8 months) then i lost it within 3 months by just eating the way i always had and walking everywhere.

I found bfing also made me store fat in a different way and i was covered in cellulite down to my knees and on my upper arms till i stopped. (it's just started appearing again now i'm 23wks :( )

So anyone who doesn't say they put on at least 2 stone is stealth boasting? I don't think it's fair to say that. OP asked how much we managed to control pregnancy weight gain and people have replied. I

3-4 stone weight gain in pregnancy is not the norm, it is too much.

With DD1 I gained 2 1/2 stone. With dD2 I was much more cautious as I was a lot heavier (17 stone) and very worried about my weight so only gained 1 stone through whole pregnancy. Baby was 7lbs and everything else was water a and placenta.

I was really careful about what I ate but the first trimester nausea along with the hideous 3rd trimester reflux combined to really reduce my appetite.

I think it's all well and good to plan to watch your weight but sometimes the pregnancy has a mind of its own IYSWIM.

is it in ratio to your size? i mean if you are big (ie tall and broad, not overweight) do you put on more 'normally'? Because my midwives banged on about how slim i had stayed and that when they visited after the birth how quickly i had lost my belly and was 'back to normal' (i wasn't btw, but i was a 14-16 i suppose).

I found cutting out alcohol and eating little but often, meant I have always given birth weighing less than when I got pregnant. I used to have decent stomach muscles, by the time I'd had a cuddle, cup of tea, bath and got dressed, my belly was gone

Morning sickness will obviously make it difficult to eat, but so does constipation, my tip to you would be, no matter how many times per hour you need to pee, drink as much water (and as little tea/coffee) as you possibly can.

by the day I went into labour I had put on just over 3st!! But I ate really badly. I craved rubbish - lots of starch (crisp sandwiches, super noodles) and sugar (chocolate mainly, and flavoured milk).
I started off badly as I was quite naueaus in the 1st trimester, so i basically ate what I could keep down (a LOT of bread). As I got further on I had a lot of sugar (mainly to get me through mind-numbingly boring day at work!!

I'd say plan to be healthy - e.g. if you think you are likely to snack at work, take fruit and vege sticks to pick at, and maybe a couple of breadsticks. I never planned food - I just listened to my body's cries for sugar!!
As long as you eat healthily the majority of the time you'll be fine. I lost about 10lbs within a couple of days of having my daughter,and another stone just through breastfeeding.

The recommended gain for someone of normal BMI is 25-35 pounds (so 1st9 - 2st7). There are different recommendations for those with high and low BMIs. I reckon I'm going to be tipping the upper end of that, which is odd for someone who reached 38 being able to control weight fairly easily. But my mw isn't worried and I'm healthy at the moment, so I'll deal with it afterwards.