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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

151 replies

dietcoketime69 · 14/05/2014 18:56

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?! :-)

OP posts:

lookingfortheanswer · 15/05/2014 09:45

Pregnancy weight gain has a purpose, it gives enough energy stores for breastfeeding. I was unwell during pregnancy and the day after giving birth weighed 2lbs less than I had before I was pregnant. Breastfeeding wiped me out for weeks and I found it so hard to keep my energy and weight stable as I just had no reserve to fall back on. Too much weight gain is not good, but you do need some extra weight and will lose it again.

Gen35 · 15/05/2014 09:47

That's right Humphrey, it depends on many factors and appetite is one of them. Of course you'll lose the weight after, trust that and try not to worry. People should leave off commenting about other people's weight as unless they have a medical need to do so, otherwise it's really just a moral judgment dressed up as concern. And yes, I'm sporting a massive bump with nbr 2 at 29 wks and possible also a bit touchy :)

Gen35 · 15/05/2014 09:47

Doh, 20 not 29 wks - wishful thinking!

Ruebarb · 15/05/2014 09:50

I don't think you can necessarily control your pregnancy weight gain. I just ate normally through both pregnancies and I put on a stone with dc1 (8st 12lb to 9st 12lb) lost all the weight by the time I left hospital and more in the next few months (was more active as a SAHM) with dc2 born just over a year later put on 1st 5lb (8st 6lb to 9st 11lb) lost the weight within a month and then stayed at around 8st 4lb to 8st 8lb afterwards. Other friends who watched their diets more carefully put on more weight and did not lose it afterwards so I do not think anyone can blame themselves necessarily for weight gain - it seems to be everybody's body reacts differently. Nearly 30 years later I am around the 8st mark - gone through menopause with no weight gain- and I cannot take any credit for it other than eating 'normally' but loving cakes, puddings etc but try to keep that in moderation now.

HumphreyCobbler · 15/05/2014 09:51

And there is the fluid retention. As soon as I get a bfp my face gets wider. I am not joking. DH says he can tell as sooner than the test due to this. And after the c section drugs my NECK swelled up! Almost as wide as my bloody face! I tried on my last pair of pg sandals yesterday and they fell off my feet. My toes were like oversized chippolatas by five months..I also weighed one of my boobs when breastfeeding and it weighed three pounds

It is a good job babies are so lovely.

sleepisadistantmemory · 15/05/2014 09:59

I put on 10Kg, 4 Kg was baby and the rest of was fluid (fingers and feet were totally swollen!). Almost all gone 2 weeks after the baby. Did lots of exercise while expecting...walking and swimming towards the end. I was sick for the first 20 weeks but ate normally afterwards. There is a certain amount of genetics wrt weight gain too...My mother was similar. Also, for me breastfeeding was amazing for losing weight....

MewlingQuim · 15/05/2014 10:07

I didnt put on much weight at all. This was achieved by:

Vomiting whenever I ate (first half of pregnancy)

Horrendous heartburn whenever I ate (last half of pregnancy)

Awful constipation throughout (sorry tmi) so no room for food anyway

KeepTheCarRunning · 15/05/2014 10:09

I just don't think weight gain is indicative of anything in and of itself. I'm 38 weeks with ds2. Up until three weeks ago I had put on 7 kgs (thanks hyperemesis ). Then I literally put on 8 kgs in the space of week, went to my gp and was diagnosed with preeclampsia. It's basically water retention and it's hideous. I expect I'll spend the first few weeks postpartum weeing for England...

MewlingQuim · 15/05/2014 10:24

I didnt put on much weight at all. This was achieved by:

Vomiting whenever I ate (first half of pregnancy)

Horrendous heartburn whenever I ate (last half of pregnancy)

Awful constipation throughout (sorry tmi) so no room for food anyway

ThreeBecameFour · 15/05/2014 10:36

I put on 2.5 -3 stone with both pregnancies. I found it easier to shift the weight after my first. Struggling a bit more this time around but I have comfort eaten a little more this time during pregnancy and afterwards. Also having an pre schooler and being busy with 2 kids has meant not being as vigilant re diet and exercise. I walked a lot after dd, this time around have not been as able to after ds. My body this time has taken more of a battering, worse back, plantar fascitis, general aches and pains due to lack of sleep and saggier body. I am tired so it is a big effort to make myself do things. The sag also must be due to age - 40 in 6 months, so my skin tone isn't what it was in my 20's ;-)

ThreeBecameFour · 15/05/2014 10:37

I should add that ds is 9 mo old now. I have 1/2 a stone to go to target weight but it is stubborn to shift!

WutheringTights · 15/05/2014 11:24

I agree that your body seems to revert to type in pregnancy. I put on around 20 pounds with DS1. I ate normally for the first half (no morning sickness) but then ate whatever I wanted after that. I ate a lot because I was always hungry (think two breakfasts, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, supper...) but I carried on exercising and tried to stick to healthy food, mainly fruit and veg.

I breastfed for a year and ended up a lot skinnier than I was before I got pregnant (too skinny to be honest), despite eating like a pig, cake every day etc. I just needed the calories. But, I also had no access to a car so I walked everywhere, probably did a couple of hours of brisk walking every day, so that might have had something to do with it too.

Once I stopped breastfeeding I put some of the weight back on, and by the time I got pregnant with DC2 I was back to normal (slim but not skinny, BMI around 20). I'm now 14 weeks with DC2 and have put on 4 pounds, which is more than I had at this stage with DS1 but I've been eating for two from the start this time.

MrsKoala · 15/05/2014 11:37

This thread has reminded me of my MWs advise on what i should be eating during breast feeding. She gave me a print out of a daily diet sheet and it was obscene amounts of food - not sure when she thought i was going to have time to prepare it all. But it went like this:

Breakfast
Cereal/porridge/muesli
something cooked like beans/eggs on 2 buttered toast or a full cooked breakfast.

Mid morning snack
Banana and some biscuits/muesli bar

Lunch
A full cooked dinner WITH A PUDDING (she emphasised this)

Mid afternoon
A piece of cake

Dinner
A full cooked dinner WITH A PUDDING (again she emphasised this)

Before bed snack
Cheese and crackers/cheese on toast

And Drink 1 pint of whole milk over the course of the day.

She also said that everytime i bfed i should eat a couple of chocolate biscuits. On my first visit when i was pregnant she said 'is there any food you don't allow yourself because it's too fattening' i said not really no i eat whatever i want in moderation. She said gleefully (almost salivating) 'well you don't have to have it in moderation, you can just eat whatever you like whenever you like now'. I said i thought you only needed an extra 100cals a day . Likewise, when she recommended the above meal plan, that i had read you only needed 500 extra cals when bfing. She seemed confused and said, 'yes, so you can eat whatever you like'. I said 500 calories is one sandwhich/piece of cake/muffin, certainly not that amount of food at all.

jasminemai · 15/05/2014 14:01

Yeah as my full time job is 40 hours and I cant sit down and its a very physical job. Im doing that and running, yoga, killer buns and thighs regularly I also walk 10-15 miles a week.

AnyFucker · 15/05/2014 17:28

MrsK, that is far too much food.

MrsKoala · 15/05/2014 17:53

I know! My DH needs 3300cals a day and STILL wouldn't eat that. You'd need to be breast feeding a litter of nine to warrant that amount of food!

I couldn't believe it when she gave it to me. When i questioned it she seemed to have no nutritional knowledge at all. I took the sheet to my nct group meet up and we all were at it. Of course i didn't follow it btw.

AnyFucker · 15/05/2014 17:57

MrsK, was your midwife very, very overweight herself

MrsKoala · 15/05/2014 18:07

Yes!

MrsKoala · 15/05/2014 18:09

SHe seemed to get virtually orgasmic when telling me of all the things i should be eating and kept saying how jealous she was because bfing was the one time in your life you could eat lard sandwiches with impunity and would never put on weight

AnyFucker · 15/05/2014 18:17

Erk

MrsKoala · 15/05/2014 18:22

I can just imagine someone who she had advised going on Secret Eaters - 'i just can't work out why i'm putting on weight, i'm following a nutritionally balanced diet that i was given by a health care professional...'

mrsnec · 15/05/2014 18:22

Interesting thread. I'm 20 weeks.

Before ttc I was morbidly obese. I lost about 25 kg before I got pg but that still put me in the overweight category at a bmi of 26.

Up to week 15 I gained nothing and stayed at my pre pg weight of 75kg. At my 20 week scan got a lecture from the nurse and doctor because I'm now 77.5kg and have too high blood sugar at 90.

I didn't want to diet in pg. I'm still very sick and craving carbs and sweet things and have a million food aversions. My doctors advice was to eat wholegrain cereal for breakfast. 1 piece of fruit mid morning then meat or fish with salad and veg for lunch and dinner with 1 portion of brown rice or pasta with either but not both. To only drink water, milk or tea and coffee and to have one treat a week. It's going to be bloody hard! Meat and salad are my biggest aversions! I'm not being strict because I refuse to force myself to eat things I can't stand.

Having said that they didn't give me any guidelines as to what they think I should be. I'm in maternity clothes but 12s and the odd 14. I don't feel huge. I don't think it's consistent. At my first scan nobody questioned my weight at all. Official guidelines would help. I. Googled it and I'm sure it said in my weight bracket 10 kg total is max gain. It's interesting that I've gone from being worried about not gaining to gaining too much already at this stage!

SinisterBuggyMonth · 15/05/2014 18:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

parentalunit · 15/05/2014 20:40

mrsnec Here is a weight gain estimator www.babycenter.com/pregnancy-weight-gain-estimator

MrsKoala · 15/05/2014 20:45

I saw my midwife today and i asked her to weigh me (inspired by this thread). She said no, they didn't do that anymore. So i have no idea how much i have put on so far in this pregnancy.

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