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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why some expectant mums gain around 80 pounds?

210 replies

eliza456 · 28/08/2018 16:11

This isn't meant to cause offence. But if a baby weighs 7-10 pounds (full term) then why do some women gain over 80 pounds in total?

i understand there are fluids etc that contribute, but, 70 pounds worth??

purely curious to see if anyone has any insight into this

OP posts:
80sMum · 28/08/2018 16:25

Shock I've never known anyone gain anything like 70lbs! That's a huge amount.

My GP told me (in my first pregnancy in 1979) that 28 lbs was the maximum I could expect to gain. When I was 28 weeks pregnant, I stayed with my mum for a week and gained 6 lbs in one week! The GP ticked me off and told me to cut down, to avoid gaining too much. I think over the full term I gained 25 lbs and that seemed to be the same for most people. I can't imagine my GP ever allowing any of his patients to gain 70 lbs!

SurfingOwl · 28/08/2018 16:26

It's the nonsense about eating for 2

That’s not true. Even eating for two, you average person would not put on 80lbs in nine months!

SoyDora · 28/08/2018 16:26

Never even considered maternity clothes, just got the next size up in what i needed (even then my indoor t shirts and tracksuit bottoms fitted the entire pregnancy)

That’s fine if it worked for you. I didn’t gain much weight at all but everything I did gain was on my bump. Going up a size wouldn’t work... I’d have had to have gone up 2-3 sizes to fit my bump in and then it would have been huge on my arms/legs/bum etc.
So massive well done to you for not buying maternity clothes Hmm, but it doesnt make you superior to people who do!

Catscakeandchocolate · 28/08/2018 16:26

DC1 I gained 10 pounds. Currently pregnant with DC2 and I have so far at 7 months gained 30 pounds. Not done anything particularly different from DC1 but my body has clearly reacted very differently.

bsbabas · 28/08/2018 16:26

I was puking all day not morning sickness all day sickness was exhausted constantly and hungry all the time. Also I felt like it.

GettingAwayWithIt · 28/08/2018 16:27

Also, the pelvis thing -

delphguelph · 28/08/2018 16:29

How about you, OP?

How much did you gain?

Waterdropsdown · 28/08/2018 16:30

No joke I gained 30kgs (66lbs) when pregnant with my twins. People are absolutely amazed when I tell them as they said I didn’t even look that big. 2 weeks after they were born I got my blood pressure checked and had to be weighed I had lost 20kgs. After 6 months I was 4kg heavier than pre pregnancy and still am but don’t really care - still low 20s Bmi.

I ate a lot it was the only thing that stopped me being sick. I would wake up in the middle of the night and if I didn’t eat a bowl of cereal I’d be up from 5am puking my empty guts up.

FreeButtonBee · 28/08/2018 16:30

With twins, your blood volume alone increases by 60%! Never mind, two plcaentas, two amniotic sacs etc.

But there was quite a lot of fat. I had really jiggly thighs Grin. I was able to breast feed (tough but somehow managed to get it to work) and that certainly sucked every ounce of fat out of my body. I felt a bit like a science experiment TBH. Some of it intriguing and some of it hellish...

GettingAwayWithIt · 28/08/2018 16:30

I stopped running due to pelvic pain and had to find other exercise I could do to stay in shape. I could have happily sacked it off but I guess I felt pressure to ‘stay in shape’ and not pile on the pounds, followed by the looming expectation to ‘snap back into shape’.

I did both of the above, and it’s partly thanks to judgemental idiots such as yourself who can’t see that women are growing an actual human and just see them as a collection of body parts.

tosleepallday · 28/08/2018 16:35

I put on a lot of weight when pregnant
It was a combination of just eating what I wanted (and my husband indulging me by saying 'oh it's twins you're bound to be huge!') and not doing any exercise (partly because I was anxious about causing problems with my ivf conceived pregnancy - rightly or wrongly)

It has taken me a year to get to to a point where I am happy with my weight but I still have a way to go

Looking back I didn't need to put on so much weight but it can be difficult

BikeRunSki · 28/08/2018 16:37

Because I couldn’t move without throwing up.

Sunrise888 · 28/08/2018 16:37

I gained over 20kg (I stopped counting, I was quite horrified), my baby was only 4.5 kg. It took over a year to lose it all, mostly fluid and fat. I think it was all the luxury lunches I was treating my baby/myself too 😁

nothingchangesagain · 28/08/2018 16:39

Erm because pregnancy makes most of feel hungrier, I lost a stone during the first 4 months due to morning sickness then I couldn't sleep at night I was so damn hungry. I exercised and kept fit otherwise it wouldn't been more than 80 l to 90lbs that I gained Shock

OutPinked · 28/08/2018 16:39

A friend of mine gained 12 lbs on a fortnights holiday to the US so if that’s possible without even being pregnant, it’s most definitely possible to gain 80 lbs across a 9 month pregnancy.

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 28/08/2018 16:40

DD was nearly 10 lbs and I gained a total of 28 lbs; DS was nearly 8lbs and I only gained 15 - no idea why.

We're all made differently, some people gain weight far more easily than others. 80lbs would be a lot of weight to shift, I imagine most people don't gain anything like that amount.

silvercuckoo · 28/08/2018 16:41

I gained around 25 pounds both times, and lost all extra weight (I think it was mainly fluid retention) within a month if the scales to be believed. Still went from size 8 to 10 after my first and from size 10 to size 12 after my second, don't know why.

PickAChew · 28/08/2018 16:42

I gained about 4 stone the first time. I was sore, I was constantly dizzy, so when I could eat, I ate loads to help combat the light headed ess. I was extremely inactive, which was unusual for me. Plus, it was a hot summer, my blood pressure soared and I turned into some sort of mutant camel made of sausages.

M3lon · 28/08/2018 16:42

yep easy to put on that much when the only way to get respite from the nausea is to swallow some food and hope it doesn't come back up.

Crunchymum · 28/08/2018 16:43

I think it will be very few people who gain that much. The reasons why have been fully explained, but let's not pretend it's common to gain that much weight. It isn't.

YerAuntFanny · 28/08/2018 16:43

I gained almost 56lbs. Mainly due to "craving" excusing Easter eggs by the crate load :o

eurochick · 28/08/2018 16:43

I've never heard of anyone gaining 80 pounds. The most I know of is 5 stone and that person lost it all.

ChocolateChipMuffin2016 · 28/08/2018 16:44

I'm currently pregnant, 1st trimester, I feel like shit, oat biscuits are currently stopping me for chucking up at my desk! I'm so tried I'm going to go home and nap so no exercise! I can see why people put on weight. It's not something I want, but it seems like it may be inevitable.

Saying that with DS1 I actually weighed about 2 stone less a month after he was born than I did when I got pregnant, but then I was overweight and bad food made me feel sick! I am slightly irritated that isn't the same this time round!

DaphneDiligaf · 28/08/2018 16:45

I put on the traditional 2 stone with my over 10lb boy and 3.5 with my smaller girl. I had fluid retention and the most enormous face, ended up with pre-eclampsia. The midwife said a lot of it was hormonal.

MaisyPops · 28/08/2018 16:45

Some will have reasons linked to pregnancy.
Some will take 'eating for 2' as an approach for 9 months despite it not being needed.
Some will be somewhere in the middle.