to wonder why some expectant mums gain around 80 pounds?

[eliza456]

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

I couldn't eat veg either and I'm veggie! I survived on biscuits, crisps, plain pizza, orange juice, full fat coke or Pepsi and those uncle bens microwaveable rice. I went off chocolate completely. Full fat Pepsi or coke enabled me to move and get to work or the kids to school as settled my ever queasy stomach. I was sick until gone 20 weeks with all 3. Eating healthily went out the window as just needed to eat something and it was carbs all the way.

Also, in my case, I was eleven and a half stone, so BMI 25, when I was 16 years old. I got down to nine stone in my 20s and maintained around there until I had kids, but I don't feel that being that weight is "normal" for me in my 40s.

Oh yes, full fat coke. I can’t even stand the stuff normally!

Morning sickness meant I threw up everything with first pregnancy and lost 2 stone then almost directly after ms heartburn kicked. Only thing to quell it was milk. I drank 12 litres per day every day till I gave birth and put on 7 stone in weight in 5 months.

Then wee’d it out in 10 days.

Put 7 stone on in 2nd pregnancy and didn’t lose it after. I had 2 aged 2 and a baby and had slipped discs which were missed and was on a Zimmer frame because the orthopaedic hospital I was attending were completely shit and not once looked at me and were treating me as though I was needing a new hip. I spent the next 7 years in agony shuffling around not being able to walk properly.

So if anyone says it was because I ate too much fat and sugar and infers it was my own fault can piss off.

Trying doing exercise and healthy eating when you have 2 children under 3, who have ADD and ADHD, you can’t walk unaided and you are in constant pain for years

I gained four stone which came off in the first six months and I put it mainly down to smashing a sharing bar of bournville and two bottles of Shloer a night.

80 pounds is a lot and I don't know anyone that happened to tbh, I'm fairly certain that level of weight gain would be picked up as excessive during monitoring.

The spread of weight is what affected me. With my first (born 8lb 1) it was all nice and neat, contained mainly within my abdomen and boobs and gained gradually throughout. With my second (born 8lb 14) it went on all over - thighs, bum, arms, boobs - and I felt very uncomfortable, and showing, from before even doing the pregnancy test. In reality I didn't gain much more with my second, but I've still got baby weight to shed and dd is 21 months now!

As someone who did gain that kind of weight, nothing was said to me by midwives at all about it - which I wish they had, as maybe they'd have run some tests and found the medical problem I had developed, and got me on medication sooner, and then I might not have had the later problems. Not a word was said to me - despite me ending up the size of a small country, having been very slim beforehand.

Personally I did with my.first because I wanted to eat all the cake 🤷🏻‍♀️ yes I regretted it afterwards

As someone who did gain that kind of weight, nothing was said to me by midwives at all about it - which I wish they had, as maybe they'd have run some tests and found the medical problem I had developed, and got me on medication sooner, and then I might not have had the later problems. Not a word was said to me - despite me ending up the size of a small country, having been very slim beforehand

This.

I don't recall ever being weighed.

Me too, I wasn't weighed. I told them how much weight I'd put on but they considered I looked really healthy and because I'd had a low starting weight, perhaps I just looked the same as people who were heavier to start with but hadn't put so much weight on. I naively thought I would just easily lose the weight, as I had been good at losing weight and keeping it off in the past. But I really haven't been able to get anywhere near the weight I was. While I'm not massive, my BMI is still too high at 26/27 and I've struggled with my weight ever since.

I think to a degree I needed to put weight on when I was pregnant with DD1, my body fat would have been quite low for one thing, and the fact I was the same weight at FT pregnant with DD2, in spite of being heavier to start with, makes me wonder whether that is just my ideal FT pregnant weight.

The midwives were right in a sense, have two healthy daughters, pregnancies and labour were as problem-free as you could possibly have. I just wish there was a bit more advice for the future health of the mum, which would probably then save the NHS a lot of money.