To ask how you managed the constant hunger in pregnancy?

[PollyHasAPocket]

I'm currently half way through my 2nd trimester and I am so hungry all of the time. It's really getting me down because I can tell the weight is piling on.

Just not eating isn't really an option as I can end up being sick if I don't and feeling faint.

I've been trying to eat fruit etc... But what I really want is something stodgey, I've been craving potatoes a lot!

I knew I'd be hungrier, I knew I'd eat more but this is constant, I could easily have two meals by 11am most days, did anyone else have this? I can wake up at 3am and need to eat immediately. I had ravioli at 5am the other day!

It's hell. I'm nearly 26 weeks and starving. I eat small things often. So I might have a small bowl of porridge at 7am and an apple and then at 9 I have one of those warburtons brown sandwich thins with an egg done in the microwave so two breakfasts essentially and then a jacket potato and tuna for lunch maybe an apple, some soup mid afternoon, and salad with chicken or something for tea. Then I just try to go to bed early to avoid more eating. I try not to go over 2000 cals. I've still put a stone on at this point though but if I ate what I really wanted I'm sure I'd have put three on by now.

I ate so much with my first and much less with my second, and I gained an absolute ton with both. I lost it all and more before their first birthdays. Honestly, I have an ED history and hated it, but it worked out just fine 😁

I spoke to a dieticien who discovered that I was lacking a bit in calcium. Now I eat greek yoghurt every evening and my cravings have gone.

Pumpkin seeds are a really good snack - they fill you up the way carbs do but they’ve got lots of goodness in as well. I ate them by the fistful all through my pregnancy!

Just eat, you’ll lose the weight after the baby is born. If you’re hungry then eat- listen to your body. I had to eat constantly when pregnant else I’d throw up- just go with it.

Try not to worry to much eat what you need to make yourself feel Better. I lost weight during both my pregnancies my normally big appetite disappeared with sickness and meat turning my stomach. Then when the sickness finally eased a bit my stomach felt so squashed by my Huge 9 1/2 pound babies and I got terrible heartburn so I struggled to eat much. I was back in size 10 jeans Within a week with my first and dropped a dress size during my second pregnancy. What people don’t see is that was feeling awful for 9 months and was wishing I could eat normally I would have rather have felt better and put on a few pounds. I ended up piling on two stone after my first though I ate so much making up for not being able to enjoy food while pregnant. I’m going to have to cut back on the cake when I stop breastfeeding my second or it will happen again.

Constantly eating

I was starving in both pregnancies- put on a lot bit it did drop off while breastfeeding- back to pre preg weight by 3 months both times.

I never ate a full meal though- ate every 2 hours roughly to avoid dizziness/ nausea etc. So had lots of meals on the go like a load of bolognese in the fridge etc etc. So ate constantly but not really much more than 3 meals would have been?

Last 2 weeks though I ate HUGE amounts and baby was 9 4 after first being 6 4 lol. Eeek!!

I just ate when I was hungry. Mainly carbs! I was a healthy BMI pre pregnancy and put on 17.5kgs (35lbs). Within the first two weeks I lost 10kgs (22lbs), so about a stone to go. You do put some fat on for breastfeeding usually, but I was thrilled with how much dropped off straight away despite my eating, and baby was only 3.2kgs.

Just eat and put on weight. I put on 3 stone and it's perfectly healthy and natural.

You only need the calorie equivalent of an extra 2 slices of toast a day, and only during the final trimester. It’s really not necessary to over eat. If you are constantly hungry, you are probably lacking specific nutrients which your body is craving - like the PP who was calcium deficient and solved the problem by taking daily yogurt.
If your diet is mainly plain carbs, you are potentially short of protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre. And if you eat refined sugar, such as sweets and chocolate, you will have swings of blood glucose levels that will make you crave more sugar to level it back up.
Try to eat a good healthy balance, with protein, green veg, and complex carbs such as brown rice, wholemeal bread and cereals.
I did this in both pregnancies and was back to my pre pregnant weight of 8 stone 5lbs, 5 days after delivery.
It’s much easier to not gain excess weight in the first place than to try and lose it afterwards, when you are sleep deprived, craving carbs, and breast feeding!

I just ate.

I felt sick if I didn't eat, and my preference changed from salads and healthy eating to curry and chips - or anything with chips.

People can prattle on about two slices of toast and the like, but I decided not give a shit. I am more than a body for the world to approve of.

I was like a galleon in full sail by the end.

Got back to lighter than pre-pregnancy weight by 5 years later. You do you, OP. Try to get used to not giving a shit about the opinion of others. It makes life so much easier, especially when you start raising kids.

I totally get it OP. I think if you didn’t experience that carb-craving nausea and lightheadedness during your pregnancy you just don’t understand. Two slices of toast my arse.

I just ate. I didn’t have any other choice - I just couldn’t function properly at work or gone otherwise. Put on 3 stone. Had a large baby (who remains large at 13 months) so with hindsight I guess he needed the calories.

I’m now about 9lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight and I’m trying to shift it. Still breastfeeding though, so I’m really encouraged by the people on here who say they shed the last pounds after stopping feeding.

*couldn't function at work or home otherwise

I did this in both pregnancies and was back to my pre pregnant weight of 8 stone 5lbs, 5 days after delivery.

Who cares though? No offence meant.

I ate all the carbs, gained 3 stone, but lost it all by 14 months PP (the last 10 pounds hung around until I finished bfing, but melted off like magic at that point). Bodies are different, I don’t think the pressure to ‘bounce back’ is particularly healthy either.

couldn't function at work or home otherwise

True of me too. You do what you have to do to get through it.

I was the opposite way and lost weight in pregnancy. Family members both gained 5st a piece in pregnancy and it's taken them years to get anywhere near Pre baby weight. You only need a couple of hundred calories a day more when pregnant, so try and keep the volume of food down

Well go you 👏

OP I'm the same. This has been my worst pregnancy. Im o my 17 weeks, I have to eat 3 meals a day to keep me from feeling sick and faint. I can hardly walk the length of myself or my back has terrible pain so no chance of doing running and things I did before. I'll just have to worry about losing it once the baby is here.

Popcorn

I don't understand why it's ok to thin shame but never fat shame. Neither should be ok. The posters were asked how they managed the hunger in pregnancy and they gave their experiences and some experiences of others. No pressure to bounce back isn't healthy I agree (I prefer "9 months up and 9 months down"), but putting on stone after stone isn't healthy either.

I only have my own experience of being very very ill with HG (apart from when I didn't have any sickness but my baby was stillborn) so I don't know if its usual to feel sick every night through hunger? Maybe ask a health professional to see if there's anything you may be lacking?

I ate. Tried to limit chocolate/biscuits/cake but no limits on anything else. Lost the weight by the time DS was 18m just by going back to usual habits, no dieting required.
It's not forever

I put 3 stone on with my first baby. I had two breakfasts and two lunches. Big ones. It was the only way I could get through the day at work.

I was constantly moaned at by midwives because I was already obese but it was either that or sign me off as I couldn’t function otherwise.

I gave birth to an 11lb baby and lost all the weight without trying at ALL in three weeks. My body needed what it needed.

Btw in talking ‘food’ - porridge was all I could stomach for breakfasts and bland things like bread and potatoes and rice. It wasn’t like I ate nothing but crap.

I don't understand why it's ok to thin shame but never fat shame.

Who’s thin shaming?

I couldn’t look at healthy protein and green veg. That may not be ideal, but if I’d tried to force myself I would have been vomiting all day. Anyone who managed that clearly wasn’t having the same kind of pregnancy experience as I was so I’m not sure how helpful they think they’re being.

I gained a lot, but lost it. I don’t see what’s problematic about that?

I don't understand why it's ok to thin shame but never fat shame.

You seem to be mistaking not prioritising limiting weight gain with "thin shaming".

I had constant nausea and no appetite throughout pregnancy.

It had the advantage I put little weight on, but I think I would have rather been constantly hungry!