Is this unhealthy?

[Piggybuttons]

I know IABU to post here but posting for traffic. I am 15 weeks pregnant and have gained 9lb which I know is too much. This is mostly because I could largely only stomach carbs and sweet food in the first trimester. I am really struggling to break some of these bad habits now.

I am trying to be healthier going forward so I don't gain too much but have lost sight of what is healthy. I am towards the upper end of my healthy bmi at 22.

I have posted a couple of days worth of meals below and would appreciate a critique/how I could make them better. On days I am working I don't have time to cook breakfast so its just a quick yoghurt or bowl of cereal normally.

I drink tea with skimmed milk, water or sugar free squash throughout the day

Breakfast: Porridge with skimmed milk, half a banana and teaspoon of peanut butter/ Shreddies with skimmed milk and half a banana

Lunch: Wholemeal bagel with small amount butter and low fat cream cheese, spinach and 2 poached eggs/ low fat tin of lentil soup with a fat free yoghurt and apple

Dinner: small portion low fat meatballs and spaghetti with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and pickled beetroot/ homemade chilli with brown rice and lettuce etc

That diet sounds fine OP... if not a bit mean - don't forget you need good fats too!

I'm 29 weeks pregnant and so far have put on 12 lbs.
Today I have eaten:
breakfast: two slices of brown toast with jam
lunch: scrambled eggs with 3 large mushrooms, 2 eggs, and some cheese
snacks: a yoghurt, some melon (1/3 canteloupe), a chocolate santa (about the size of a freddo), 4 cups of tea
dinner will probably be homemade fish curry with naan

Also I'm not surprised your clothes don't fit - they shouldn't!

By 15 weeks, some things are going to start getting tight anyway. Your body needs regular food when you are pregnant, and you are supposed to be gaining weight now. Don't try and prevent it.

Forget that you ate too many sweet things early on. Don't try and cut back, just eat normally with plenty of vegetables, not just salad.

Put your first trimester eating out of your mind right now! You’ve just got to do whatever it takes to get through that period without feeling like you’ve got some kind of terminal illness. With DD I could only stomach fruit and lost weight. With DS I just wanted to eat pasties and sausage rolls! Just the way it goes.

What you’re eating sounds fine, also plenty of room for snacks. The slimmer you are, the more noticeable your pregnancy is to you. My very slim friends couldn’t fit into their clothes at about 12 weeks. I could wear my same clothes for ages as they’re baggy.

The weight you gain when you’re pregnant isn’t all just fat.

Your blood volume increases by about 30%-50% when you’re pregnant. That’s roughly 2 litres, or 2kg. Then you have the weight of the amniotic fluid, the placenta, and the foetus itself. And your boobs get bigger, so they add to the weight gain as well.

Tbh your post is a bit worrying. You should be gaining weight when pregnant. That’s rather the point! That doesn’t mean you write yourself a blank cheque to eat a tub of Ben and Jerry’s every night, but if you want a mince pie, bloody well have one!

Also, avoid low fat foods. When you remove the fat from food it makes it taste like shit, so to compensate for the loss of flavour they add loads of sugar. Fat is necessary for making the myelin sheaths that cover the neurons in your brain. Your baby needs good fats for healthy brain development.

Also, avoid artificial sweeteners-especially aspartame. That stuff is so bad for you. It’s just chemicals.

I will take on board not cutting back to try to compensate for the first trimester that is a good point. Regarding low fat it really is habit, I will try switching to natural yoghurt and honey and see if I like it.

I'm taking pregnancy multivitamins and have done throughout. I am finding it hard to let go of how badly I ate early on so will draw a line under that now and just focus on eating well (and try not to worry about weight gain)

@Piggybuttons

I'm not particularly small. usually a size 10 but not fitting into my usual clothes anymore. I think part of the problem might be I dont seem to feel hungry alot of the time and just feel a bit sick so just stick to breakfast lunch and dinner. I was eating LOADS of chocolate, bread etc in my first trimester so maybe I've tried to pull it back a bit too much. I just feel like I've lost sight of what I should be eating and how much IYKWIM

Your not fitting into your usual clothes because you are pregnant. You have a large new organ and a growing baby plus amniotic fluid to accommodate.

I am finding it hard to let go of how badly I ate early on

Why though? When you’re feeling sick 24/7 for weeks you just need to eat what you can tolerate. For me it was bland carbs and salt. Crisps. Jacket potatoes... that kind of thing. It’s totally normal.

The baby leeches all the good stuff out of you no matter what you eat. If you never ate a vegetable or a piece of fruit during the whole first trimester, that is fine and you haven’t done any harm.

I really recommend having a word with your midwife about your anxiety surrounding food and overeating. Hopefully she can reassure you or signpost you to some help, because your attitude to food right now is not normal at all.

I've put on about a stone at 20 weeks - I felt so sick if I wasn't constantly snacking during the first trimester. I also quit smoking when I got pregnant so food has become a source of comfort/enjoyment for me now.

Rather than drastically cut down, I made a few replacements that kept me fuller for longer.

I swapped a bowl of special k for one boiled egg on wholemeal toast (I cannot tell you how much of a difference this makes - my tummy doesn't rumble for a good few hours now!)

I also buy a big box of easy peel satsumas (waitrose ones are yummy) and I have one of these whenever I feel like a snack (I'm usually bored)

Then I cut out after-dinner chocolates/cake/dessert by having warm milk with a little honey.

Honestly though, I still eat bacon sandwiches, crisps, super noodles. sausage rolls i.e. empty calories. Just not all the time!

Your baby NEEDS food and especially healthy fats! So I'd stop with the low-fat thing - you'll be better off with avocados, nuts, cheese, boiled eggs that will keep you full for longer.

Finally, please don't worry too much or judge yourself - pregnancy is a journey and you are adapting to huge changes. What your body is doing is amazing, so make sure you support yourself physically and emotionally.

Of course you've put on weight, you're growing a human inside of you.

I’ve been eating about 4 bars of chocolate a day since way before being pregnant. I’d consider your daily intake pretty healthy in comparison, and also probably starve to death.

You’re supposed to put in weight when you get pregnant! Just try and eat healthy meals and not too much crap and not worry about it too much. Now is not the time to reduce your calories. You don’t need to eat for 2, just eat sensibly