To think pregnancy eating isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

[Pregnancyfood]

I always assumed when i was pregnant I would be ravenously hungry, eating out all the time and having so many guilt free treats but instead I couldn’t keep anything down in the first trimester and now at 20 weeks I am not that hungry and having to eat so healthily otherwise I feel blocked up and in pain.

anyone else experience this?

I was looking forward to McDonald’s breakfasts, cake and chip shop dinners all the time but I’d be in agony!

I actually craved vegetables and went off sweet things! Later in the pregnancy I would get heartburn and indigestion eating was too uncomfortable to enjoy it.

I suppose it’s just as well - not sure why you think going all out unhealthy ‘chip shop dinners and McDonalds breakfast’ all the time when you’re pregnant is the thing to do. The calories, salt and excessive amounts of unhealthy fats don’t just evaporate because you’re pregnant…

@BeanieTeen did you even read my posts?

I literally said I’m not looking to binge or go ‘all out’ but it would be nice to have the appetite to and to enjoy some treats. I don’t have any flex with weight gain - I started off tiny and still am so having no appetite is not good.

Surely most people are more rigid rather than less? Pregnancy is a time to eat healthy and take care of your body. The rest of the time you can be more relaxed. I've not come across people having fancy burgers or McDonald's just because they are pregnant til now.

I get you OP. Pregnant with baby no 2 and I was also sold the idea that although most of pregnancy is shit, at least you can eat your body weight occasionally at McDonald’s with zero guilt. You spend the first trimester sick as a dog and then baby puts too much pressure on your internal organs so can only manage small meals without feeling like you might explode. Had McDonald’s as a treat this lunch. Have only managed to eat half a cheeseburger. It’s like extreme dieting where you still gain weight. I absolutely feel your pain.

Look on the bright side... less pregnancy weight to lose afterwards.

Yes, I know that's a super unhealthy way to look at it but it's true!

I was also sold the idea that although most of pregnancy is shit, at least you can eat your body weight occasionally at McDonald’s with zero guilt.

Where were you sold this from though as I've honestly never heard it anywhere?

Prepregnancy I would hear my friends talking about how they were starving all the time, eating two lunches etc. It sounded great. And I was looking forward to being able to fill out a bit and call it pregnancy weight! How naive. Little did I know I would be sick until 20 weeks.

I don’t see what’s great about being hungry all the time despite only needing an extra 100-200 calories a day by the end of you’re pregnancy. I found it very frustrating!

Well meaning friends and family probably when I was being a right grump about giving up soft cheeses and rare steak

What an unhealthy attitude. You should be eating a very healthy, balanced diet to ensure your baby gets all the nutrients they need as they develop. I’m surprised the myth of ‘eating for two’ is still going, it’s that sort of behaviour that leads to gestational diabetes and complications during birth and for the baby.

I get it OP. I've got a large appetite and I ate less when I was pregnant. It sucks. Influencers definitely do lie too, they probably have one bite and that's it.

I do know you’re not supposed to eat for two or binge junk food etc but I follow a few influencers that are pregnant and see them indulging in a big burger or desert and think there’s no way I could finish that and not be in pain whereas pre pregs, I could!

what they post is all bullshit. Stop looking at them.

I had a 3 week stint where all I could bare to eat was crumpets with melted cheese on top. Other than that and the Friday night McDonald's that I had to have otherwise the world would end I didn't really have any change in my appetite. And I was really looking forward to having an excuse to eating loads.

@MummyGummy christ. Did you even read my posts?

I repeatedly said I am not looking to eat for two. Just to eat normally with some flex for a few treats without ending up in agony,.

I eat very healthy thank you - at lunch today a quinoa salad with extra veggies left me in agony. I’m 20 weeks pregnant and 5’5 and weigh just over 100 pounds so I don’t need to be lectured of gestational diabetes or over eating.

of course the healthy of my baby comes first and if I am unable to eat normal amounts of food then that cannot be good.

FWIW i was vegetarian for years and years but with one of my pregnancies i just wanted loads and loads of grilled meat, so i did.

Generally what i and most people i know noticed is that you get full quicker towards the end and just eat the same amount over a day as before but more spread out.

Why'd you have to be pregnant to eat a big burger? The only thing I miss about eating when pregnant is eating in peace and quiet without rushing, oooh that was bliss.

Why did you think that you would be eating rubbish and lots of it?

Pregnancy is probably the single most important time to eat healthy food with lots of vitamins.

Maybe re read your OP 😆

I understand! I had an easy pregnancy but developed a sweet tooth and I miss my 8.30am cheesecake before work.

@WrongWayApricot obviously you don’t - but before I could easily eat a burger, these days I’d be too full to manage more than a bite or two.

I find some of the responses on here alarming and a reminder of how much judgment women get about their diet choices. To me a balanced diet includes treats.

Ahhhhh the classical MN “everyone hates McDonald’s” teeny tiny thread

it’s clear what OP means. There’s a cliche of people eating more freely when pregnant and feeling less guilty. It’s perfectly fine to have a few McDonald’s. OP YANBU

jesus wept

To me a balanced diet includes treats

yes, but then people wouldn’t get to throw their arms up and have a dramatic response to the very idea of a Big Mac coming within 2 miles of their pursed lips

@liveforsummer maybe consult a therapist about your attitudes to food if you genuinely can’t understand why someone might want to eat treats pain free in pregnancy

OK I think I understand. You can only have a bite or two of a meal and not be on pain, and you say it's not heartburn.

That is absolutely not normal at all, to only be able to eat one bite. You should see your gp

That's not what I'm referring to though, it was the impression that you'd be eating all those extra treats compared to normal (chippy dinners , cake and McDonald's breakfasts all the time). I think it was odd you'd think you'd be doing that/want to do that anyway. It's just an unusual thing to read: of course you want to eat pain free. That's a separate thing?