Scared of my body changing

[Fatted]

I had to come on here and talk about this after having a near melt down in Asda. I'm only about five weeks pregnant and since I've found out I've been worried about what this will mean for my body, mainly gaining weight. I have always been very conscious of it and have struggled to maintain it without following some kind of diet plan. My grand plan had been to eat healthy and avoid putting too much weight on. I've found though that I have no appetite at all and I cannot face meat, which I would normally eat a lot of. Walking round the supermarket before I struggled to find things I wanted to eat and anything I did want was mainly processed stuff like fish fingers and sugary cereal. There were also things I didnt know if I was safe to eat like riccotta etc. I know deep downy body will change and I cannot control that, and I should just eat what I can stomach right now. But I do worry about my weight, and if gaining too much will harm the baby and also worry it wont do baby much good if I live off fish fingers for nine months :( Does anyone else feel like this or is it just my hormones?!

I feel your pain, I was very slim before I got pregnant and I'm now 13 weeks and have developed a nice lot of podge around my middle!

are you taking supplements? I started taking pregnacare as like you I find it hard to get a lot of variety in my diet these days, and I figured at least by taking those I would be getting the stuff I'm not getting from food at the moment.

I've totally gone off meat too, there are about 4 tea time meals I can stomach at the moment so in our house it's a 4 day revolving menu!

I'm trying not to think about the inevitable weight gain, although dont forget it will be quite slow, it's not like you will suddenly wake up huge one day! and focus on what you will achieve at the end of it all :)

At 5 weeks it's normal to feel sick at the thought of eating anything but it won't last. The first 3 months are the worst for sickness, then it usually passes.

You will gain weight, you're growing a whole new human being in there. However, if you eat a healthy, balanced diet then you won't put on excessive weight.

Try thinking of your changing body as something to be proud off. My extra curves are there because I'm a woman and a mother now, not a teenage girl, it's sexy! And my stretch marks are my tiger stripes, better than any tattoo and far more meaningful.

Instead of focusing on weight, focus on health.

These feelings are quite normal. Having a baby grow inside you and watching the changes this makes to your body can be quite overwhelming. Please remember that most of these changes are not related at all to actual 'weight gain' and are not fat. I put on just over 2 stone during my pg even though I suffered from hyperemesis and lived on toast and Weetabix for five months, if I could even keep that down, and lost it all within four weeks of giving birth - I don't mean that to brag, just to say that a good 2 or 3 stone of weight gain can just be baby, blood, amniotic fluid, water retention etc., not 'fat'.

If you feel as though you are struggling with wanting to eat more processed food, maybe try thinking about how important it is for the baby that you eat a good healthy diet? (Unless you are throwing up all the time, in which case eat whatever you can keep down! But focus on taking Pregnacare and eat whatever you think you can stomach. There can be times in pg where you really can't manage anything other than marmite on toast and Quavers for four days, and that's absolutely fine

Also, I actually found the sense of weight gain worse in the first half of my pregnancy as it felt like podge, every part of me straining at the seams of my colthes, I felt people were looking at me and thinking I had let myself go. But past about 20w, when I developed a proper baby bump and gave in and put on maternity clothes, I felt a lot better about it. For me, being able to feel my bump was a big, hard, solid bump with a baby wriggling around inside made me feel different about my body, in a good way.

Eat what you can, take a multi-vitamin, try to have the odd veg or fruit but don't worry about it. Babies are not made of broccoli.

There's no reason to think you have to gain loads of weight, or that it won't fall of easily afterwards.

It will all be fine. Btw, I'm 5 wks too - second baby for me though. Last time I recall eating a lot of fishfingers too

I'm on my 2nd pg and would like to share some thoughts;

1. You will get bigger - fact. You are pregnant and will (all being well) be carrying a baby for another 32-37wks so its bound to have an impact on your body. However, knowing this doesn't mean it won't be hard in the beginning. I struggled this time around, despite knowing what its all about, as it were, as I didn't want to make it public knowledge until I'd had the scan & all was well, and yet my body was expanding & giving me away!!

2. These weird food craving/sensitivities etc won't necessarily last throughout. With both my pg, things had started to settle at about 14wks. Eat what you fancy now, try to keep the bad stuff to a minimum IF you can, but if you can't, don't worry! It's not forever.

3. Your body will look and feel different afterwards BUT different doesn't mean bad. Just different. You will probably, by watching what you eat, breastfeeding, keeping active, get back to your original size, but your boobs and hips may be bigger than before just because you've carried a baby, so you may not be exactly the same size. You could have a better figure!! :)

4. Focus on the goal; a healthy baby. You will be giving up your nutrients etc to your baby first, so baby will do well as long as you try to follow a generally healthy lifestyle. After that, everything else is beside the point. It'll be worth it when you have that newborn in your arms.

Don't feel bad that you're finding it difficult at the mo - the hormones are buggers!!!

Lots of good advice above. I felt like you when pregnant with ds1. I had always been so careful. Morning sickness meant I lost about 7 lb in the first 12 weeks. By that point I had stopped stressing about it. And slowly, as I got bigger I realised something. That my body was doing a great job doing what it was meant to do. That my growing tummy and boobs were signs of health and achievement. I was finally proud and happy with my body. When DS was born I was 24lb heavier than before I got pregnant. It was all gone in about 4 months, no effort. But the biggest change is that I now respect my body for what it did, and don't punish it with dieting. And the weirdest thing is that (until I got pg again) I was actually stable at my lowest ever adult weight (the same as I was at 12 weeks with DS) with no effort whatsoever. Pregnancy changes your mind and your body, often for the better!

Just to add - I craved sausage rolls in my first pregnancy and I'm a make-from-scratch type... I later learned that if you don't normally eat processed foods you're probably not eating enough salt and so will crave salty foods. Go easy on yourself and do listen to your body. Obviously if what it's saying is "I'll have two bags of Haribo and a Fanta" you can treat that with a degree of scepticism... but generally I think you crave what you need.

Ricotta is fine btw. The NHS website has a good "foods to avoid" section.

Also - my body went completely back to how it was. If you want to, you'll do it. Just try not to worry about what it's doing now.

Congrats on your pregnancy!
I know exactly how you feel, I was on a constant diet for 10 years before I got pregnant as I knew that if I didn't diet I would gain weight. I was also at my heaviest just before I got pregnant (about half a stone above my goal weight).

During my first 3 months, although the issue was still there, for me the benefits of eating outweighed how awful I felt due to having nausea! So when that died down at 10 weeks I decided to join slimming world as this is the only healthy eating plan you can follow when pregnant. And before anyone jumps on me here, I have to stress, that it is to keep my weight gain normal and not to lose weight!

Although saying that, I don't follow it to a t. I stick to the basics (when I can be bothered) but if I want something different, I have it. You said you were fancying things like fish fingers, could you have them with beans and some veg to make them a healthy meal? Or put some fresh/dried fruit on your cereal?

I have to say, it does get easier in the second trimester - I craved meat in my first and couldn't look at fruit but now I can stomach everything I did before! So don't worry, your baby won't come out looking like a fish finger lol!

I hope you're doing ok and not worrying too much, you'll probably be surprised later on that you won't gain as much weight as you thought you would! x

I've got a 7 month baby, and am 10 pounds slimmer than pre pregnancy, no effort. And I'm 35 and a normal metabolism. Everyone in my NCT group is slim. Don't worry about it, you won't start caning Krispie Kreme doughnuts by the dozen without noticing, and OMG does breastfeeding drain the calories.

cx

Don't worry about what you're eating when you feel so ill. It's just important that you eat when you can, and like others have said you can just top up with multivitamins. The baby will take all it needs from you and can survive a lot more than you may thnk. You may be left feeling like crap because of that though so the vitamins should help.

It is likely tha you will put on weight, and it's also likel you'll be heavier post pregnancy than you were before. It's completely normal but of course it's hard to come to terms with when you've been quite focused on your weight in the past.
I was always quite conscious of my weight before becoming pregnant with DC1 but put on 3.5 stone during that pregnancy. I felt as though I had no choice as I was so hungry all the time and it actually felt painful to not eat! Anyway, a week after giving birth was my first morning back home and, despite being 2.5 stone heavier than pre pregnancy, I have never felt so attractive. I think it was a mixture of a weirdly flat stomach, enormous boobs and hormones but I felt great!
I'm 19+5 with DC2 and expect to put on loads of weight again but it doesn't matter so much this time. I think your priorities just change and the fact you don't have a 27" waist ins't such a big deal anymore.