Healthy eating ideas - I don't want to put on as much weight as I did last time round :(

[WingDefence]

So I'm 13 weeks 3 and all my clothes have been tight for a few weeks now. The trouble is, I do have a strong suspicion that this is because I've been eating tons of food I wouldn't normally, but just using pregnancy as an excuse IYKWIM? I was a size 12 before getting pregnant but I must definitely be a 14 already.

For example, pre-pregnancy I would normally cut right back on hard cheese, peanut butter, toast as a snack, biscuits, cake (when in the house) but, just like when I was pregnant with DS (now 3.9), I'm now using it as an excuse to basically eat everything I want to without thinking about it.

But I really don't want to have to lose tons of weight again like last time so I'd love some ideas on healthier eating please! Dinner and breakfast isn't so bad but I work from home so lunchtimes are turning into cheese & ham sandwiches with mayo and I may even pop a slice of bread in the toaster to munch on while I make my sandwich

Snacking is the worst though - toast for a snack or chocolate/biscuits/cake etc. We don't always have these in the house and we live rurally so I can't just pop to the corner shop to stock up on chocolate etc if I fancy it (which is a very good thing!).

I'm trying to be better by eating a banana or clementines or even a mug of bovril for the savoury taste but sometimes only something carby or substantial with a bit of bite will do.

I'd appreciate any suggestions before I end up the size of a house by 20 weeks!

I'd say don't deny yourself anything you really want - it might be your body needing the food iyswim? I never usually eat dairy but while pregnant I've been eating an astonishing amount - a 450g (LARRRGE) pot of yoghurt plus cheese and a pint of milk every day

Can you replace the toast with something like snackajacks? The big ones are only 30kcals each compared to about 150-200kcals for buttered toast and I find them just as filling. Also make sure you have plenty of fruit in the fridge - I have been known to make a big bowl fruit salad and graze on it over a day or two. Also if you find you're hungrier at lunchtime, make something substantial then and just have something light for dinner.

...and accept that you WILL gain weight and that's ok! :)

Thanks Fluffy :)

Snack-a-jacks are lovely. I need to do a nice big online shop and include lots of these types of things. You've reminded me too that I saw an advert for Ryvita the other day with some new version and I did think they looked delicious so a snack pack of something like that must be better than toast with peanut butter!

And yes, I know I'll put on weight, it's just the extra flab I appear to be carrying before the baby bump has even made its appearance is a bit depressing!

One positive from all this though is that now we've started telling people I'm expecting, I have a nice excuse for looking fat as opposed to just being fat

Soup is the answer to lunchtime - it's filling, tasty and can be really varied. If it's veg based, then there are really not masses of calories in a big bowl and you can have a piece of bread and cheese plus a bit of fruit and feel really contented. You need to eat real food - not just lots of carbs (I am guilty of that too!). other ideas - poached eggs on toast with spinach. Quick but tasty. I don't think you need to eat diet food just eat real but filling food and try to keep a bit of variety - as that will stop the mindless eating of toast!

Thanks Free. Yes, I should spend more time actually making healthy lunches since I'm at home and soup is a great idea.

Ironically, when I worked in the city I would buy soup for lunch on the majority of work days (from Pret, Eat etc). Cutting down on bread always helped me to keep an eye on my weight which is why I've gone a bit mad again now I'm pg.

Rivita, oatcakes and crispbreads. try and eat a jkt potatoe or similar for your lunch to hopefully fill you up. I used to eat dry cereal for a snack, it's got lots of vitamins in it and is crunchy.

Marmite rice cakes are Great for savoury cravings

Sometimes only starchy stuff will do when you're pregnant, I think! I've found oatcakes really useful for snacks, it only takes three or four of them to make me feel like I've had enough fuel to keep me going for a bit. A little scrape of marmite/tapenade etc is tasty on top.

Porridge, jacket potato, eggs on toast, soup and yogurt are all v filling/longlasting for breakfast and lunch.

I'm eating more nuts, seeds and snackajacks than normal too. Ryvita and oatcakes sound like a good idea.

I had a phase of disliking my belly from around 12 to 20 weeks when it was wobbly as opposed to a proper bump. Braved the weighing scales at 28 weeks and had put on much less than I feared! I think it's the way the weight is distributed which makes you feel heavier. I developed a new roll of fat on my belly which just migrated up towards my boobs as the bump grew!

Thanks all. I already have porridge most mornings (to DH's disgust ) and I try to have jacket potatoes once or twice a week as I love them and I guess as long as I only have a bit of cheese on top (or tuna/mayo/sweetcorn or beans) those are still pretty healthy.

Oatcakes and marmite also sound good. Baby doesn't necessarily need bread!

I have done weightwatchers successfully in the past (to lose the baby weight, funnily enough) so I know how to eat healthily but that is a different mindset as it's about losing weight and this time I want to make sure I eat enough without going overboard.

Ryvita with Philly light & sugar free jam
Breadsticks with Philly light & salsa

just eat what you would normally when not pregnant would be my advice ....I've tried to stick to that and by time baby arrives i will have put on no more than 2 stone which i'm fairly happy with ...... and the odd cheat treat won't hurt
x

watching with interest! I have exactly the same problem. I am nearly 9 weeks and ABSOLUTELY starving most of the time and rice cakes will just not do it. I'm so busy at work and have to often work over lunch so I'm just grabbing biscuits. I have started taking in little shreddies with fruit filling to snack on. This does seem to keep me going and stop me from trying to eat my own arm.

One suggestion I have is to make sure you are eating enough lean protein and drinking enough water. Those two things made a huge difference to my need to snack.

Although I still don't know how much I weighed when I delivered DC1, but it was well over three stone. Ironic as I had put on less than a pound a month until 38 weeks when it went bonkers. I was v uncomfortable and this time round will aim to be more sensible. I don't eat gluten now anyway.

Another, yes I am thirsty a lot although I am trying to up my intake of squash etc so I'll try drinking more.

Boop the problem is I think I wouldn't normally snack but I am just hungry so I have to eat in-between meals.

Thanks iklboo :)

And Tasman you really made me laugh! Whenever I visit my work HQ at the moment I raid the biscuit tin! Hope you can get some tips on here too.

Breaki, Lunch or filling snacks: Oat and rice cakes with fat free cream cheese (i just prefer the taste tbh, doesn't really make much diff) or marmite with a hearty beany soup, almonds, lots of plain yoghurt, porridge or oat meal, scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast (one egg one slice toast if just a snack?) hummus on toast, occasional tinned mackrel or sardines mashed with tom puree and a few capers added grilled on ..... toast! (always wholemeal) I think I picked up somewhere carbs are needed for the placenta but its choosing carbs carefully.

Try to massively limit sugars as it converts very quickly to fat. Some fat is actually ok so I'd keep the peanut butter. have an orange instead of pure fruit juice, stick to teas, milk and water or, if you have to, try weak cordials. try to tip the balance towards veg over fruit, inc dried fruit (my Achilles heel). Fruit juice has a lot of sugar and quite a big glucose hit which wacks your blood sugars/insulin up to then fall later, triggering hunger. I sometimes eat (and crave!) a beetroot (the pre cooked sort not pickled), a chunk of cucumber or a couple of tomatoes. Or all three. Sometimes we think we are hungry when we are thirsty as a lot of our water comes from food, I second the water drinking tip, and lean protein keeps you feeling more full, and eggs are also very good for you as well as filling. Try omelettes? I really like dark Chocolate (70%) but tbh around 4 squares is enough, I always seem to naturally stop after 2-6 squares. (rather than an entire large bar of cadburies which was scoffed in a weaker moment!)

I like these foods anyway and oddly more so in pregnancy (not always porridge for some reason!) Go for things that have a steady release of nrg so you don't lurch for sweet snacks, anything 'low GI imo'. ...... and they balance my occasional inhalation of donuts (see disgrace thread).

Hey am 20 wks and afraid to get on the scales since my 12 wks scan lol , this time around im thirsty more than hungry , but just wanted to say if you are feeling hungry or thirsty excessivily this could be a sign of a different prob , so i would mention it to your doc .
im tryin to make a big pot of soup , so whenever i crave i have a bowl , to fill me up, and cause im at home trying to walk an hr a day or do some thing to keep me active , but its so hard !!!!

Clarella - I saw that disgrace thread and your comment in particular about inhaling doughnuts did make me laugh!

I love beetroot normally but haven't had any actual cravings for it so far, but I think it's a relatively normal craving for pregnant women? Thanks for your other tips too

mummybear12 I'm not going to weigh myself unless the midwife does! I really do think I need to make a big batch of soup but the cupboards are relatively bare at the moment so I need to get a shop in.

I had a huge bump with ds and it took me quite a while to get back into pre-pregnancy jeans, so I have tried to be healthier this time round too. I am 36+4 now with a much neater bump and haven't gained a lot of weight this time. I've eaten healthily since about 17 weeks - before that I felt so sick I just ate whatever and whenever I wanted. It is too hard to deprive yourself of foods you want to eat in the first trimester I think, because you just feel so rotten. Since then it has been much easier to eat well though. I've planned dinners in advance, things with chicken and veg and rice - mostly full of chopped tomatoes as I've craved tomatoes! I've been able to eat good sized portions of dinner because it is healthy. I eat bananas and cereal mid morning and afternoon to keep me going, and snack on a handful of almonds or dried apricots. For lunch I'm having a wholemeal roll and some cous cous salad (and tomatoes!) with a yoghurt and an apple. Or something like that. And dark chocolate when I want a chocolate hit. Lots of water and a fruit juice a day. Might sound a bit dull but I've felt so much better for it. I think planning meals in advance is the key, and internet shopping helps. x

Thanks very much for sharing that mummy2benji and the best of luck for the birth :)

Thanks again everyone for your advice. I sent DH off to the shops today with a list that included Snack-a-Jacks and sweet Ryvita. He came back with plain Ryvita but that's fine - I've had a couple with marmite on and they really did hit the spot. He moaned about the price of Whole Earth peanut butter (compared to Basics which we normally get) but I told him that it's just peanuts and a bit of oil and salt and so much healthier than the normal PB

I'm also drinking a lot more water/squash.

I'm saving the caramel and sweet chilli s-a-js for later. I bet DH starts eyeing them up!

I am determined not to stack on the (non-baby) weight this time round

I have decided to also just opt for a dark chocolate bar in the house on Friday evenings, we are having pizza tonight and i might get a cheese free one, and then opt for burgers tomorrow but without the chips.

Does anyone know about staying gluten free in pregnancy, I have been GF since my DC1 although never formally dx but read somewhere that carbs are used for making the placenta healthy

Step away from the cakes, biscuits and sugar, but keep the cheese and peanut butter. Eating sweet stuff will send your blood sugar crashing up and down and will make you more hungry, and likely to pig out. Eating wholemeal carbs, protein and fats will keep you fuller for longer and help you keep your weight gain within healthy limits. I'm getting boring, banging on about healthy eating on every thread, but it really does help with everything.

Panic, you're not being boring. Really, that's why I started the thread as I put on so much weight last time (which my DM warned I might as she had done with me and my DB!).

I think my problem with PB and cheese is that I could eat them all the time if allowed, and I have seen pregnancy in the past as being the green light to do just that! But I'm not going to cut anything out - everything in moderation?

Another - I'm afraid I'm not sure about gluten free in pregnancy but there must be women who are coeliac (sp?) who cannot eat gluten at all and yet who get pregnant and have babies?

Can you ask your GP or midwife at your next appointment?

I forgot to put dark choc on the shopping list for DH. Doh!

Very succinctly put panic - it really is all about no sugar and good protein, dairy, nuts and slow release carbs. (generally wholemeal if poss)

I am enjoying focussing on the stuff in this thread and occasionally dipping my legs toes into the disgrace thread

I briefly worried I wasn't putting on enough weight (according to places like baby centre and books ) between the 24 - 30 wk mark (no sickness though, now 32 wks) so reasoned just to eat as absolutely as much as I wanted from the good foods which has (mostly) meant I just don't think about the bad stuff unless a moment of pregnancy madness.