Anyone else had eating disorders in the past and struggling with pregnancy weight gain?

[hm32]

Just wondering! I'd forgotten that pregnancy triggers me, and that it's a constant battle to make myself eat enough for the baby. Wish it'd just go away - it's ok to gain weight, you're supposed to, so why does it make me feel all panicky? Grr!

Yup, though been made a lot easier so far as hade really bad morning sickness, so only just started putting on weight.

Just keep reminding yourself that baby needs the weight gain, and several pounds are the waters, several pounds for the placenta and so on. Try to focus on eating healthy :)

Throw away the scales!

ive been ok throough mine so far. ive had a couple of days here N there where i not even though about food and iys been to late to realise but babys fine :D hes gettin all stuff from somewhere as hes still measurin large for gestational stage

It is just so frustrating. I tend to eat 'too' healthily and then feel sick and dizzy because that's not enough. Eating the extra makes me feel guilty then.

Please don't feel guilty for the extra you're eating, your body needs it to grow baby strong and healthy! I know it's a challenge, but just think of the end result - wonderful healthy baby to cuddle :)

How many weeks are you? I'm not sure you can eat too healthy, but it really depends what you mean by that! Try to get a good balance of protein veg and complex carbs :)

Everything you eat is going towards the development of a new life. You are providing that life with the nutrition and fuel it needs to grow and you want to do the best for it and give it the best possible start you can.

Keep reminding yourself of those things as much as you have to, whenever you are having a bad moment or hesitating in eating. Remember the baby needs fats and carbs and proteins and minerals as well as vitamins.

What I'm finding really helpful now I'm further along is that after eating the baby kicks and moves around so I know it is getting the beneifts.

It doesn't sound 'too healthy' at all if the ultimate result of your diet is feeling sick and dizzy!

I'm finding it difficult because I'd just managed to stop obsessing about food. I wasn't thin by any means (probably a size 12/14), but was exercising regularly, was eating without writing it down all the time, or counting calories obsessively, or weighing every morsel I put into my mouth. I also wasn't weighing myself - I hadn't weighed myself in 2 years, I just went by my clothes and how I felt in general.

Then the first thing they do at the midwife appointment is weigh you. Urgh. By that point I'd already not been able to exercise properly for almost 3 months, and was eating loads of carb foods to stop myself feeling sick - I felt pretty dreadful, including wobbly with fat, and I had to get on scales. The first midwife was lovely, I explained that I didn't want to know my weight, she didn't tell me where she wrote it and I didn't look for it. She said my BMI was nothing to worry about, and it got left there.

At my next scan appointment they wrote it all over my notes/the letter to my doctor. So now I know my weight and my BMI - neither of which I'm 'happy' with, even though by that point I had a bump, and had clearly got heavier.

I've now removed all mirrors from the chest down from my house, and have definitely kept the scales away. It was OK for awhile because I was only craving salad and fruit, but recently that's changed a bit towards dairy (icecream and yoghurt!), which I feel is harder to feel positive about. Doesn't help when your partner grabs a pinch of muffin top and says things like 'hmm, you've put on a little bit here'. I had to have words with him about never mentioning my size other than in relation to my bump area, because it just results in a flat spin of panic. As does catching sight of myself in a swimming costume at the gym, but I try really hard not to look.

What I know at the moment is that my shoulders and collar bones and face are really well defined (because I can see that every day in my chest-up mirrors), so it definitely is the case that any extra fat and weight I have is centred around where the baby needs it - helps remind me that it's about the baby now, not about me and my ridiculous body issues.

Hard though...

It is very hard, slightly different I suppose but I had weight loss surgery in 2012 and lost 9.11lb and have maintained at a size 8-10 and the weight loss, I have so far put on around 9kg (33 weeks) and fear none of my clothes will fit after I give birth, however I am growing a whole new person who is healthy as far as I am aware. I will tackle me post delivery

Yeah, me. I'm a lot better now at 37 weeks - probably because I have to me and I have a very obvious bump! - but earlier on I found it really tough and I hated the weight gain. I didn't look pregnant to anyone apart from me and DP (in underwear/naked) until beyond 20 weeks, and then I spent the next 8 weeks or so just looking like I was getting fat, which I hated. I was embarrassed to go out and felt that everyone was staring and thinking 'She's let herself go!'. I kind wanted to get a t-shirt made with 'Not fat, just pregnant' on it lol . I'm a nutter, obviously. It got a lot easier for me when I started to look obviously pregnant - then I felt like I had an excuse and no-one was staring at me. Now I feel huge, but I don't mind too much. I haven't put on that much weight either: just 16lb, which is a fair bit less than the calculators online would suggest is normal. My midwife is really pleased with the way DD is growing and developing though, and she's spot on size-wise even though the midwife doesn't reckon I'm eating enough (dizzy spells etc).

I am finding it very hard. The uncertainty is the hardest for me. I don't know what's water retention, what's bloating, what's baby and what's fat. Part of being in "control" is to be able to tell the difference. My body is SO different. My waist is gone, I have a stomach paunch, my thighs are bigger, my ankles are swollen (ie my calves too.) If I understood what was going to happen and whether I would go back, I'd be fine. But I just don't know. it's an unknown quantity.

I struggle most with the 'extra' weight gain - thighs etc. The bump is obviously baby, so I can deal with that. It does make it clear though, how much these things never go away. I'd simply set myself certain weight limits, and have real issues being outside them! Stretchy maternity trousers help though - and not looking in the mirror!