I know it can't be just me!

[ShebaShimmyShake]

Every pregnant woman I see seems to be slim and fit all over with just a neat baby bump. I seem to be the only one who has gained weight all over (even though my bump itself is very neat and all out front - is it a boy?). I'm the only person at my antenatal exercise class who looks like she needs to be there, I'm the only pregnant woman I ever see who has gained more than just the bump.

I haven't been perfect with my eating (cravings and sudden hunger pangs that make me feel light headed) but I really haven't been pigging out. I pigged out in the first trimester because it was the only thing that helped the nausea. I dreaded the first weighing by the midwife but in the first 12 weeks I gained only four pounds. Nausea passed after that, I started eating more sensibly again about 80% of the time but I've got bigger all over and it's not just boobs and bump, enormous as those are. I still exercise several times a week (had to ease it up a bit obviously, but still doing it properly), am watching what I eat and I still look like a water buffalo. Unlike every other pregnant woman I lay eyes on.

I know I cannot be the only pregnant woman who has gained weight all over and hasn't just got a new bump on my old body. So where the hell are all the rest of you??

36+4 and I've gained some extra weight in my legs but I'm hoping its all just swelling and will go away after the baby is born. Also my boobs although now they are dwarfed by the bump. I too have lots of friends who just had neat little baby bumps without any extra noticeable weight gain and it is irritating. Even worse was my cousin who was out in a two piece bathing suit months after giving birth to her little boy--no stretch marks or anything! I was so jealous.

I've gained it everywhere. Feel massive- big boobs, big arms, fat thighs. Nowt glamorous about the pregnant version of me.

I get you. I go to pregnancy yoga, there's only one tubby girl there other than me, and to be fair she isn't fat just really well built. Everyone else has a lovely round bump on their otherwise slender and toned bodies! I was a little plump to begin with, I've actually on gained a few pounds but I feel massive - it seems to have all gone on the tops of my arms!

I look like a hippo. Hate the people who look like a snake that swallowed a smallish mammal.

You can tell I'm pregnant from the front, the back, the side (the moon). I am huuuuuggge, despite HG meaning I've only gained about 6 pounds at 26 weeks. It's just not fair......................

When I got measured for new bras, after spilling out of the old ones, my back had expanded by two inches. I daren't think how much wider my hips are. Pregnant women glow, I'm glowing like Michelin Man on fire.

I got told by a complete stranger the other day that I'm 'very round', I went and shed some tears ovr a bar of dairy milk bar!

God that is so rude. Of the stranger, I mean.

I gained all over last pregnancy- thighs, arms, face. Had two stone to lose after I gave birth. I'm short so my waist had to expand outwards as well.
I have gained only bump and waist this pregnancy though!

Two stone to lose after birth sounds about right, no? Maybe a tiny bit more than is ideal but not much?

Well i was a healthy weight to begin with and the ideal weight gain by the end of pregnancy is about a stone and a half to two stone. I gained well over 3.

I've ended up gaining 2.5 stone but I can myself see the amount of fluid retention in my feet and hands. I'm all bump. So staying hopeful xx

It's not just you. I was quite overweight when I found out I was pregnant (15 stone, 5' 6"). I'm now 19 weeks and have gained 1 pound - but I look and feel ginormous.

I can tell I've lost a bit of weight from my arms/legs, but no one else can. It's like the fat has just migrated to my boobs and belly, and is starting to land on my backside too. Had to buy bigger sized bras almost straight away - then bra extenders a couple weeks later, now I'm nearly grown out of the extenders. Most of my clothes don't fit now, and trying to find size 18-20 maternity clothes is proving difficult.

A former colleague came to visit the office last week, 38 weeks pregnant and you had to look twice to even realise she was expecting. Her bump was literally the size of a (small) newborn, and apart from that looked entirely the same. I'm not so much jealous as demoralised, and resigned to turning into the Goodyear blimp regardless of what I eat ...

I was a daily gym go-er prior to pregnancy. Sickness and exhaustion put a stop to that.
At 20 weeks I've put on 1st 4lb and can see exactly where the weight is. I've lost muscle tone in my arms - my shirts have gotten much tighter over what was my biceps. My legs have gone to crap and I have developed cellulite. Gravity has dragged my butt down and given that cellulite too. I have a nice roll of fat across my hips and a bump that seriously looks like I'm carrying quads.
However.... I don't actually give a toss. I know that once breast feeding kicks in, I'll lose some if the weight. The rest I plan to attack back at the gym once given the all clear six weeks post partum.

I'm HUGE and I love it! I have fairly deep seated eating / food / body issues and I thought pregnancy would be a nightmare, but I am a big fat, waddling hippo and I think it's amazing

I got enormous with dd1. Gained loads of fluid in my legs and face especially. Gained almost 4 stone oops. Everyone else I knew was just so petite with this cute bump and I was so jealous. I just looked like a beached whale and the bump was only part of it. I gained all over and was just wide from every side.
I lost it all within 6 months though.

With dd2 I only gained 1.5 stone. I never really showed until 5 months and then had the little beach ball bump while not putting on much anywhere else. Everyone told me it was a boy but was another girl.

For me it just seemed to be the pregnancy. I did eat way more in the first pregnancy but I only retained loads of fluid which was more of the problem and I think more to do with being heavily pregnant in the summer versus second pregnancy being over winter.

Don't worry too much.it sounds like you're eating healthily etc and exercising so I think your body is just doing what it needs to do for this pregnancy.
If you gain more than you want then you can always lose it after if it bothers you xx

There's a flip side to OP's point which is people commenting that 'are you sure you're pregnant' or 'Is your baby growing properly because I can't see a proper bump". Can't win either way. I'm really tall so obviously the blighter has more places to hide!!!!!

I second whoever said the back gets wider. I only have 2 bras that fit now (at 22weeks). Need to look into those bra extender thingies.

Clara I had that with my second pregnancy!!! Was accused of not eating enough, not 'looking after my baby' and was told my dates must be wrong about a hundred times.

With dd1 I was accused of 'eating for two' told that I 'must have dates wrong' told that id never make it to my due date and that I'd never lose all the weight.

People are morons!!!

Just a bit of reassurance - my baby is 11 weeks old.

I put 4.5 stone on in my pregnancy and have lost over 2.5 already.

Most of it was water!

He weighed 7.11

Eat what you want, and don't worry about it, people will always have opinions.

I find celebs having the same experience quite comforting! (Shallow as I am!)

Really felt an affinity with Frankie from the Saturdays when she was pregnant. Particularly next to her gorgeous band mates, you could see that she was uncomfortable with her new body.

Frankie is one of the most stunning girls in British show biz at the moment in my opinion so it was refreshing to see someone like that struggling with it but at the same time i really felt for her. It's bad enough trying to get to grips with your new body without the whole world watching and judging.
Quite a few celebs seem to be going through it but just as many seem to bounce back straight away.

It's been strange for me as I've experienced both. After dd1 it took me a while to get to somewhere I felt comfortable and I really felt like someone else in that time.
After dd2 I was back in my size 10 jeans after a week and lost the baby weight within 10 weeks without much effort so I kind of did just bounce back and didn't really try.

I can see the pressure on both. There's judgement that women should just ping back and be the women they were before babies, both emotionally and physically.
The flip side is women being judged for snapping back and the assumption being that they must be neglecting their baby by working out 4 hours a day and must have a dietician preparing all their meals etc.
Every women is different and every pregnancy is different. It's so crazy how much it can just naturally differ.

A lot of that weight and bulk is fluid retention. I find I suffered terribly with night sweats after my milk came in and would wake each morning several pints lighter.

It's not necessarily fat you're gaining. Just focus on eating healthily and less about what you weigh. During pregnancy the normal rules of weight gain and loss don't apply.

Im 13 weeks and im like a whale already my thighs are fatter my back has swollen at the bottom my breasts are gigantic. I went up a size in leggings and they are already snug and my new t shirts are feeling tight too :( I feel your pain. It usually is water retention as I was the same with my daughter and after I had her I deflated my trousers and leggings literally fell off and my feet want up to a size 9 but went back to uasual 8 afterwards. I felt like an elephant

Ooh, interesting point about the water retention. A friend of mine who looks sickeningly good after two kids told me it was all water, and that after she gave birth she basically peed for about three days straight and it was all gone. But she's Italian and Italians are depressingly gorgeous...