What's the best exercise and food when constantly queasy?

[Helenaaa]

Hi,

I'm really sorry if there has already been a topic on this, but I would appreciate the help!

Before I found out I was pregnant (I'm 2 days short of 12 weeks), I was incredible healthy and active. I ate wonderfully (fruits, veg, nuts, meat...) and would go for a 3K run every morning and an hour walk in the evening.

However, as soon as I hit the 4 week pregnant mark, everything went downhill. I am ALWAYS hungry but I have no motivation to eat, I just don't want to. I feel constantly queasy (I haven't had any morning sickness) and I'm wondering if this is what my lose of appetite has come from. I just am eating really bad foods to just try and make me feel better, like chocolate and breads - I know it's bad! I feel SO guilty and it makes me incredibly upset when I realise what I'm doing is not good for me or my baby. What did you eat when you just couldn't stomach something healthy? Or how did you go about it?

But, with the queasiness I haven't exercised. I can't run and I can't go for a walk. Are there small things I can do around the house when I feel decent? I would appreciate if you could tell me what you did if you were in a similar situation!

Firstly don't feel bad for baby, they will take all the goodness from you which makes you feel crappy but worthwhile knowing baby is good and getting their nutrients. Allow yourself to eat of and when you can, bland boring beige food helped me, salt and vinegar crisps have helped others. You will get passed it and be back on the fruit, salad and vegetables soon enough.

Hi. I was in the same boat, all I wanted to do was lie down and I'm usually really active and eat healthily. I know it's hard but in most cases those symptoms will calm down over the next few weeks. The most important thing is not to feel guilty, it is a bit drummed into us that you have to be healthy all the time but be kind to yourself. You are creating a new human and it all happens in the first 12 weeks so let yourself rest. My sickness was worse when I was tired so go to bed early and sleep. I tried to ensure I had a bland cereal for breakfast like bran flakes as that is fortified with vitamins. Can you make some veg soup as I found that nice? I also tried to eat organic peanut butter or cream cheese on wholemeal toast rather than Strawberry jam on Warburtons. However I mainly ate hula hoops and I seem to be OK.

I hope this passes for you and you perk up soon but it is normal and you won't hurt your baby by not eating broccoli every day

Thank you so much! -

You've both (RuskBaby and positivity123) have made me feel a lot better! I can now relax and be a lot more positive now!

Thank you for all the food ideas, I will try them out with the next food shop!

I felt awful in the first few weeks, I'm sure most women do. I just felt really carsick all the time and absolutely shattered!
The best thing for me was to keep nibbling on dry foods, ginger biscuits are good for nausea. What about some breakfast biscuits, rice cakes or whole grains?
My midwife advised me not to go too long without food as that would make the nausea worse and to eat something as soon as you get up.
After the first trimester, my sickness went almost overnight and I got my energy back so I hope it does for you.

Best food at this stage is whatever you feel like eating. There were weeks I could only stomach white bread. Honestly, don't worry about the macronutrients, baby will be fine. Hopefully you will start feeling better soon.

Same applies to exercise - interstingly, I found that the only time I was not nauseous with DC2 was while working out - but that's probably not the case for everybody. What about some youtube exercise videos that you could do in short bursts whenever you feel like it?

Hi, I've had hyperemesis gravidarum in all my full term pregnancies so have eaten less healthily and been relatively inactive. I have no advice but I can offer reassurance that a poor diet shouldn't have an adverse effect on the baby and that even when I spent the whole pregnancy in bed I was able to get back to normal physical activity within a couple of weeks of giving birth.

Hi
I was nowhere near at the 3k run level before I got pregnant, but I did go to the gym and my diet was like yours.

Well as soon as the pregnancy started, baby wanted none of my fruit or veg!! It was white bread, cream cheese, and cheese all the way for a good section of the first trimester. I couldn't even stand being in the kitchen when DP was cooking and just couldn't wait for him to leave so I could scoff my baked potato and cheese lol. Lots of people seem to be the same so there must be a reason for it I guess. I would embrace the bland foods, it won't be forever. I'm 22 weeks now and have just come back from the gym and I can eat pretty much anything now. I hope it will be the same for you.

I was pretty active before pregnant and felt I should be exercising etc in the first trimester, but to be honest, if you feel tired rest and don't feel bad about it. Your body is building a person! If you feel queasy and that you do need to do something, maybe walking in a park / fresh air will make you feel better. I managed to do some light cardio in the first trimester (at the gym) but really felt exhausted. From the second trimester I started antenatal yoga. I had bad morning sickness, so just ate what I could keep down and I tried to go for the healthier option if I could. In the first trimester, the baby's nutritional needs are tiny. Best to eat what you can, take an ante natal vitamin and rest a lot! For the nausea, I found that coconut water helped (the nausea apparently can sometimes be caused by a potassium deficiency), as did the smell of grapefruit. I completely went off ginger, which was not very helpful ...

I found swimming at an easy pace was great in my first trimester when I was a bit nauseous. Cashew nuts were my go-to snack.

You sound exactly like me! I usually eat really healthily but could mostly only face junk during the first trimester. I was ok with orange juice/fruit but that was about as good as it got. The rest of my diet was bread/jacket potato/Dairylea/and a lot of pickled onion crisps! The most exercise I did was walking and even that was rare as I was so tired. I'm 14 weeks now and the good news is that I started to feel more normal a week or so ago. The nausea has all but disappeared and I'm definitely less tired. Diet still isn't perfect but there are a lot more foods I can face. I'm planning on reintroducing exercise today with some swimming, I'm going back to the gym for some light exercise there and I'm going to look in to pregnancy yoga too. As others have said don't feel guilty - your baby will take what it needs first.

Swimming? Food wise, just take your vitamins and get through the day for now, you can make up for it in the second tri when you start to feel better. Congratulations!