Pregnancy, exercise, weight gain and all that

[GingerLiberalFeminist]

Hi all, I'm 13 weeks pregnant with my first, unplanned. I'm 40 and was fairly fit and active.

During covid I lost a lot of weight (5 St approx) through diet and exercise. Since I got pregnant I've gained a stone 😧😧😧

1. I am exhausted and can't work out for 2 hours day any more. I am doing half hour on exercise bike almost daily plus aqua once a week. I want to do more but physically can't.
2. I'm furiously hungry. I cant stop eating. I wake up in the night wanting to eat. I've probably not helped by allowing myself chocolate/ice cream to be fair!

So my question is;

How do I control the hunger, Slow the weight gain and ease the exhaustion?

Is it even feasible to want to retain a decent figure?!

Many thanks x

Just to add, part of the problem is I used to fill up on protein. I now can't eat eggs or fish (vom!) And breakfast is a non-no. Even protein Shakes taste yuck. So i end up snacking all morning at work on crap :(

What do you typically eat in a day? If you’re under eating then you’ll probably end up over eating.

According to this website:
www.webmd.com/baby/guide/healthy-weight-gain

“A woman who was average weight before getting pregnant should gain 25 to 35 pounds after becoming pregnant. Underweight women should gain 28 to 40 pounds. And overweight women may need to gain only 15 to 25 pounds during pregnancy.”

Thanks yes I'd seen the guidelines.

I think what typing this out has told me is that I am very anxious about weight gain and need to talk to my midwife about healthy eating and sensible weight and exercise for the next six months.

Hi OP

Everyone is so different, so it’s hard to compare but like you I had gained a stone by this point and by the end it was well over 4 stone total gain!

I thought I’d be horrified but it bothered me less than I thought. Some family members and friends were similar and piled it on like me, some remained tiny and snapped back immediately after birth (lucky cows).

Prior to pregnancy I was very fit, strong, avid gym goer etc and it all went out the window with pregnancy, just couldn’t really do it.

Weight slowly coming off two weeks PP.

Best advice I had is focus on taking care of yourself and keeping well, it can always be lost later on! Just think how amazing your body is to grow this whole new person, so cliche but also true xx

There's no exact science to weight gain in pregnancy. Some ladies gain a fair bit, others not so much. It's not always solely down to what or how much you're eating though, in my opinion (I admit I could be wrong!).

I'm 31 weeks and haven't gained much (yet) but I was overweight to begin with so I'm not too worried. My baby is measuring quite big though which does worry me.

There's no denying it - the first trimester is hard! We're dealing with 100 new symptoms from nausea to headaches to food aversions and so-on so it really is just a case of eat whatever the hell you can manage at that point, even if we don't make lots of healthier choices. If you interview 100 women and ask them honestly what they wanted most of in the first trimester, I bet many would say they wanted 'beige' foods which are high carb and often high fat, salt, and/or sugar too. I'm holding my hands up here too - although for a long time I craved salads and fresh raspberries, I ate far more chip butties than I care to admit to. When my nausea started ranking up, for about ten days the only thing I could eat was fresh bread with proper butter. Before I knew it, I completely went off bread AND butter and switched to other things instead.

Try, when you can, not to focus on 'good/bad' foods but try and keep your overall focus on nutrition. Honestly I know how hard that is.

I do wonder if we crave high calorie (energy) foods because we're lacking so badly in energy that we think X or Y might help us perk up a bit. No scientific fact there at all and again, just opinion and speculation!

Don't be too hard on yourself. Your energy levels will pick up and you'll be more inclined to swap a few less healthy choices with some more nutritious ones.

Best wishes for the rest of your journey!

You might find that you get more energy further into the second trimester. I didn't but definitely felt better than first trimester by about 18 weeks. The first trimester exhaustion is awful!

I don't know anyone who had the energy to work out for two hours a day while pregnant but you might find you have energy to do more than you are now.

Are you taking a prenatal vitamin supplement with iron in it? Making sure you don't get anemic will help the energy levels too.

Thanks so much. I'm taking prenatal vitamin and iron which helped a bit!

The beige food comment is it! Crisps and chicken nuggets and bread etc! I'm trying to reduce it now and replace as much with fruit, veg, protein.

Plus I need to let go of the anxiety about being overweight again 😔

Have a look at the gestational diabetes diet.

It's not much fun to actually have gestational diabetes, but following the diet does tend to limit your weight gain.

The key aims are to limit sugar and carbs as much as possible, so eggs or yoghurt for breakfast, some protein with plenty of veg for lunch and dinner, and a few low sugar, high fat/protein snacks between meals.

I gained 2 stone during pregnancy and lost 3 stone in the six weeks thereafter. I wish I hadn't been so afraid to gain weight during pregnancy. I ate healthy so there was no reason to assume that my weight gain was anything other than oregnancy and bloat. I also was very hungry in the first trimester and struggled to eat at all in tge third trimester. Just eat healthy foods like yoghurt, nuts and fruit instead of crisps and cake, and you'll be fine.

Hi @GingerLiberalFeminist

I second what @babyjellyfish suggests. With my first pregnancy in 2019 I was able to continue eating healthily and keep exercising throughout. I went from about 60kg to 72.4kg at 37+2 when I had an ELCS. This pregnancy I suffered from bad nausea and vomiting until I could get medications that work (still medicated at nearly 23 weeks!) and literally lost about 8 weeks of my life hardly able to get out of bed and eating lots of beige carbs to try and stop myself feeling sick - which didn't actually do anything at all to stop the nausea. I actually raised this as a concern to one of the GPs I spoke to about anti-sickness meds and was fobbed off that it wasn't a problem... well it was a problem because being over 40 they're now interested in gestational diabetes and my H1bAc came back high (although not quite over the threshold) and they got all excited about it - to my mind this was hardly surprising given I ate crap for 2 months and barely moved, let alone did any exercise (I'm usually a rower and do a fair bit of cycling too) and had noticeably put on weight faster than I did in my first pregnancy. I'm having it retested now I've been able to eat better and actually move/exercise again.

Thanks for this, makes me feel a bit better!

Wishing you the best of luck with it all!

It is hard, especially in the first trimester. I was constantly hungry and went from 58 kgs to 64 in a month and half! Thankfully, the hunger went away a bit from the second trimester and the weight gain slowed down. Being pregnant doesn't mean you should let go and eat, there is no need to eat for two (you need vitamins and nutrition for two but not calories). Stay away from fried food, and try to eat healthy snacks. If you want desert (which I was craving for it constantly) make it yourself rather than shop sweets.
I got back my figures after 4 months, I'm on my pre-pregnancy weight. But! I was worried avout the pregnancy hunger and the breastfeeding hunger even worst! You glued to the couch all day/night constantly hungry. So my advice is to make sure you don't gain too much during pregnancy as it will be even harder after (if you are planning to breastfeed) .Sorry, I know it's sounds horrible but I was surprised how hungry breastfeeding made me I wish someone prepared me for it 😅.

Like @babyjellyfish mentioned, look into the gestational diabetes diet!

I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant and gained 13lbs so far and I think it’s mainly down to being diagnosed with GD and following the diet. I still eat some carbs, but focussing more on fats and proteins. I hardly ever feel hungry and the GDUK website has given me so many great recipes that I’ll continue eating after pregnancy.

@GingerLiberalFeminist exactly the same. 14 weeks and a stone heavier already!
Ours is an ivf pregnancy so id gained some with hormones but was previously in the gym 4/5 times a week and ate healthy. As soon as i hit 8 weeks i couldn't stomach protein or veg so its been a lot of beige food and i got really into greggs cheese pasties! Ive not been gym since my positive test as was just too scared after previous loss.

I'm trying to relax but i actually think I've fallen a bit into the f**k it bucket and I'm not helping myself.

I'm starting to feel a bit better so slowly head back into the gym and eat better. I'm being more mindful of snacks so making better choices and asking myself am i actually hungry or just snacking for the sake of it.

Its really hard. I'm only 5ft 1 and my body confidence is on the floor. But we've been trying for over 3 years so I'm trying to be kind to myself too.

You're right to not push too hard but i think you'll feel better as you get further into 2nd trimester and start to maintain your weight if you're eating better.

Wishing you the best of luck with your journey. You've got to 14 weeks so far so you're doing brilliantly x

I'm trying to reduce the beige food as a first step 😁

Hello - This is probably going to sound really silly, but my anxiety levels are through the roof at the minute. So I found out I was pregnant a few days ago which I can not get excited about, as I have suffered two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy. I have some how convinced myself that I am causing these miscarriages by going for a poo (silly I know) but my miscarriages happened at the time I went to the toilet. Has this ever happened to anyone else or am I just being paranoid!

Try to adjust your expectations and listen to your body. For the first trimester you will probably just want beige food to keep the nausea under control. If you are hungry - eat! You will crave different things and go off different things so just ride the wave. In the second trimester you should hopefully feel a bit more normal and have more energy (fingers crossed). Try to eat a range of varied foods as you would normally and exercise within your limits. Third trimester you will probably be fed up and only able to eat a little bit at a time as baby squashes all the internal organs!!! I spent most of this time falling asleep on the sofa 😂

Post partum give yourself plenty of time to recover. No exercise until after the six week check, and then let yourself back in gradually. Walking best to start with (walks baby to sleep!!!) and then light exercise and finally back to normal. If you think of it as nine months to grow the baby and nine months to recover that's probably about right.

I actually got fitter and healthier after I had a baby. No drinking cos of breastfeeding and I joined a gym with a crèche!