Mental hunger when pregnant

[Chey1980]

Hello,
I am just over 15 weeks pregnant; I have suffered from eating disorders throughout my life. But after one big last push, I managed to free myself, and eat what i needed according to my mental and physical hunger and finally got pregnant at 42.

Eventually my eating regularised and the strong mental hunger went. But now i am pregnant, the metal hunger has come back in full force. My body is full, but my head will not stop thinking about food. Has anyone else experienced this? A bit of me thinks it's my body pushing me to eat lots to protect the baby, because of my body's history. But it's making me feels so physically uncomfortable? Any thoughts? Sorry for the long message!

What kind of food? Is it really food or junk?

if you think of eating apples or pasta or chicken, go for it! Your body will get satiated at some point. I had craving for carbs, specially pasta carbonara during my last pregnancy. Any weight you put on you can work on it after giving birth ( breastfeeding uses like 500kcal a day), so no need to worry now.

also consider taking a multivitamin like pregnacare max, this one has a multivitamin including folate (the natural easiest to absorb form of folic acid, vit D) plus fish oil. In case you have some deficiencies. And remember it might take weeks or 1-2 months for these deficiencies to get better (I had low iron and it took about a month with supplements to feel better)

are you drinking enough? I’ve read this could be a cause for eating more, if you’re not in tune with your body.

In any case, lots of women feel the need to eat more, or have lots of weird cravings so I don’t think it’s related to your eating issue.

if it’s just thoughts and not actual cravings, then you can redirect your thoughts to plans of choosing and preparing the next meal, browsing cookery books, watching shows etc

probably best not to deny them or push them away, they will come back worse.

hi
congratulations on your pregnancy

There’s an ED campaigner on Instagram called Hope Virgo. She recently had a baby after years of suffering from an ED. She has great advice for ED sufferers past and present.

it’s difficult I know but keep thinking of baby and how proud baby will be that their mum put them first xx

Thank you, your reply is greatly appreciated :)

Thank you, very much for your message :)