Weight gain

[LilyJessie]

Hello 🤗

I'm just wondering how much weight people have found they gained in pregnancy?
I have eaten healthily/ done exercise etc. and yet here I am 15kg at just under 37 weeks!
I read NHS and said healthy weight gain is between 10-12.5kg, so I have gone well over that!!
Just wondered the experience of real women!

X

Cheeky bump

I actually lost weight because I could hardly eat anything for the first 12 weeks. This was over 20 years ago and I don’t remember how much I weighed before and after.

I gained over 20kg in my first pregnancy! Lost it all and more by the time baby was 6 months old and have never been back up to my pre pregnancy weight. No exercise (other than rocking baby in the night!!) but I was cosleeping so no alcohol ever and I also quit dairy from my diet as was EBF a CMPA baby.

@AdoraBell
Sounds absolutely horrendous for you the first 12 weeks!!
A couple of my friends lost weight.
Whereas weight just completely stuck to me in the first trimester, even though I barely ate and felt awful.

@tangobravo -
That's a bit reassuring! I hope I manage to shift it all.
I know everyone says "just enjoy your baby and don't worry about your weight" but enjoying my baby isn't going to make me fit into clothes again!
I am still a woman who isn't too keen to be 15 kgs heavier than she was in January 🤣
Yes pregnancy is an absolute miracle... But I think if I had a grand old time having all the cakes and pies I wouldn't have minded but I bloody haven't!!

It was, I did recover and found I was carrying twins. All was okay luckily.

Ah I know what you mean. Honestly I didn't care about the weight gain but it did feel good to lose it in the end! I think pushing a pram round the park helped too haha.

I am 33 weeks and gained 15kg so far but in spurts rather than in a linear fashion. Started from healthy bmi and the midwife was not worried at all when I asked about it, so I guess, on its own it is not to worry.

I'll be 36 weeks weds and I've gained 22kg! Far too much. I gained the same with my first too. I lost about 1.5 stone immediately and then the rest within 6 months. I also went on to lose a further two stone. Honestly breast feeding melted the fat off me. I was so slim. I'm hoping it has the same effect this time 🤣. Don't worry too much about your weight.

@AdoraBell - Wow twins! That's amazing!

@BeLemonQuoter - I have been the same! And really good to hear your midwife isn't worried about it. I suppose we are all different shapes and sizes.

@tangobravo - I'll be out and walking as much as I can be (says she now...!) haha 🤣

@Elisabeth3468 - I would love to breastfeed 🙏🏼🙏🏼 not for the weight but I think it's beautiful. The fact it helps with weight is brill too 🤣
Such a huge change for the body growing a baby!!

I gained 12kg both times and lost it within 1 year (breastfed both for 10 months, not exclusively). Your body is working so hard right now to do the most incredible thing in the world. It's hard to get used to the changes in yourself but try to be proud and grateful for what your body is doing and trust in the process, it knew how to grow and nourish your baby and it will know how to get back to a healthy shape again at a healthy pace. Your baby will adore you in any shape or size.
Good luck you're so close now!

Edited to add, both times I lost about 7-8 kg instantly after birth, and found the last 3 or 4 kg lingered on for months, always hardest to drop. I do think breastfeeding burns through weight but also your body needs extra fat when you're feeding to keep you going so I think mine held onto a few kg to sustain me while feeding hungry boys.

Also your shape changes so although I'm now a lower weight than before my kids, my hips and ribcage are wider so sometimes you never go back to quite the size you were before.

Congratulations on almost getting to the end OP! I wouldn’t worry too much about the weight gain. It sounds like you’ve been pretty fit and healthy, which is great.

There is such a wide range of “normal” weight gain. I’ve gained (or stand to gain) more than you in all of my pregnancies - currently expecting number 3. At times, I’ve felt quite miserable about it, which hasn’t been helped by reading Mumsnet where everyone seems to tell you they lost two stone whilst pregnant! I’m usually very active but I vomit 10 times a day until the end of the second trimester. Miraculously, I still gain weight because bread is the only thing that takes the edge off, I can’t stand vegetables and I can’t run without throwing up!

I’ve been lucky to lose all the weight quite quickly postpartum after having my two children, and ended maternity leave lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight and struggling to stop losing it (I think just from breastfeeding, lots of walking around with the baby, and resuming my normal diet and activity levels). The walking wasn’t a deliberate attempt to lose weight, I just hate being stuck indoors so I like to take the small ones on lots of outdoor stroll-naps in a sling.

I lost
Weight because I couldn't stomach anything for first trimester and then Dts were crushing my stomach so couldn't eat much.

I'm 36 weeks + 4 and have gained 10kg.
My midwife was happy with this at my appointment and tbh even if it was more we're so close to the end now it's the least of my worries. My other two pregnancies I gained a similar amount, the first one I lost all the weight in 3 months and the second one 6-12 months.

@Poppadoom @readyforroundthree @boulevardofbrokendreamss @AmberBeaker

Thank you for all the replies ☺️
Think I'm more worried that I have gained over what the NHS recommends as healthy weight gain (10-12.5kg), despite being active and healthy.
I know I can put the work in to loose it etc. but all the same it's unnerving to have gained so much despite trying very hard not to just eat what I want.

I'm extremely grateful to be pregnant as I have suffered so much loss, but I suppose I was just shocked when I saw the scales!!

@LilyJessie you could also be carrying a lot of water which is completely outside of your control. I know some women who have put on hardly anything and some who have put on 3-4 stone and lost it all within a few weeks. You also don't know how heavy your baby will be, my first was 8'6 and my second was 9'1 and I've been told to expect this one to be anywhere in the region of 9-10lbs. For me if you factor in a 10kg weight gain, the baby, placenta and all the water, it's actually not loads. I know it can be a bit of a shock but you are so close to the end now, if you told me you had put on 15kg at 16 weeks I would probably say you have cause for concern but not at your gestation.

@readyforroundthree this has really helped me, thank you so much xx

Yes a huge amount is water. Especially at this stage you're at now. And that will disappear instantly x

Step away from the scales! Seriously put them away, you've got a placenta, amniotic fluid and a human in you!

A different perspective I didn't gain enough. I can't remember exactly but it was 1-1.5 stone. I had lost it by day 10 and by 10 months I was over a stone underweight and quite poorly with it.
The weight isn't just to grow the baby but to get you through the fourth trimester and first year too. I had hyperemesis in the first and third trimesters then had severe pnd and a velcro baby which I breastfeed on a very limited diet due to her multiple allergies. All my reserves that should have got me through those first months had been used up getting through pregnancy

I'm sorry to hear that. For a different perspective, I put on a similar amount (about 8kg), was back to normal weight within 10 days and was fine from then on. Weight stayed static. I breastfed to 6 months.

It's a huge range of 'normal' OP but essentially there is an amount you can expect to gain (8-12kg), and then some people gain more on top than others, for various reasons. Try not to worry about it, but I don't think being mindful of your weight is a bad thing. Inevitably, the more you gain the more you have to lose and the idea that breastfeeding makes it 'fall off' isn't the case for many.

This!!

Honestly, everyone is so different! Everyone responds differently to pregnancy.

The NHS info is just a loose guideline. You sound like you’ve eaten sensibly and remained active. I start pregnancy with a BMI of 17-18, so it makes biological sense that I’ll hang on to more weight than someone at a higher pre-pregnancy weight. The guidelines don’t factor this in. They don’t account for variation in individuals.

Please don’t beat yourself up, especially at this stage!

Thank you everyone 🙏🏼🙏🏼
I genuinely really do appreciate all the comments.

Scales stepped away from!!

I suppose it didn't help that a friend told me how much my face had changed today and how "tiny" I used to be before 😂😂 she didn't mean it horribly at all but made me feel awful.

However, all that fat will hopefully become energy to make milk for little baby girl when she is here.

Thank you again xxx