Is this an ok pregnancy diet?

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Before our last IVF attempt (the one that stuck) I lost almost 2 stone through calorie counting and logging on nutracheck.

I stopped when I got pregnant and am now just shy of 20 weeks. I struggled with food aversions and sickness in the first trimester, but other than heartburn and still not going near strong flavours like turmeric, I'm much better.

I'm trying to stay as healthy as possible not sure whether I'm eating too much. Here is a typical day:

B (around 7.45am): Full fat greek yoghurt, nutty granola and raspberries

S: usually about two satsumas (I'm obsessed) and a babybel cheese over the course of the morning

L: from the school canteen, normal pupil sized portion - bangers and mash, pasta with salad, rice and curry, chicken with veg etc. small cup of fruit salad for pudding

S: afternoon after work - not always but could be small bag of mini cheddars or popcorn or satsuma if I'm peckish or had a small lunch

D: tuna salad with new pots, homemade chicken and leek pie with veg, pho bowl, soup, baked pot with tuna

I usually don't eat after dinner, but yesterday I ended up cutting up a mango and eating most of it

What do people think? Is this too much? I am eating two cooked/warm meals a day but it's all fairly home cooked. School dinners are really good.

Shall I reduce lunch to something smaller, like a sandwich?

How much fruit is too much fruit? It seems to be my only real craving.

It’s fine, it’s definitely not too much. My motto for all my pregnancies was eat whatever stays down so I can tell you mine were not that healthy. Unless there’s a gestational diabetes issue fruit is fine.

I’m not a medical professional but to me that sounds fine!

I am fortunate to have 2 healthy children but during both pregnancies my food aversions were awful. My baby grew based on me eating crackers, cookies, drinking a couple glasses of Pepsi max and flavoured water. When I spoke to my midwife she said it wasn’t ideal but the baby was healthy, I didn’t have GD and I needed to eat what I could keep down to remain strong.

Is there any reason you’re worrying about it? If it’s bothering you then please speak to your midwife and they should be able to support and reassure you.

Thank you. I'm in a higher risk category for GD due to my age and I'm still overweight despite weight loss so I wonder whether I need to reduce fruit.

Is there any reason you’re worrying about it? If it’s bothering you then please speak to your midwife and they should be able to support and reassure

No not worried as such just conscious of not gaining too much (unnecessary) weight and generally trying to be healthy. Coming out of weight loss straight into pregnancy just means I'm a little confused about what is 'normal'. Might run it past my midwife at my next appointment.

It sounds fine. I had GD in my last pregnancy and the advice was 2 pieces of fruit a day - the tarter, the better as less sugar. However, I personally didn't find that fruit spiked my blood sugar that much anyway, especially when paired with something like cheese or Greek yoghurt. Obviously I was eating sensible portions and not an entire punnet of grapes or whatever.

That looks really healthy to me. My pregnancy diet was shocking. The local chip shop was a daily fixture 🫣

That sounds a great healthy diet well done. I had hyperemesis in my pregnancy so ate whatever stayed down and I could stomach once I was on medication. I ate a lot of pasta with cheese sauce and Jalapenos!

Hi there it's a labour ward midwife. Your diet sounds really good from the nutritional point of view. Unfortunately there are no NHS guidelines on the appropriate weight gain in pregnancy. However the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists do have guidelines depending on the starting BMI. I noticed that women who put on more than 15 kg in pregnancy often struggle with either developing pregnancy induced hypertension or gestational diabetes or growing a baby too big for the labour to progress naturally and ending up needing an emergency Caesarean section. Your diet sounds very healthy but please do watch the amount and do try to fit in as much exercise as possible. I hope it helps

Uh oh 😳. I'm pretty much eating an entire punnet of grapes a day! It's the only thing that helps the nausea 😫

OP your diet looks good to me!

I was put on a Low GI diet when pregnant due to having PCOS (and fibroids) and also at risk of GD. I was under the care of a dietician - ate 6 small meals a day and it worked well - no GD and despite a few hurdles a fairly easy pregnancy.

@Kosenrufugirl That is really helpful. I will look up the American guidance for info. I've almost 20 weeks now and have gained about 2.5kg.

One thing I need to do is up my exercise. I'm doing some walking and a little stretching/yoga here and there but not consistently. Need to get myself a new swimming costume and start swimming again.