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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Hunger in pregnancy. How much of it is just gluttony?

19 replies

ipanemagirl · 07/05/2008 17:36

Of course we have to eat a little more but I'm hungry enough to eat enough to satisfy 100 marines after a week's training in the field! It can't be right can it? It's just piggery on my part innit? It's just the more I eat the more I want isn't it? This baby doesn't NEED all this food does it?

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Orissiah · 07/05/2008 18:51

Apparently baby just needs 300 extra calories a day and will take it all from you no matter how much or how little you are eating. Basically we in the UK eat more than we need to anyway that we don't need to eat more when we're pregnant. However, I love it that pregnancy is an excuse for many things ;-)

lou222 · 07/05/2008 19:01

i'm 21 weeks and through sickness still barely have an appetite and permanently feel full!
i still weigh less than i first did when pregnant ... but my baby is fine so i can only presume or hope that we don't really need much more!
sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear
but go for it - def an excuse to eat more if you can!

chinchi · 07/05/2008 19:05

Im so hungry lately, and my cravings are changing from one minute to the next. Last week it was fruit, so DH bought it by the bag load, and now I cant stand the stuff.

Ive no idea what I want to eat, but could eat enough for the whole street!

notnowbernard · 07/05/2008 19:12

I was ABOSOLUTELY STARVING throughout pregnancy with dd2

Was eating massive plates of food that matched what dp was eating (who does manual work) even up to and past my due date

Couldn't stop, basically. It carried on for weeks post-birth as well

JoyS · 07/05/2008 19:37

I find it comes and goes. One week I'm cleaning out the fridge and the next week getting by on cereal and fruit. I don't think it's gluttony!

staranise · 07/05/2008 19:50

Starving, starving all the time in my third pg. v different to the other two when I lost my appetite in the first three months. Constantly thinking about my next meal.

Our food bills are going through the roof!

constancereader · 07/05/2008 19:54

I think about food a lot when pg. It really annoys me. When not pg I eat an incredibly healthy diet with no bread or refined sugar, when I am pg I eat white toast every two hours. Unsurprisingly I get rather fat. I have no idea why I am so different.

Original poster

ipanemagirl · 07/05/2008 22:55

Orissiah, I read some where that I should (at 21 weeks) be eating 500 extra calories a day.

I just wonder how much of my craving is triggered by a kind of natural 'need' if you like and how much it is triggered by the red rag to a bull that pg is for the glutton!

OP posts:

PussinJimmyChoos · 07/05/2008 23:05

When I was pg with DS I ate so much as I was just constantly hungry! It only tailed off in the last three weeks!!

I didn't eat crappy food (well, not all the time!!) and made sure it was wholemeal bread, healthy fillings etc but it was just the quantity of it!! I put on 4st but there was no way I could ignore my body telling me I needed to eat - I would feel sick and weak if I didn't!

Jenbot · 10/05/2008 18:31

Quite similar to Lou222, I'm 21 weeks now, and have almost got back up to the weight I was before I was pregnant. I just didn't want to eat much of anything for a while and lost a stone in the 1st part of pregnancy.
But for the past fortnight... I could eat all day long if I didn't have to stop every now and again to do other stuff!
Just had a half pint of milk and an apple and am already wondering if I am allowed dinner yet. 6.30 is too early isn't it?

colditz · 10/05/2008 18:34

How the hell is 6.30 too early for dinner? Have your dinner and stop punishing your body for having needs!

cyteen · 10/05/2008 18:58

The ice cream van just pulled up outside my house and I practically elbowed a child out of the way to get my 99 Flake

expatinscotland · 10/05/2008 19:00

I've never found out.

I'm either vomitting or choking on my own stomach acid through all my pregnancies.

It kills my appetite.

I've always wound up thinner after giving birth than before I got pregnant.

chefswife · 11/05/2008 10:37

I have a very loving relationship with food but hate to cook. Luckily I married a chef. All I do when home all day think about food and graze. (as this is my first pregnancy, I?m going for it). Loads of fruit, hobnobs, and rice cakes. I had stop eating so much toast because I would feel so bloated. I eat pasta or Chinese noodles with vegetables for dinner. DH cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner on his days off which is an absolute blessing. When I?m out, all I think about is what will I have when I get home. Eat eat eat? bahhhh

finallypregnant · 11/05/2008 12:11

You only need an extra couple of hundred calories in the last 1 month of pregnancy I'm afraid!

VictorianSqualor · 11/05/2008 12:13

A lot of it is probably thirst, we very often mistake thirst for hunger and can become easily dehydrated during pregnancy so try drinking something instead.

mawbroon · 11/05/2008 12:36

I was absolutely starving the whole time I was pregnant. I would eat a huge bowl of porridge for breakfast packed full of dried fruit, and then half an hour later I was starving again. If I didn't eat when i was hungry, I would end up trembling and feeling very faint. I also woke during the night feeling very hungry and would often get up and snack then too.

However, after ds was born, I found I was still 15kgs over my pre pregnancy weight, so my thinking is that I can't have needed all those calories.

But, I continued being completely starving and eating huge portions whilst breastfeeding and by around a year later, I was a stone lighter than I was before I had ds. I guess I would have been skin and bone if I hadn't eaten as much as I did both during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

So, in answer to your question.... I don't know!

FrannyandZooey · 11/05/2008 12:58

well I always pile it on while pg
but last time with ds I really needed the extra flab tbh
I was STARVING constantly while bfing and lost a ton of weight
so presume some of it is necessary stores rather than just what is needed for healthy pg

hattyyellow · 11/05/2008 13:47

Maybe it depends on your metabolism? I was starving the entire time during my last pregnancy and found out at 12 weeks it was twins. I figured if I was hungry I should eat - especially with the excuse of eating for three!

I put on very little weight and I do tend to store weight normally if I eat too much. So I do reckon my body needed that extra nutrition.

This time around I am starving again (twins again wish that 12 week scan would hurry up).

I try not eating too much, try drinking lots of water but I'm waking up at 3am with a gnawing hunger and rumbling tummy and can't go to sleep again until I've gone downstairs and had something to eat. I can still get into all my clothes so I can't help feeling I'm genuinely hungry and should eat?

Maybe the trick is keeping it healthy - things that fill you up without having lots of excess calories. Trouble is all I want at the moment is chips, croissants and toast, even though when not pregnant I am Mrs Neurotic GI healthy diet!

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