Feel like I’ve gained ‘excessive’ weight in pregnancy

[Elephant768]

I’ll preface by saying I know that I’m meant to gain weight during pregnancy and this is no time for a diet, and I’m very proud of my body and creating a human. I’m well aware how much of a blessing it is but I’m taken a back about HOW much weight I’ve gained for such a small person. It’s a shock to not recognise myself.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was very slender, petite before pregnancy. My weight would fluctuate between 48-50kg. At my 10 week midwife appointment I weighed 52kg (I had terrible nausea so ate much more than I usually would) but I still felt that 52kg was ‘normal’

Since my 10 week scan I now weigh 65.5kg. My midwives haven’t weighed me at my appointments but I bought some scales because I was curious. I mentioned feeling like I had gained a lot and she just looked at me and said ‘ it doesn’t look like you’ve gained anything excessive’.

I’m mortified because the NHS says most women gain between 10-12.5kg throughout the ENTIRE pregnancy and I’m already above that at 26 weeks. I feel like the NHS are usually quite liberal and ‘lenient’ so I feel like I’ve just gained way too much if that’s their recommendation.

I know my body is doing the right thing for my baby etc etc, but half the weight can’t even be the baby or the placenta yet because he’s still so small. So most of it is just…. Fat?!

asides from my first trimester, I’ve eaten very healthily (more so than pre pregnancy) eating more fruit, veg, balanced diet for the baby.

So before birth, I could technically weigh 70kg!

I sound so weight obsessed as I write this which I don’t like at all. I wasn’t before pregnancy because I just didn’t need to be but when you’ve spent your whole life being ‘small’ and then suddenly weigh a tonne and you just look so puffy in the face, I think it’s hard to come to terms with, and you can still be very grateful for the baby. I don’t recognise myself!

In my pregnancies I haven't gained weight linearly with most of my weight gain around the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd trimesters

With my daughter I was 52 kg before pregnancy 49 kg at my booking appointment due to hyperemesis about 55 kg at 26 weeks. I stalled there for a while then lost a little bit when hyperemesis returned. I then had to find any time to eat to try to get calories in me and finished pregnancy around 59-60kg. By 10 days post partum I was back at 52 kg and by the time I was finished breastfeeding at 10 months I was 43 kg!

With my son I was 53kg before pregnancy, 54 kg at my booking appointment, 60 kg by 28 weeks and then didn't gain any more weight after that. I developed obstetric Cholestasis at 32 weeks and extreme fatigue at 34 weeks where I could only be awake for an hour at a time and slept for 20h a day. I ate when ever i woke up and finished pregnancy at 59 kg at 37 weeks. I was back at 54 kg by the time I got out of hospital at 2 days post partum and I'm now 11 weeks postpartum and am 52 kg

I also find these charts useful for explaining weight gain, there's a lot of "weight" from your body changing not just the weight associated with the baby with higher blood volume and breast growth etc

I gained about 4 stone with each of my pregnancies and lost all but 1 stone without effort after each birth. I had bad nausia too and are loads because of it.

I'm exactly the same! I'm petite and was 53kg at my booking appointment. I was absolutely horrified when I got on a family members scales the other week and it said 66kg!!! This was at 24 weeks!! I too had no idea I had gained so much, I have quite a big bump but still didn't expect that! I'm trying so hard not to stress about it as all that really matters is I have a healthy baby but it's hard knowing how much I've put on. Wish I'd never weighed myself now!! 😫 x

I’m like a PP, gain about 4 stone or more, water weight, weight, big babies. I was horrified but I’ve given up now and hope I can one day get fit and strong again

It sounds like bloating and water retention. That will calm down a lot as you go into the second trimester.
I lost 10kg the day I gave birth (baby was 2 kg) and another ten in the week or two that followed. I really wouldn’t worry.

FWIW, I put on well over the NHS guidelines with both pregnancies, but was back within 10 pounds of pre pregnancy weight within a few weeks. Held on to the last few pounds for a while, but just snacking due to sleep deprivation and no time to exercise.

Your body needs what your body needs, to grow a human.

I found post-baby weight easier to lose than other weight.

Stop weighing yourself!!

I had my Dd a very long time ago, but I still remember my weight. I started at 52kg and ended up at 83kg! I did have a lot of water retention.
Birth weight was 3.6kg and by the time I came home from hospital 5 days later I weighed 70kg.
2 months later I went on a beach holiday and weighed 60kg. It then took another month or 2 to get to 55kg and then I got food poisoning and went down to 48kg where I stayed for a number of years.
I did breast feed and express between feeds as I was desperate to fit back into my clothes!

I went from 52kg to nearly 70kg, but it was all baby and water. I actually wish I’d gained more to help me with breastfeeding, to be honest, as I think we women are meant to have a bit more there. Please don’t worry - it sounds as if you are very vigilant about your weight usually. Maybe enjoy the fact that you get a period without worrying about it overly.

I am 32 weeks and already have gained 3 stone so expecting 4 stone by the end. Other pregnancies I gained 2.5 stone but I’m retaining a lot of water and a lot more immobile this time so I think that is why. Dont worry though, everyone is different.

Yes me too, I haven’t weighed my self since the 10 week antenatal appointment and I knew weighing myself would make me horrified so wish I never did it. I just don’t think I’ll bother now until a few months after baby is due

That’s reassuring, and you’re right - I’m pregnant and so it’s worth all the weight gain

that is interesting to know, thank you . I don’t think I’d be so upset about the weight gain if I didn’t know I’ve already gained more than what the nhs recommends for the entire pregnancy… especially when I’ve never been overweight before

@Elephant768

i don’t think that the NHS guidance is more than a guideline. If you are very slight to begin with (as I was), it’s normal to think you might need a bit more as well as the baby to sustain breastfeeding. If you eat quality food with healthy fats and protein according to hunger and do a reasonable amount of gentle exercise, you really won’t have much issue. In my case, it mostly comes off in first 12 weeks slowly and I hold on to a bit whilst bf but it comes off after that - it’s just what my body needs to sustain a baby.

You're not overweight now either! Pregnancy weight gain isn't quite the same as regular weight gain as there's a lot more water retention and things like that. It's not that the recommended amount is pregnancy gain and anything over is fat and unhealthy. There's a reason your midwife isn't weighing you at appointments and that's because there's not a clinical need. I had a medication prescribed in pregnancy that's weight dependant and they took my booking weight as the pregnancy weight wouldn't have reflected my physicality under the bump. I did get weighed at the end of pregnancy with my first, possibly the second too but that's still a blur but this was just so they had an accurate weight in case a general anaesthetic needed to be given in an emergency.

Your body isn't just building another human it's preparing for afterwards. You need reserves to get through the 4th trimester of sleepless nights, feeding and abandoning meals to hold a crying infant and just generally keeping another human alive. Postpartum with my first was hard as I didn't have any reserves and breastfeeding and having a baby that only slept whilst I walked meant I was always in a deficit, weight fell off me and I ended up in hospital. Second time around I am trying really hard to maintain my weight and physical health especially as it took such a beating in pregnancy.

I was the same as you with my first, always about 8 stone something and very slender and naturally thin no matter what I ate! I put on 3 stone in that pregnancy! I ate well but I was hungry all of the time. Even with the extra 3 stone when I look back I still didn’t look huge because of how slender I was before. I think my body did what it needed to do to support my pregnancy as I think it’s important for you to have reserves maybe. I won’t lie to you I have never since been 8 stone, my new normal is between 9 and 10 so up from a size 6-8 to a 10-12 but my boobs are now far larger than they were and I am happy with my new curves. Don’t worry about it, if you do want to lose it after the birth you probably can I have never been that bothered as long as I look and feel healthy