4 MONTHS PREGNANT WORRIES

[LozH1994]

I’ve always been a size 6-8 from the age of 21-31 then turning 32 and now 4 months pregnant and showing a lot!!! My bump is very noticeable a lot of people around me are shocked.

my diet before I was pregnant was poor I could live off sweets crisps and energy drinks. Now I’m pregnant, allllll I do is eat. Like full blown cooked meals X4/5 a day it’s crazy how much I’m eating considering I’ve always been tiny. So now I have a very noticeable bump do I need to be careful I don’t eat too much? Or enjoy actually eating full meals? just looking for some guidance when it comes to a super big bump for just 4 months pregnant if I’m doing more harm than good. Thanks in advance

Just eat healthily. Don’t overeat or you will get fat.
A bump is normal, piling on over 2 stones isn’t.
I’m sure there’s plenty of dietary advice for pregnancy if you google

4 or 5 proper meals a day probably is a bit too much. You only need about 300 extra calories in the second trimester so that's only really a decent sized snack on top of your pre-pregnancy intake.

I wouldn't start actively restricting or calorie counting but I'd focus on eating healthy, whole foods and getting enough protein and fibre in your diet to see if that curbs your appetite a bit.

Focus on healthy food if you can. It could be your body telling you what you need. You mentioned your diet was not good previously, it could be just the body doing catch up work. Pregnancy is a mind field, often we can’t control ourselves a lot. Also I don’t know what your parents are like in terms of size and diet habit, my parents definitely changes massively after having children. I changed a bit.

It’s important in pregnancy to eat good quality food, so switching from energy drinks and sweets to proper meals is an excellent choice. It’s easy to underestimate calories from the snack food you ate before and to overestimate calories from healthier food like salads and plain chicken so if your diet has changed a lot you might be eating more bulk without actually increasing calories as much as you think.

If you’re eating mostly healthy food then eat as much as you want to unless your doctor says otherwise. Ignore comments from friends and family about your big bump, people show differently. Just limit very processed food and sugar.

If you were underweight or very lean before it’s also not at all surprising if you gain some fat reserves as well as the baby weight. That’s healthy and normal to make sure you have enough energy to get through the final weeks of pregnancy and you can produce enough milk when the baby arrives. Obviously there can be too much weigh gain but a little bit shouldn’t be cause for concern, especially if you started out small.

And quite apart from the calories, your body needs so so many nutrients in pregnancy. If you were eating a lot of junk before you may have been deficient in a few things and your body is now urgently telling you to get enough. Again, my rule of thumb is if the things you want to eat are unprocessed, low sugar, not deep fried etc, and assuming your doctor hasn’t said anything, then trust your body.