Is it possible to counteract the effects of overeating for the first 4 months of pregnancy in the last 5?

[TheProvincialLady]

I am feeling so FAT. I ate and ate and ate for the first 3 months of this pregnancy because it was the only thing that stopped me from feeling so sick and exhausted all the time. I would literally shake if I did not eat 2 bars of chocolate straight after my hearty, healthy breakfast. Then it carried on all day with healthy meals and lots of crap too. I'm normally someone who doesn't put on weight easily at all, but this time I have and I am well and truly fat at 4 months

I am wondering whether I can safely eat less from now on and put on less weight, or whether I will have to wait until the baby is born? In my last pregnancy I put on weight and didn't lose all of it afterwards, but I was underweight before I got pregnant so it was okay. This time I am worried I will look like a big wobbly whale by the end of the pg.

I am not just imagining it BTW - the woman in the newsagents has said to me THREE TIMES NOW that I am "looking ever so tubby"

Any advice would be welcome.

I think it would be best to just eat a sensible amount for the rest of the pregnancy, and leave the dieting until after the birth. You might find the weight falls off anyway if you breastfeed.

It did fall off last time to begin with, but I'm not sure if that was due to BF or because I was so ill with puerperal fever. I do plan to BF again this time and I hope it helps - can you diet (sensibly) and BF at the same time?

I know I should do the sensible thing and eat properly now and diet afterwards, but I feel so self conscious at the moment. And I am a bit of an all or nothing eater - I am either eating anything that takes my fancy, or eating to lose weight - it has never been a problem before though.

Other posters have said that its ok to do slimming world while pregnant - though personally wouldnt recommend it. Think Jangly is right - try and do the sensible eating thing now and ensure that you get some exercise (swimming, walking, yoga etc.) in to keep your body nice and strong for the rest of your pregnancy as pregnancy isnt a great time to try dieting. The weight will shift after the baby arrives so dnot worry about it now. Why not invest in some nice clothes or a new haircut so you dont feel so self conscious?

Oh - and go to a different newsagents

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo

Don't even try, just enjoy it and sod what anyone else thinks.

If it makes you feel any better, I put on vast amounts of weight in both my pg's.

After No1 took me ages to lose it.

After No2, just fell off

'Tis running after a toddler that does it

If the woman in newsagents should dare to be so cheeky as to mention it again, reply with a 'you too Mrs, at least I'm up the duff'

That'll shut her up.

Or tell her your having Octuplets

OK, I have resolved to wait until after the baby is here and take it from there. Does having 2 weetabix followed by a star bar count as eating sensibly? I do get a fair amount of exercise normally but had to give up the walking and ballet due to massive nausea and exhaustion. I could up it again now though.

The woman in the newsagent really took me by surprise - instead of teling her to stuff herself, I found myself mumbling agreement and making excuses. Not like me at all! I have swapped newsagents. But I like your style mum2oandh

Why not just try eating sensibly? Plenty of veg and protein and only 'good' carbs like wholewheat pasta, wholemeal bread, bulgar wheat etc? This is the type of food that people with gestational diabetes have to have, and they insist that it's just a normal healthy diet anyway.

Cut out/down on things like fruit juice and other sugary snacks, in favour of things that will fill you up for longer.

Alternatively, as dinkystinky says, Slimming World is 100% safe to do whilst pregnant. I imagine that she wouldn't recommend it personally because she doesn't understand the plan, but the Royal College of Midwives do, and have given it total approval.

And to answer your other question, yes, it's fine to diet whilst bf. Just make sure that you don't go short on calcium.

"I ate and ate and ate for the first 3 months of this pregnancy because it was the only thing that stopped me from feeling so sick and exhausted all the time. I would literally shake if I did not eat 2 bars of chocolate straight after my hearty, healthy breakfast."

Snap, and to everything you have said in your post. My mum and dh are constantly joking about how fat I am. But I think I'm going to save the dieting till after the baby because I am just still starving all the time, no matter what I eat for breakfast I'm starving at 10.30, painfully so.

I think perhaps you need to move across to filling up between meals with healthy stuff. I do sympathise - I was so sick and tired this pregnancy I ate a lot of crap and am still using the pregnancy as an excuse to eat rubbish.

I've got a bit better by reminding myself that eating chocolate isn't actually going to help the tiredness, in fact it will make it worse as you come down off the sugar rush.

I'm forcing myself to have porridge for breakfast and to try and eat fruit in between meals rather than cake. If I do slip and eat something sweet, I made some raisin flapjacks so at least they have slow release energy from the oats.

I think like me you've got into bad habits with comfort eating because you're tired, but the sugar is making the tiredness worse..

I'm sure you can safely eat less. THe calories requirement for pregnancy is only an extra 300 calories a day, which is the same as a couple of pieces of toast in addition to normal meals.

Someone told me that you are better prepared for the physical demands of labour if you've been eating reasonably healthily and taking some exercise. I'm sure there must be some truth in that? I've been trying to walk a little each day just in case!

yes i think you can counteract the weight thing. i was the same as you in the first trimester but after that my eating slowed down to normal. i didnt diet or anything just returned to normal. now, 37 weeks preg i can barely fit a thing in anyway. i have put on 1 and 3/4 stones in total so far and most of that was in the first trimester!

Well that's encouraging Kezza, thanks. Hatty I think I do need to move to healthier snacks and fill myself up more at mealtimes, but I have the willpower of a toddler sometimes and it is going to be a massive effort. My meals are almost always healthy and I prefer wholemeal bread etc so that is a good start (can't do wholemeal pasta though). And I think my appetite is getting back to normal.

CSWS thanks for the information re BF and dieting. I have never done a proper diet like slimming world or weight watchers because I have never been overweight by BMI etc, only fat for myself IYSWIM?

It sounds a bit but listen to your body. If you want cake, have it but a small slice, not the whole thing. You do need some treats IMO but you have to put the brakes on. I struggle with this too so I know how you feel.

I used my last pg to stuff and stuff and it wasn't pretty afterwards. This time, I am trying to be good, but within reason. I still eat crisps (more than choc, as it's what I fancy) but I eat lots of fruit and veg too. I also would check out SW if you are having trouble keeping to a healthy diet. I am a WW girl, which they don't let you do in pg, but you can still follow the basic rules of healthy eating which is all WW is (and I'm guessing all SW is really?)

Exercise - didn't help me in labour but I was very fit both times and it meant I coped better with surgery and recovery than (slimmer but)smaller people. I walked everywhere and that was enough.

Good luck - you'll be grand.