Can I lose weight while I'm pregnant?I need EVERYONE's advice on this- I'm in a rut.

[TotallyAndUtterlyPaninied]

I put on outrageous amounts of weight whilst pregnant with DS. I went from a size 10 to a size 20.

Now I'm 3 months pregnant and a size 16-18. I don't want to be this big.I disgust myself and I'm really unhappy about it.

Yesterday my neighbour came round and saw a pic of me 2 years ago. She said 'that's not you. Oh My God. I can kind of see in your face that it's you but certainly not in the body!!' I wanted to cry. She's right.

Can I lose weight while I'm pregnant and how? I am currently not very ative and work my arse off so I have very limited time available between work, DS, DH etc.

I need you all to be very specific with me and please do not be afraid to offend.

A friend of mine did slimming world and lost 7 or 8 pounds altogether throughout the pregnancy, baby was healthy and large at birth. She said that she felt much healthier than she had with her previous pregnancy.

If you just make sure you eat sensibly, cut out choc, cakes, biscuits, crisps and processed food as much as possible hopefully your weight will remain static even if you don't actually lose weight. Try walking places as much as possible too. These things are so difficult to do when pg as you need a quick sugar rush sometimes, but you are far better off snacking on fruit, dried fruit, nuts etc than other stuff, it will be worth it in the long run. Am desperately trying to take my own advice and managing better this time (third and last time) I think the incentive that I might feel healthier is the best one for me, I ate a lot of sugary foods with the other two and they seem healthy enough, (although they are both very fond of junk food ) Am also hoping that if I eat less sugary foods the baby will not be bigger than ds who was fairly large.
Good Luck

Yes you can!
I read about a woman who lost stones and stones while pg, simply by not eating rubbish. She just ate healthily and walked more etc.
I lost about a stone in the first few months of my last pregnancy, (I was about 10 stone) just by giving up booze,(natch),and I was craving plums, so snacked on those.
This time round though, I have terrible sickness, and all I want to eat is toast and crisps. I have gained about 1/2 stone in 10 weeks!! I am "showing" already. (Only it isn't a baby making this bump!)

Good luck!

I am really paranoid about putting on 'unnecessary' pregancy weight so I have been looking into this. I would echo the advice about eating healthy snacks when you feel hungry, I eat a lot of fruit and raw veg when I'm hungry. Oranges are really good as the are high in vitC which helps with iron absorbtion. Morrisons is really cheap for fruit if you are on a budget. Drinking lots of squash and juice also helps as hunger and thirst are easily confused.

The only real way to lose weight IMVHO is to do more exercise. I try to do something physical every day. At the moment that is sorting my ponies out and riding - but just getting out and walking every day is good. It also helps psychologically I think because you feel you have 'earned' a snack if you have been active so you don't feel greedy for eating which is destructive.

Good luck with whatever you try, my mum keeps telling me that my most important job ATM is to give my baby a healthy start, everything else is secondary so try not to stress out about it.

TAUP, I know its not quite advise but I had terrible morning sickness with DD1 and was actually a stone lighter when I gave birth than when I fell pregnant, I was worried about my weight loss until my mum (a midwife) told me that because I was quite overweight in the first place and that my bump was growing at an appropriate rate that I shouldn't worry and it was probably a good job I was losing weight, nothing like a bit of truth to make you feel better. I ended up with a healthy 8lbs 5oz girl and a better basis for losing the baby weight.

I couldn't stomach my usual greasy unhealthy diet and I craved salads and fruit, which helpoed. But my mum said they would suggest that overweight pregnant people should diet, but within reason. You have to remember that the baby will take what it needs first so if you do diet then baby won't suffer, but do it sensibly.

I know how you feel, this time round I haven't had sickness but feel nauseous all gthe time and eating is the only thing that seems to work, so I'm making sure that DP does the shopping so I'm not tempted to buy any junk as I've put on loads of weight already and I'm only 9 weeks!

I have a good friend who lost weight during pregnancy - it was with the support of her midwife and she did through slimming world I think. She weighed less on her due date than she did when she got pregnant.

As far as I am aware, you had have to restrict your calorie intake ridiculously to have an impact on the baby (I am sure the research shows that babies are incredibly efficient parasites and will take nutrients from you even if you are nearlt startving - not that I am advocating that BTW.)

Exercise - LOTS of walking. DVDs - perhaps Pilates for Pregnancy (thats the one I did, although I am sure there are a few others out there.)Aquafit perhaps - there are usually classes around for pregnant ladies.

hmm, I don't know about losing weight on purpose when you're pregnant being a great idea. BUT someone on my ante natal thread went from about a size 18 to a size 12 through being pregnant - she said the extra energy all went to the baby. I guess losing weight when you're pregnant can be fine...

I found that drinking nesquick with skimmed or semi skimmed milk really worked for my sugar and cake cravings - I think my body wanted a bit of sugar and lots of calcium.

I've lost weight during this pregnancy, around a stone and a half, and have dropped two dress sizes from a 22 to an 18. It wasn't on purpose, I had hyperemesis and couldn't keep anything down at all and even once it was under control the type and amount of food I could eat was severely restricted and I haven't put any weight on at all. I'm now 36+4.

In my opinion (I am no medic or antenatal expert btw) if a pregnant woman is overweight at conception, losing a few pounds during the pregnancy or even just not putting weight on won't do any harm at all. You just need to make sure that what you are eating is sensible, no extreme diets. IIRC advice is to consume the usual amount of calories during the first and second trimesters (2000/day) and then an extra 200 during the third.

I think many women find that giving up alcohol helps with weight control during pregnancy.

I put on a lot of weight with my first and never lost it afterwards, so in all honesty it's been a relief not to have added another 4 stone to what I already weighed. That would have moved me into the morbidly obese category which clearly is no good for anyone. That said, under no circumstances would I recommend hyperemesis as a weight control method

Eating sensibly can be very hard, especially during pregnancy, but if you can stick to a sensible diet I think you'll find that you won't put much on at all.