Weight advice please

[SquallyRose]

Hi,
I'm pregnant, 22 weeks and throughtout my pregnancy I've been loosing weight and my midwife is being really funny about it and I just wondered what you all would say.
Before getting pregnant I was over 15st, I'm 5.5ft so was quite big, when I got pregnant I wanted to give my baby the best start I could so I started eating really healthily and as a consequense have dropped weight, often a few lbs a week, nothing more than that, I've checked my calories and I am eating over 1400 everyday and my baby seems healthy and moves loads, my midwife won't listen to the I'm eating good food now not stuffing my face full of rubbish info and I feel she's being really unsupportive of me, I am not trying to diet,I'm just trying to be healthy for my baby and I walk and swim thats all and to be fair feel loads better for it. Am I going to cause my baby problems??

Hi Squally Rose - i shouldn't worry about the midwife - so long as you're eating vitamins and healthy diet, you should be fine. I'm now 35 weeks and have lost a little weight in the past three weeks much to my surprise and my consultant seems to think it's fairly normal.
Sounds like you know what you're doing so don't let the midwife you bully you into piling on the pounds!

Eating healthily is good, but 1400 calories a day sounds far too little to me - a woman who isn't pregnant needs 2000 on average to maintain her weight. You don't need more than that for the first two trimesters of pregnancy, but you shouldn't have less, so I do think your midwife's right to be concerned, even if she's expressing her concern in an unhelpful way. (And "a few lbs a week" would be a lot to lose even if you weren't pregnant and were dieting - a safe rate of weight loss is about 2lb a week for most people.)

I'm struggling to eat too much more, I really am not going without, I seem to get full very quickly and I have indegestion so find the heavier carbs make that worse, I've never lost nmore than 2lbs per week, sometimes not anything and I feel healthy?

If you're now eating a lot of fruit and veg, that's probably filling you up too. If you're eating a high quality diet, are genuinely not going hungry (only you know if that's the case), and the baby's a good size for dates I wouldnt worry.

I think they're a bit obsessed with weight during pregnancy in the UK tbh. I live overseas and have never been weighed by my MW or Obs, and weight has never mentioned in any of my check ups.

I'm def not going hungry and I feel weight loss is just down to better diet, I used to eat a lot of junk and sweet foods, baby is looking fine and scans haven't shown any problems or weight issues so I don't think I need to worry bu midwife is making a real issue of it and starting to make me think I should be concerned but only way I can think to change is to go back onto previous diet and feel that would cause baby far more problems?
Thanks for answering x

I was 96Kg when I got pregnant and have lost 16lbs since Christmas due to sickness and just lack of appetite. I have no idea how many calories I'm eating but I know I'm not eating anywhere near as much as I used to and much less junk as I don't fancy any chocolate (which I used to eat a lot of).

I am quite surprised that your midwife has said anything. I am under consultant led care because my BMI was 35. It is no longer 35 even at 18 weeks but no-one cares, I will not be weighed again at all!

I disagree with arctic fox that in UK they are obsessed with weigh gain. With both my pregnancies I was weighed at booking appointment which is only to get an accurate result for one of the blood tests and then not again at all!

A friend of mine put on 4 stone when pregnant which in my opinion isn't healthy. There has been another thread about a lady trying to put on no more than 18lb during her pegnancy and there are a lot of strong opinions on it. It is obviously not a good idea to deliberately limit what you are eating during pregnancy or I would have thought people with high BMI's would be told to do so to limit the effect on their baby.

Eat what you need but I think the fact you know you are eating healthier gives a good indication why you're loosing wieght just don't get carried away and used to loosing weight and then try to do it deliberately. Midwives are people and have their own opinions as well as giving advice they should do and I believe some people are still of the opinion that you need to eat for 2, although guidlines say you only need and extra 200 calories a day in the third trimester. You are not using pregnancy as an excuse to pig out which a lot of people do, you sound very sensible to me

I'm surprised she's said anything tbh, I was weighed at booking in, and haven't been weighed since (19 weeks).

As long as baby is doing ok, and growth etc are fine and you are healthy and feeling well, then what is there to worry about?

I second what Cosmosis said. I haven't been weighed since first appointment and am almost 19 weeks.

I don't (ever) weigh myselt so haven't a clue how much I've put on.

Like you I eat healthily. Unlike you, I have indulged in little treats as I have no wine.

I have never been weighed since my booking appointment either. I also have avoided weighing myself at home - I tend to obsess about things but if I don't weigh myself I can't obsess .

I figure that if I feel ok in myself and don't eat crap all the time, and munch the occasional multivitamin all will be good.

To a large extent your body knows what it needs to do.

(Having said that 1400 calories sounds a bit low, and a healthy weight loss at any other time may not be healthy during pregnancy - but if you'd never weighed yourself you would never have known).

I lost weight at the beginning too and I'm naturally fairly slim (though certainly not fit & toned!). It was purely the morning sickness- I found it hard to eat. I didn't put on weight until after 20 weeks anyway. I still haven't put on much at 30 weeks (around 4 kg/9lbs) and mentioned it to the consultant. He wasn't the slightest bit worried and said baby is doing fine and weight gain varies from person to person.

I wouldn't worry too much, but if you're concerned because of the midwife, mention it to the consultant on your next visit and he/she can put your mind at ease. But it's probably no harm to try and eat a little extra of the healthy stuff - 1400 calories sounds too low.

There is a really interesting article on controlling weight gain during pregnancy in April 2010 Pregnancy & Birth Magazine. It talks about an award winning project by Cardiff midwives working with Slimming World aiming to allow women who are clinically obese at the start of pregnancy to maintain that starting weight throughout pregnancy - and thus lose weight overall at the point immediately after birth. I wonder if it might be possible to contact them for advice on your situation (University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff)?

It seems a shame that you've found a healthy eating regime you're enjoying - and that you're doing this for your baby - but that you're not getting support (or, reading between the lines, constructive advice) from your midwife. Perhaps you could try speaking to another midwife or going elsewhere for some expert advice in the pregnancy/nutrition area, so you have a range of (hopefully good/informed) advice - it might help you to decide whether your midwife's concerns are sound and arm you with alternative viewpoints and arguments should she continue to have concerns about your weight. Have you tried keeping a diary of what you've eaten every day for, say, 2 weeks and showing this to your midwife as a demonstration that you are eating enough and that is is all healthy stuff? She can then advise you whether she really thinks you should be eating more and if so what.

Good luck, I hope all goes well for you!

I'm another high BMI (about 40 I think) 98kg at 5foot when I started this, I too have had very little appetite, and can only eat small meals, so whilst I don't know my weight now (21 weeks), it hadn't gone up at my last appointment.

My partner was worried, so I did some googling to find out how many calories a day I should be eating for my height etc. (and compared them to the results I had ages ago from some of those all singing, all dancing scales) and it said that my calorific needs were 1400/day for a sedentary job. Plus the 300 extra that we're supposed to have during the later weeks, and I just make sure that every now and then I check that I'm eating enough each day.

Every time I've checked I've been bang on - I seem to be self-regulating perfectly.

It's actually made me re-think my whole outlook on my weight (always been short and dumpy). I used to blame myself for not being able to lose weight, that other people can do it, so I just couldn't be trying hard enough, but this has shown me that the skinny people have it easy - that I really do need to put so much more effort in than skinny people - much like a dyslexic has a much steeper hill to climb when reading.

If I had felt the same detachment from food that I feel now I'm pregnant, then dieting would be a walk in the park.

OP You're notgoing to cause you're baby problems, don'twaorry.
I was 82kg at 14 weeks of pregnancy, now 38 weeks and 72kg because I couldn't eat much with sickness.
My baby is fine, but my kidney andliver functions were a bit worrying at one point, now theyd recovered as ive been able to eat more normally lately.
As long as you don't have an abnormal diet for a long period of time it should be okay.
There are things you need in all types of food, inluding enzymes from cooked potatoes for example which dieters can miss out on.

If you are worried go and ask to see a nutrionist, you're quite within your rights to see one and she'll ask for a diary on exactly everything you're eating and say if you're missing out on anything.

PS. also makes me feel a lot more sympathy for the skinny types who can't put on weight no matter what they do - I know that I couldn't just 'eat a couple more doughnuts'...

I agree chunkypickle, when you're going through a phase of just not liking food or physically not being able to eat much (like most of my pregnancy)
You actually envy those who DO enjoy and CAN pig out. I rememebr feeling really sad that I couldn't enjoy pigging out anymore like I used to.
Now I have my appetite back food is absolutely orgasmic again, lol and I'm a lot happier :-p

mumtotwoboys - I hadn't thought about it that way around - I'd just been amazed at the lack of appetite for the first time in my life, but you're right it's a huge chunk of joy missing from my life now that I don't desire any food, and just shovel it in to keep me upright!

OP, your baby is fine - just look at people around the world in real hardship who still have successful pregnancies. Babies want to survive and eating small, healthy meals can't be anything but good.

Hi SquallyRose.

I have a higher BMI also and I have been losing weight. I had been on a healthy eating kick before I became pregnant and had lost about 3 stone. Was worried about putting it all back on during pregnancy, but when I was weighed at about week 12 I had lost 9 pounds since finding out I was pregnant.

I am now 34 weeks and am still 4 pounds lighter than I was when first pregnant, despite the baby being about 5.5 pounds, plus all the fluid and stuff so must have lost a bit more after the 9 pounds. No-one has weighed me again either.

I wouldn't worry as long as you are feeling healthy and growth scans say baby is growing well if you have had any.

I think that the lack of alcohol has been a factor in weight loss, as I haven't exactly been a saint with my pregnancy eating habits!!

S

Thank you everyone for your comments, I think I will chat to the consultant just to get a second opinion and then if he says its ok just get on with enjoying my pregnancy as I'm sure the scans would have shown if there were any growth issues
Best of luck with your pregnancies and hoe you all have lovely healthy babies xx

I think it's brilliant how your body can shed excess weight during pregnancy to get you prepared so you're in optimal health for baby. Running around after a toddler will be easier without excess weight! :D

If you keep losing weight consultant will just do growth scans on baby like they did with me and seemingly others, so you'll get to see baby more which is fun :-)

Good luck to you too OP x

Hi - just to add another story, I weighed 92kg at first midwife appt - haven't been weighed officially since but my scales have shown me steadily between 93 and 94kgs throughout pregnancy. People have commented on my face and arms looking thinner and the baby is definitely growing. Midwife has never mentioned my weight at all and even when i told her i hadn't gained anything she wasn't concerned. I suspect like many others i lost a bit at the beginning. I haven't been dieting at all but my appetite has reduced and i think with the extra calories the baby needs and me not increasing my intake, the results are obvious. Am now at 37+4 and TBH, I'm pleased because i gained 2stone with first pg but that was from a much lower starting weight and i wouldn't have wanted the same to happen again - it would have felt like an unsurmountable issue!! Do not worry yourself and just enjoy the suppressed appetite - it may well come raging back post birth - particularly if you bf!