How much weight did YOU gain?

[klocke]

I am 23 weeks and I have only put on 15 lbs. I'm not sure that is good enough. Everything I have read says you should gain roughly 24 lbs by 24 weeks and close to 50 total. I just can't seem to get over the 15 lb mark. This is my 4th pregnancy and with my three previous singletons I gained 40lbs total. I kinda expected to have put on more weight by now since I was the same pre-pregnancy weight I was with the other 3. I was super sick the first trimester and hardly ate at all (didn't know it was twins then). I might have gained 5 lbs in the first trimester. And now when I try to eat I get uncomfortably full very quickly and can't even eat a whole sandwich in one sitting. I tried to drink some Ensure but those are disgusting! Words of advice or experiences? I don't want super small babies if I can prevent it at all. Since my singletons were all close to 9 lbs I know these little ones are going to look extra tiny to me anyway but I want them to gained enough to be healthy.

[MamaChicken]

I gained exactly 50 lbs when I birthed them at 37.4 weeks.

I ate as much healthy fat/protien as I could, but I will totally admit that I craved massive bacon cheeseburgers and ice cream shakes. I ate that at least twice a week. A local fastfood place has local beef and local produce, so it tasted lots better than other places.

I typcally ate full-fat ice cream twice a day and snacked from the time I woke until I went to sleep (and sometimes in the middle of the night).

[DiannaK]

40 lbs .... ate eggs 5x/week, as well as loads of milk, cheese. protein shakes every day. I focused on calcium, protein, and water!

[dividedsky]

50lbs, but i had them @ 32wks...

i don't remember eating like crazy, but i was on bed rest, so there you go!

[MamaRabbit]

48 pounds, made it to 37w5d. I could never eat a whole sandwhich in one sitting! I'd do half of it, come back an hour later and do the other half. Ensure drinks are gross. Make your own with protein powder, full fat milk or icecream, etc.

[Valerieg]

I'm 34 weeks and so far I've gained about 40 lbs. I didn't know it was twins until my 20 week u/s and at that point I had only gained 5 lbs. So, weight gain CAN be done, even when you don't particularly feel like eating.

When I found out I was having twins I picked up Dr. Barbara Luke's book and began to follow the recommendations in it (for calories, fat, protein, etc). I had already been following The Brewer Diet so it wasn't too hard. I don't like to eat a ton though so I just hadn't been- that was the toughest part to get used to.

I've found that the Shaklee Cinch shakes are great. I make them with whole milk and lately I've been adding a scoop or two of Beneprotein powder (from Nestle). I've also used Carnation Instant Breakfast. One of my favorite treats when I first was told I had to gain weight was two carnation instant breakfast in chocolate, 4 T peanut butter, whole milk, and ice cream. It was delicious, didn't fill me up a ton, and was packed with calories and protein. But once I started packing on some pounds I switched to Shaklee.

You can pick up whey protein at the grocery store or any health foods store. Just add that and make up your own smoothies and milk shakes. And whenever I have a shake I also eat a piece of fruit, a salad, or a veggie.

I've found that eating every 60-90 minutes is far better than trying to get all my good stuff in with just three meals and 2-3 snacks. It also helps with keeping my blood glucose steady (I refused the GTT so I have to monitor) and I've seen real steady weight gain.

Good luck! And remember, many people do everything right and still have small twins and early deliveries, and plenty of people don't follow any of these guidelines and carry heavy babies to term. So don't give yourself a terribly hard time, just do what you can do to the best of your ability!

[Intertwined]

39 pounds and had them at 39 weeks. It's lower for twins but I typically only gained 15 with my singles and they were all within the 8.5 and 9 pound ranges. My twins were 7.6 and 6.6 but my smaller twin really is just built very differently from her siblings so I suspect she would have just been skinny no matter if she'd been born by herself (she was also almost 20 inches long and had a big ole head). Funny, now she's a chunky butt! Anyway, I ate a lot of protein. I aimed for 150 a day and usually hit above 120 at least. I ate a lot of lean mean, dairy, protein shakes, eggs, Clif bars, and water was KEY! At the end, I don't really think my eating slowed down much I just stretched it out more. In fact, now that my twins are 20 months and not nursing as much I am shocked to discover I can no longer eat like a horse and maintain my weight. I had to gain 5 pounds to figure that out though.......

I really like the Jay Robb protein powder because it's sweetened with Stevia rather than sugar. You want those pounds you pack on to be the good kind.

[4Marmalade]

I only gained about 35lbs (not for lack of trying ). I only gained about 20lbs with my singleton pregnancies and they were 7.5lbs and 8lbs so I figure an extra 15lbs for twins was a decent weight gain. They were only 5lbs 8oz and 6lbs 3oz at birth (36 weeks, 6 days). I like to think that if I had gone to term they would have been a bit bigger but who knows .

I did suffer from all day nausea throughout the entire pregnancy (as I did my previous two) so that might have had something to do with the lower weight gain although I really tried to make my food count and concentrated on protein and those good fats. The pp's have some good tips.

[Llyra]

45 pounds

I gained more than 60 pound with my singleton, without even trying. It all melted off within a month or two after that birth.

With the twins, I gained like crazy during the first trimester, and into the second. By about 30 weeks, I had gained 45 pounds. Then I gained literally absolutely nothing for the next 7 weeks. I couldn't eat more than the tiniest amounts, because the twins took up so much room, and the heartburn was killing me. Plus, I was lying around most of the day, because I had terrible contractions if I didn't, so I wasn't working up an appetite. I'm glad I gained so much early on, because otherwise I think my babies would have been in trouble.

What I found I had to do was to schedule an extra meal in the middle of the night. I literally could not eat enough during the day. So I'd get up at 2 am and eat a meal then, and then go back to bed, to make sure I got enough calories in during the day.

I think the recommendation for early weight gain in a twin pregnancy has a lot to do with the fact that it gets harder and harder to eat as you get farther on, so that it's hard to gain in the third trimester. So you have to do all your gaining early on.

My twins were a good size, I think; maybe a little on the small side. They were born at 36 weeks 6 days, and were 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 pounds, which isn't big, but isn't terribly small either.

I did get an awful lot of protein. I wound up eliminating starches and sugars almost entirely, in order to have enough appetite for the proteins and healthy fats and vegetables.

[dknees]

I gained 52 overall (had the babies at 38 weeks).

[Beanjeepin]

I gained 30, then lost 8 the last few weeks of pregnancy. I'm not overweight to begin with, and went to 38 weeks 3 days. I just couldn't keep enough food going in. I am a vegetarian and worked hard at 140 grams of protein a day from various sources. When my 28 week bloodwork showed my iron level to be between 8 and 9 I split the day up - iron focused in the AM, protein in the PM. I ate all the time, constantly, but also kept busy with my two older children and the three I was watching, so was fairly active. I had horrible heartburn from week 12 on that only zantac would touch and tried to limit one a day to bedtime only. Morning sickness was also bad and I'm almost sure I lost weight before the second trimester.

I wish I'd been able to put on a few more pounds. The babies were 6 lbs 6 and 6 lbs 5 so decent sized, but nursing two now at four months, I'm finding it hard to keep weight on and remain healthy. Some more stores would have been nice.

[RunnerDuck]

30 pounds, had them at 35 weeks.

[Kikibell]

I'm at 17 weeks and I've gained 20. I was trying to follow the Brewer diet but it was HARD!! and I seem to be gaining okay regardless.

[kjoy2]

The other women have given good advice. I followed something similar to a Brewer Pregnancy Diet and tried to eat around 120 g of protein per day. Literally everything that went into my mouth had some sort of protein (if I ate an apple, I put nut butter or cheese on it, etc.).
I lost weight the first trimester due to nausea but then started gaining around week 13-14 and was over 24 by 24. I carried the babes to 42 weeks and gained 60 lbs total.
So, yes, if you typically gain 40 lbs with a singleton, I would try to eat more frequently throughout the day to gain more weight. It is hard, but you can do it!

[fairyandgnome]

Im currently 35 weeks and have gained about 14lbs so far.

[teagan01]

I had them at 37.5 wks and gained 50 lbs.

[OGirlieMama]

The last time I was weighed, at 27 weeks, I think I had gained 35 pounds. I gave birth at 29 weeks. I was right on Luke's target #s, as I recall.

[yogafeet]

I last weighed myself 2 weeks before giving birth at 30 weeks 5 days and I had gained 45 pounds. So my assumption the total weight gain was 50 lbs. I remember hitting 24 lbs at 24 weeks.

[attached2mason]

I am relieved after reading this thread!! I'm still wondering if I'm gaining a bit too fast/too much but I do feel a bit better.

I am 23 weeks and have gained close to 30lbs already . My meals are quite healthy (eggs, fruit, dairy, nuts for breakfast; a protein/veggie/fruit/dairy for lunch; meat and veggies for supper) but I have been snacking in between far too much . . . a scone for morning coffee break . . . handful of wine gums in the afternoon . . . chocolate at night. Yeesh. At this rate I'll gain 70 lbs, which would be fine if I needed to, but not if it is wine gums induced

[RSG]

I've gained about 43 pounds so far, I'm 34 weeks. It's getting really hard to eat larger meals, so lots of snacking throughout the day which can be hard if it's not your norm. I have a lot of fluid retention, so not sure how that figures in; but I'm just doing the best I can... even when I'm only craving banana cream pie