I need to diet!!

[neonalee]

LOL ok, I'm mostly kidding. But I DO need to eat better. My (new and much better) MW basically inferred that if I keep gaining the way I have so far I'm at risk for a bigger baby. There was more to it then that, but here's why it's on my radar. I haven't been eating well enough, and I haven't been getting enough movement (exercise). Until the last week or 2 I wasn't getting ANY exercise at all, and there was a lot of ice cream and french fries in my diet. If I remember correctly I've already gained 35 - 40 lbs, which is A LOT on my small frame.

I'm trying to exercise 3 - 5 night a week. This is not major exercise. 10 - 15 minutes LOW effort on the elliptical, a 1 hour, 3 mile walk on Wednesdays (work group), and some prenatal DVDs I have: Preggi Bellys I can only do the warmup so far, yoga, and bellydancing.

In addition I will cut way back on the ice cream to a proper portion size (yeah, that will be cutting WAY back!). Watch how much fatty food I'm eating, try to eat less of it and more of the good stuff.

So here's my question (and I'll ask the MW at my next appt too). Do you think this is sufficient to make the rest of my weight gain healthy? Or should I be more actively planning the foods I'm eating? I have no problem planning, I've done weight watchers successfully, I just haven't been doing it for the last 6 months! And I guess I'm just lazy

[Terrilein]

I don't know that gaining too much weight necessarily means you'll have a bigger baby. I mean, I put on 35 lbs - ok, that was a LOT for me - and still had a perfectly average sized baby. If you ask me, it sounds like your new mw is trying to scare you into watching what you eat, even if she means it nicely for your own good.

[chase_mommy]

Originally Posted by Terrilein

I don't know that gaining too much weight necessarily means you'll have a bigger baby. I mean, I put on 35 lbs - ok, that was a LOT for me - and still had a perfectly average sized baby. If you ask me, it sounds like your new mw is trying to scare you into watching what you eat, even if she means it nicely for your own good.

I agree. I gained 80lbs with DS (yes, that is a lot on anyone's body)!! I too, had a lot of ice cream, French fries and chocolate smothered whatever all the time. I refused to 'watch it' as I was warned by my MW. I ended up having a 7.5lb baby... that is not a big baby. To my disappointment I was stuck with a lot of weight that to this day I have never been able to get off. To me, weight gain during pregnancy is more about 'how am I gonna get this crap off' and not 'Oh my, I am going to have a huge baby!' With DD I gained 35lbs and she was 6.5lbs. I dont think weight gain has much to do with babys size unless we are talking GD.

On a side note. My mother gained 25lbs during her pregnancy with my little brother and in her third trimester she lost about 8 lbs. She ended up having 12lb baby and no GD for her.

[neonalee]

Hm. That's really interesting (seriously, not being sarcastic). I'll have to consider that some more. However, there is still the fact that a) I should be eating better anyway and b) I don't want to keep my baby weight As for GD, as soon as I get the testing strips for my meter I'm going to do 2 weeks of testing rather then drinking the icky juice. Hopefully that test will be negative!

[mama2toomany]

Right now i am in the "we don't really care what you eat women, but you have to eat something" part.

Honestly If I could bottle the hormone for pregnancy and spray it on me after pregnancy I would lose so much weight.

I have been pretty inactive lately because things are just getting so uncomfortable, but I do have to remember to get up and get moving!

[somegirl99]

My vote is to try to eat healthier foods, and be aware of your portions (eat off a plate, not out of a bag), but don't actively restrict yourself on amounts. I think you will naturally cut back, it's much easier to overeat something like ice cream than something like fresh fruit.

[Surfacing]

I gained 60 lbs with my first pregnancy. My MW had a gentle talk with me, saying when I craved sweets it was really my body needing protein. Somehow though that edamame wasn't as appetizing as apple pie. This time around I payed much more attention to it in the first 2 trimesters (though goofed recently due to easter chocolates), eating more protein, and it kept my weight gain "textbook".

[Amynf1]

I also gained 60lbs with my first. I ate sweets and carbs and had meat and veggie aversions. My baby was 8lbs 5oz but I was very unhealthy and it showed. I had pitting edema at 15 weeks until the end, I had heart palpitations and arrhythmias that required meds (I'd faint because my heart would race so fast), I had 'thick' blood that required heparin injections daily, my albumin levels were off and I just generally felt bad. I changed my diet completely in the two years between pregnancies and began eating a whole foods diet 90% of the time. I don't eat sweets except on occasion as a treat, I watch my fruit intake and I don't drink sugary drinks. I don't crave sweets at all this pregnancy and in fact they tend to make me feel sick if I eat more than a small serving. I am also in Korea and don't really have access to much fast food (Arby's was my weakness the first time) but we do have a few places on post (like BK and Taco Bell) but it also makes me feel sick. l guess for me I had to make the changes before I could pregnant again so that I didn't go down the same road I did the first time. It's made a HUGE impact on my pregnancy. I feel great, I have gained textbook, I have way more energy and I don't have to use any meds at all. In fact, I've been so healthy that my doc has only been seeing me every 6 weeks instead of every 4. It's such a nice change from my extremely medicalized first pregnancy where I went to the doc every other week pretty much the whole time.

[expat-mama]

Originally Posted by somegirl99

My vote is to try to eat healthier foods, and be aware of your portions (eat off a plate, not out of a bag), but don't actively restrict yourself on amounts. I think you will naturally cut back, it's much easier to overeat something like ice cream than something like fresh fruit.

I second this.
You'll probably feel a lot better too once you start eating healthier foods and portions too- more energy and feeling better about yourself etc. Even when not pregnant I've always given myself a "treat", small amount of ice cream or chocolate or pizza on the weekend and I think I enjoy it way more than if I were eating it all the time (Maybe...at least that's what I tell myself!) and I never feel guilty about it like some people do after they eat junk.

If I crave sweet stuff I eat some fruit and I get creative with it too.

It might also help to think that you are getting started on setting a good example for your babe too by eating good, nutritious foods and healthy portions. This is so important these days, IMO.

[neonalee]

Originally Posted by expat-mama

You'll probably feel a lot better too once you start eating healthier foods and portions too- more energy and feeling better about yourself etc.

If I crave sweet stuff I eat some fruit and I get creative with it too.

Excellent advice, thank you everyone! Feeling better/more energy is really the goal I think. I'm a good role model for DSD during the weekends, but lose it completely during the week. That won't be much of an option for long!

How do you get creative for fruit/sweet stuff? Though to be honest I don't have too much trouble with fruit in general, just when it's ice cream I want My recent desire has been red seedless grapes. I just can't get enough!

[expat-mama]

My favourite thing to do with fruit now that it's so freaking hot here is to make fruit slusheeeeees!!! I used to love getting slushees when I was a kid- you know the pure sugar with tons of food colouring + ice ones from 7-11?

Anyway, I just get a bunch of frozen fruit- strawberries, mango, pineapple, berries, whatever, throw it in the blender with a bit of juice and a bunch of ice and voila- slushee! When dh makes them, he puts some honey in to make it sweeter, but I find I don't need it. They're really refreshing and so good...almost as good as ice cream?

If I feel like I need some kind of dessert, I'll eat apple slices or banana chunks with a bit of peanut butter. Sometimes fresh strawberries cut up in a bowl with a little milk and honey.

I try to get different fruits every once in a while so I don't get bored too. Pomegrante, melons, kiwis, mango, lychee... I'm a huge fruit lover. If I had to choose between only having either chocolate or fruit for the rest of my life- I'd choose fruit! I'd be pretty sad about the chocolate though...

[Amynf1]

Originally Posted by expat-mama

If I had to choose between only having either chocolate or fruit for the rest of my life- I'd choose fruit! I'd be pretty sad about the chocolate though...

Me too!

[Surfacing]

ETA -- oh, I meant to say that we switched to frozen yogurt which has less calories and less fat. Still satisfies that hunger, but you still have to control your portion size. I found a little tupperware cup thingy that was the right serving size, then always filled up that little bugger to the brim, really relished it and enjoyed it, and ate it to the bottom, licking it clean. That was when I was on weight watchers. It worked just great!

[PugMom4Now]

I've been having to watch my diet as well. I had a large weight gain between 20-24 weeks, which brought me to 22 pounds total, and then at 28 weeks I had another large weight gain that brought me to 35 pounds total weight gain! I started off small too. My midwife had been telling me to cut out the sweets, up the protein and lower the carbs. I didn't exactly listen until the 2nd large weight gain, which also coincided with starting Bradley classes and beginning to follow the brewer diet. At my 30 week appointment last Thursday, I had lost 4 pounds!

I've been exercising as much as possible throughout, but I have shin splints so running and long, fast walks stopped about 2 months ago. I started swimming twice a week (water aerobics one day and lap swim another) a few weeks ago, which feels great. I try to make fruit satisfy my sweet tooth, and then I can have the occasional additional sweet if I've actually already eaten what I needed to for the day's protein intake.

It was really hard for me the first two trimesters because I needed to eat so frequently that I'd really just grab anything I possibly could. I should have started the Brewer diet at the beginning of the second trimester, but you live and learn.

[smerkin]

Crashing...

I gained 40 lbs with #1 and had a 7 lb. 7 oz. babe.

My sil gained 27 lbs and had a 10 lb. 3 oz. babe!

I got pregnant again before I lost it all so that's a bummer but I'm 25 weeks now and have only gained 15 lbs so far. Who knows how big the babe will be!

I agree with the PP, if you gain a lot of weight the most you'll have to worry about is losing it after the baby is born. But if you're exercising and eating properly now I think it should help slow down your gain. I am not by any means a professional, however!

[chattyprincess]

I gained 65+lbs with dd and she was 7lbs 6oz. Not a big baby by any standard, however I never lost it all and struggled horribly with my weight until switching to a more traditional/whole foods diet. I do NOT restrict any food that is in its orginal state( meat, fruit, veg, milk, eggs, etc) but things that have been processed I try to be very careful with. I try to eat only 1-2 "carby" things a day (breads, pastas, etc) so things made out of flour because for me the more flour I eat the more sugar I crave and then I crave more bread type carbs which for my body are just filler food and don't really give me the strength I need to get through the day.
If you are craving red grapes, eat the crapola outta them! I am serious, great amounts of fiber, antioxidents, vitamins, minerals and water! I try to eat as much fruit as I can get and I find I crave less sugar that way. Before eating any sweets I try to eat a fruit first. I try to have at least 2-3 servings of fruit and veg with my meals and I try to get alot of protein in as well. Also lots of healthy fats!
I really highly reccomend hoping over to the health and nutrion board here and looking at the nutrition and good eating part as well as the traditional food parts. THe people there are SO helpful and knowledgeable and really love to answer questions. In the traditional foods section there is a pregnant mom thread going on right now too.

[neonalee]

Grapes were something like $2 a lb at the inexpensive store this weekend I still got 2 lbs though. I do love my fruit and won't ever limit that, but I'm in the midwest and at the mercy of the seasons ... oh how I love summer! I LOVE slushies, but not until it gets warmer Strangely the desire for ice cream has completely deserted me, not sure how long that will last though!

The comment about protein is interesting. I'm not a big meat eater (unless it's burgers lol) and I'm probably not getting enough. Need to up those beans and lentils! I'll check out the other board too when I get a minute.

Thanks for all the advice and reassurance!