How much weight do women REALLY gain in pregnancy? Just curious...

[justKate]

I gained 45+ lbs in my last pregnancy, and it felt like a lot.  I am 5'6'', and was 27 yrs and 140 lbs. to start.  It was uncomfortable, and one of the things that my midwives have suggested is that I am more mindful of my weight gain this time.

I'm now 30, and started this pg at 150 lbs.  My "goal" (however you manage that) is to gain the "recommended" 25-35 lbs., but I just don't get HOW I do that.  I eat when I'm hungry, don't eat junk food, don't drink juice or soda, eat only brown carbs, and treat myself just now and then.  At 17 weeks, I've gained ~3 lbs.

Reading in my DDC and talking to friends/family, it seems like a lot of people gain more than the recommended weight, but I can't find any stats on it.

How much do women REALLY gain during pregnancy?  All the info out there seems to be about recommendations rather than reality.  Any thoughts?

[Murph12334]

with one i gained 16 and the other was 18 lbs total.  However, that is start to end weights.  It doesn't take into account that when i get pregnant I tend to loose 10, then gain it back later and gain more. 

It varies so much per person it seems.  I've known some to gain a lot and some to gain a little. 

[amydidit]

With my first I gained 3 lbs, despite eating whenever I was hungry. With my second and third I gained about 50 doing the same as with my first (eating when hungry).

[dogmom327]

47# with my first, 28# with my second.

[semmel84130]

I only have one so far, and I gained 68 lbs. I started off at 150, and gained at almost exactly what the books say is a "good" rate... until about 32 weeks or so, when I suddenly started to gain multiple lbs per week. I didn't make any substantial changes in my diet or anything, and in fact, I ate healthier as a pregnant woman than I normally do, thanks to aversions to meat and salt. For a long time, all I wanted to eat was carrots and tomatoes. After the baby was born, I lost almost 30 lbs of it in the first few months. Since then, I've lost maybe 1 lb every few weeks.  As of today, I have 17 lbs to go. My baby will be 1 in a few weeks.

Anecdotally, most of my friends gained more than 25-35 lbs. A woman I work with, who is very thin and not at all tall, gained over 100 lbs! But I also know women who gained 10 - 15 lbs.

[cameragirl]

I lost 20lbs in the first trimester with DD, then ended up gaining that back plus about 20 lbs. I was VERY swollen, so I don't know how much of that was water. I ate well with her after I got the right treatment for hyperemesis, but just gained like crazy after the vomiting stopped.

This time I've gained about 15 lbs at 20.5 weeks. I'm overweight, and charts say 15 lbs. That isn't even enough for the placenta, baby, fluids, etc. I figure as long as I'm eating the recommended amount of calories, and it is healthy food, I don't need to worry about the scale too much. I just seem to gain during pregnancy and l lost it all within a few weeks last time.

EDIT: I should say that I don't really track calories most days. Occasionally I will to see where I'm standing with nutrition and calories, but it's every few weeks or so. I mostly just try to make healthy decisions, and make sure it isn't dehydration making me hungry.
Edited by cameragirl - 10/30/11 at 12:32pm

[JamieCatheryn]

First child, I went from 145 to 195. 3 years later, next child, 140 to 180. On the Bradley diet (ish), that's high protein, good intake of veggies in variety, reasonable whole grains and fruits. The avg on that is 35 lbs gained. The weight came off without a lot of extra work.

[erinmattsmom88]

Gained 60 lbs with first (girl), 39 lbs with second (boy, had GD). My son is 18 months and I still can't get rid of pooch belly. Had 2 c-sections so I think that has something to do with it. I should be at 120 lbs, but am at 140 still. I started both pregnancies at around 150. So, at least I lost an additional 10 lbs after second pregnancy. Still have 20 to go to get back to my ideal weight that I wasn't at when I got pregnant the first time!!

[erigeron]

I gained 45 lbs; started out at 5'5.5" and 130. 4 months later I've shed all but 5 lbs. I did do some rather unhealthy eating (in hindsight--I've gotten better at nutrition since then). But mostly, in the first trimester at least, I was STARVING! Like to the point where I could barely function and could only survive the day by chowing down constantly. Early on I had an obnoxious NP at my doc's office lecture me about my weight gain... she's lucky I didn't eat HER. I never counted calories. I figured I needed to eat good food that actually filled me.

[lifeguard]

40lbs with my first & -23lbs this time. I was much stricter with my eating this time & exercised throughout. Of the women I know irl they gained anywhere from 5-80lbs, but honestly those that gained the larger amounts struggled more with taking it off.

[mamapigeon]

I gained 40 pounds, though 20 were in the last month.

[Buzzer Beater]

I gained about 45 pounds with my first pregnancy, and about 12 with my last one. I had hyperemesis with both, but oddly felt better during my second where I did not gain.

[LiLStar]

I tend to gain 50-60ish each time. I'm 38 weeks and up 55ish I think. And its never been any trouble to lose it. I put *zero* effort into weight loss. I eat whatever I want and nurse on demand. Last time I tandemed and pumped to donate and ended up below my pre pregnancy weight

[nia82]

I kept eating normally, albeit a tad healthier in my pregnancies (less chocolate and nutella). I'm 5'6" with a starting weight of 112, I gained 28 lbs with my son (birth at 37 weeks) and 25 lbs with my daughter (39 weeks, lots of nausea up to 28 weeks, so little possibility to eat there). My MIL gained 50lbs each time and both she and the babies were fine...

[Sharlla]

start to delivery this was me.  i guess i like to eat a lot of carbs when pg. i have food issues and tend to binge eat unless on a structured diet and when those pg cravings hit there is no holding back

ds1 90 lbs

ds2 75 lbs

dd 130 lbs

[philomom]

first baby 18 lbs
second baby 20 lbs
third baby 22 lbs


I do the Brewer/ Blue Ribbon baby diet with each pregnancy.

[lizsky]

I gained 31 pounds, and nearly all of it was during the 2nd trimester.   I switched my care during my 2nd trimester, and I noticed that the nurse at the OB office always comment on my rapid weight gain, while the MWs I switched to never mentioned it.  

I'm following a similar pattern now.  No weight gain 1st trimester, but I'm gaining 2-3 pounds a week now at 19 weeks.  It feels kindof fast, and I wish I'd gain more gradually and evenly, but my body seems set on gaining at this pace regardless of diet choices and moderate exercise. 

[mambera]

29 with my first (123 to 152) resulting in a 6 lb 14 oz baby, 34 with my second (121 to 155) baby 7 lb 11 oz.  No special diet/exercise, eat when hungry, generally healthy diet with occ treats.  It still took me a year to lose the 15 lb left after delivery the first time (though admittedly I wasn't particularly trying). 

Edited by mambera - 11/1/11 at 1:03pm

[Storm Bride]

I gained right around 20 pounds in my last four pregnancies. In my first one, I'd gained 18 pounds when I went on maternity leave (four weeks before my "due" date). I had no money, nothing to do, no car (and didn't drive, anyway) and was starting to find it hard to get around. So, while I kept up with my walks and workouts, I was spending a lot of the rest of my time sitting on the couch and eating too much. I gained another 10 pounds in that last four weeks, for a total of just under 30.

[mamablitz]

my appetite has decreased but I try to eat healthy, I am 20 weeks and haven't gained anything more than 3 pounds. last pregnancy I was the same weight post partum as I was pre pregnancy