Lookin good Mama! In both the before and after (during?) photos you look amazing!
I definitely agree that there is no One Size Fits All approach to pregnancy diet or weight gain, and I'm an absolute supporter of listening to your own body. For me, the extra 300 calories a day thing is a useful guideline, because I have my first pregnancy to compare and learn from, and I found that over eating--even the healthy stuff--was a problem for me. Some women absolutely NEED to gain 40+ lbs during pregnancy, especially those who start off underweight. I've never been underweight, and 40 lbs was a little bit too much for me. I felt uncomfortable in my skin near the end, and it took FOREVER to come off. And once it did finally come off, I didn't notice a decrease in my milk supply, so I can't even kid myself into believing that I needed all of those extra pounds for milk production.
I use the 300-calorie thing, and also the Brewer's diet recommendations, as guidelines when making choices about my diet. But I definitely do not stick rigidly to any one plan and don't really think any woman should, pregnant or not.
Thanks :) And I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to have goals and track calories, etc, just that it can be stressful and often not "cookie cutter". Having gained a lot in my last pregnancy I totally understand wanting to alleviate some of the issues that go along with that. I thought that my diet this time would prevent that, but it hasn't been the case....although if I were eating like I ate last time, perhaps I would have gained a lot more by now!
JNajla - I started writing this last night and now I can't remember what you said on the next page and I can't get back to look, but it *is* super hard to make such a lifestyle change. When I started playing with my diet it was because my son was having severe diarrhea and other signs of a food allergy, so it made the choice a lot easier to make. Or rather it wasn't an option to fail. I never set out to be "Paleo", it just so happened that style of eating is where we settled in and it's something people can identify with...I want to be more in a GAPS place in terms of diet, so we are working on making moves that way. We have both experienced a lot of healing since I started working on things, which is great, but I am in such limbo right now because there are still low level reactions in my son and it's so hard to figure out what the trigger(s) are. After doing tons of research on diets and food and immune health I don't think we can ever go back to eating "normally" again.
And I agree, that weight was much too low for me - I am much more comfortable closer to 135. I couldn't keep weight *on* me with the way things were, and wasn't even having cycles yet - we caught my first PP egg, and that's why I was so sure that this pregnancy wasn't going to be sticky - I'm still surprised that everything looks so good. (Although several women in my family have lost their baby girls (and only the girls) at about 6 months gestation, so I'm not out of the woods yet). The thing that got the few pounds on me that stimulated ovulation (and this continuous gain since) is rice. It's something I would prefer to eat only on occasion, but I really need carbs, and potatoes are more damaging than rice.
Oh, and when I ate wheat my stomach would blow up and look almost exactly like my 18 week pregnant pictures...so not as big as now, but if you google "wheat belly" and look at others pictures it's much the same.
BabySmurf, I was thinking this morning when I saw you pre-pregs belly that it was amazing your managed to even get pregnant! Now I read on and see that you had gained a bit more weight from that picture to stimulate ovulation. When I see a woman that lean its hard to believe she is ovulating! Keeping you in my thoughts for continued healthy to your little one to breeze past 6 months!! :-)
Babysmurf- you indicated that you had put on a a bit of weight for your first pregnancy, but then were underweight pre-preg for this pregnancy. Did it take you a long time to lose the pregnancy weight? Any tips/ tricks for that? I was about 15# over my idea weight pre-preg for this one, and I've already gained 18 lbs so I'm worried about excess baby weight and that it will take me forever to get it off.....
Babysmurf- you indicated that you had put on a a bit of weight for your first pregnancy, but then were underweight pre-preg for this pregnancy. Did it take you a long time to lose the pregnancy weight? Any tips/ tricks for that? I was about 15# over my idea weight pre-preg for this one, and I've already gained 18 lbs so I'm worried about excess baby weight and that it will take me forever to get it off.....
My theory, especially since I am gaining at a similar rate this time, is that (unless you are totally pigging out on junk food and overdoing it) your body is going to gain what it thinks it needs. Although it can be really easy to over-do it. I gained about 50 pounds and the first 25 were gone at my 2week PP appointment. It took a few months for me to get back to where I was...I want to say that by 4-5 months I was back to my pre pregnancy weight. But I was doing absolutely nothing at that point to make an effort to loose the weight. The next bunch came off when I had to cut dairy, maybe 5-7 pounds within 2 weeks, and the last 10 or so came off slowly - it was just enough for me to notice that I wasn't sustaining my weight. I did seem to bottom out at the 125lbs though. To be perfectly honest, although I prefer to be in the 135lb range, I never felt better mentally and physically as I did when I was eating strict Paleo...I really think it was the nursing DS that was putting me over the edge. Along with not eating enough carbs (by accident). It was really difficult to actually eat the amount of food that I needed it to - the high fat content actually made me feel satiated much better than I thought it would. It just wasn't sustainable, and unfortunately adding in the rice and some other foods makes me feel really sluggish and I am in a constant limbo of trying to make sure that I am getting the nutrition I need while not aggravating my GI tract/mental capacities. Especially with the dairy - I definitely need dairy while pregnant, but it makes me sick to eat it, so I toggle between eating it and avoiding it depending on how bad I feel on either end of the spectrum 
BabySmurf, I was thinking this morning when I saw you pre-pregs belly that it was amazing your managed to even get pregnant! Now I read on and see that you had gained a bit more weight from that picture to stimulate ovulation. When I see a woman that lean its hard to believe she is ovulating! Keeping you in my thoughts for continued healthy to your little one to breeze past 6 months!! :-)
It actually only took a few pounds, I want to say less than 5...I wasn't too far off...which I take as a good sign. The other thing that changed in the same week or two was that DS started eating a solid dinner, which allowed him to actually sleep for a good stretch at night for the first time (which is also important in terms of stimulating ovulation). So I think that both things combined was enough to tip the scales so to speak. Doing some checking at the time, I realized that in *real* Paleolithic type communities it was normal to have 3-4 years between kids, so eating that type of diet combined with nursing "on demand" can be a really effective way to suppress ovulation and prevent pregnancies that are too close together.
The rice/carbs really seem to be adding a lot to me (which is good) but DS is also not nursing for nutrition anymore - when I first got pregnant he was still nursing for the vast majority of his calories, so I actually have to eat a lot less now than I did at the beginning, which is why I was surprised that my weight gain has stayed consistent. (DS was 30 pounds by age one and basically exclusively nursed until almost 18 months old or so, then started eating snacks more consistently, then added in a big dinner, and now he eats like a normal 2 year old....well, at least volume wise, lol!). Thanks for the thoughts for a healthy pregnancy!! It's one of those things that I can get wrapped up in, but I know that at this point there really isn't anything I can do besides take care of myself.
Thanks for your reply babysmurf, what you said makes a lot of sense. I probably would be much leaner if I was strict about no grains or dairy, I just honestly don't know if I have the willpower to be strict. I have made a lot of big changes, read labels and turn down baked treats or bagels that are in the breakroom at work (so tempting!). We don't keep junk food in the house (no sweets, no chips, nothing tempting). The 'worst' thing that I've eaten lately is pizza and it was a cheese and spinach (I honestly don't know if I can give up cheese!!). I switched to almond milk as well. I've been eating lots of salads and soups, and more raw veggies and fruit. But, I still think that my portion sizes are what's allowing me to gain more than I've wanted to this pregnancy. Loading my healthy salad with feta cheese and fresh mozzarella makes it taste so yummy!! 
Thanks for your reply babysmurf, what you said makes a lot of sense. I probably would be much leaner if I was strict about no grains or dairy, I just honestly don't know if I have the willpower to be strict. I have made a lot of big changes, read labels and turn down baked treats or bagels that are in the breakroom at work (so tempting!). We don't keep junk food in the house (no sweets, no chips, nothing tempting). The 'worst' thing that I've eaten lately is pizza and it was a cheese and spinach (I honestly don't know if I can give up cheese!!). I switched to almond milk as well. I've been eating lots of salads and soups, and more raw veggies and fruit. But, I still think that my portion sizes are what's allowing me to gain more than I've wanted to this pregnancy. Loading my healthy salad with feta cheese and fresh mozzarella makes it taste so yummy!!
How are you liking almond milk? We love it! We switched to almond milk (and I eliminated cow dairy, except for yogurt) last April in an effort to control my acne. Once I came off the bc pill in late 2011 my skin went haywire. Coming off of dairy helped my acne a little bit but not overwhelmingly so. By October last year (I found out I was pregs in mid-October) I had decided to go grain-free as an additional effort to clean up my skin. I never got a chance to see if that was effective b/c it turns out I was already pregnant! I tried to be grain-free early on in the pregnancy but I just felt too cruddy w/ nausea so I knew I needed calories anyway I could eat them. Even still, we have no AP flour in the house so the grains we are eating are whole wheat flour and wild rice. Meh ... we'll see if I experiment again w/ grain free post-partum.
I'm on a path to gain up to 200 lbs or so by the end of this pregnancy. Gained a pound in the last week. I'm up 16 lbs. I was hoping to not go over 188, but I'm not sure how that'll work. I'm trying to eat healthy and have started taking walks, but might need to increase my activity level more. I told my midwife I have always ended up around 210-13 by the end of pregnancy. She was concerned and said maybe I had some sort of diabetes, though I tested negative each time, so I don't know. Any thoughts?
I have started back to eating healthier foods again. I was eating more junk in the beginning of pregnancy due to aversions. Hoping that this weight gain starts slowing down. Being that big is no fun. Especially in the summer. It's hard though, cuz I get really hungry sometimes and I'm not going to not eat when I'm hungry. That makes me feel sick and of course, I can't imagine it's healthy.
This is the first pregnancy that I started at a normal weight for my height. I'm 5'8 and weighed 158 prepreg after losing over 50 lbs from the last pregnancy. I am healthiest between 140-150
though.
I looked at some of those links. I might try making a food diary and incorporating some of those healthy looking meals. :)
dayiscoming, it sounds like we are of pretty similar build. I'm also 5'8, and started somewhere around 168lbs, which is a bit over my most comfortable weight (150-ish). I lost a few pounds during the first trimester but weighed in at 172 at my midwife appt last week. My appetite is back to normal now, and I'm trying to get back to a somewhat paleo/primal eating style - which totally went out the window between nausea and the holidays. I've stayed relatively active so far - weekly yoga and twice weekly boot-camp style training. I'm hoping to add in a few more walks with some jogging mixed in.
I'm totally committed to eating healthfully and letting my body gain what it needs to, but also somewhat terrified of knowing that the scale will probably end up in the 190-200 range!
At my visit yesterday, I stepped on the scale and gasped out loud. How much do my socks weigh, should I take those off too?!? I'm at +22 lbs at 20 weeks (12 lbs over my goal weight gain). Sigh. Some days my appetite is huge. I'm eating healthy, but my portion sizes are bigger than my 'normal'. I find that if I eat smaller amounts, then my stomach is growling an hour later. This baby demands food. I will be uncomfortable with anything more than a 40 lb weight gain for all 40 weeks. Otherwise, it is going to be an incredible challenge to lose the extra weight. I wish that I would have been more in control of my appetite and weight gain in early pregnancy (I gained the first 10 lbs between weeks 7-10). I was ravenous!
dayiscoming, it sounds like we are of pretty similar build. I'm also 5'8, and started somewhere around 168lbs, which is a bit over my most comfortable weight (150-ish). I lost a few pounds during the first trimester but weighed in at 172 at my midwife appt last week. My appetite is back to normal now, and I'm trying to get back to a somewhat paleo/primal eating style - which totally went out the window between nausea and the holidays. I've stayed relatively active so far - weekly yoga and twice weekly boot-camp style training. I'm hoping to add in a few more walks with some jogging mixed in.
I'm totally committed to eating healthfully and letting my body gain what it needs to, but also somewhat terrified of knowing that the scale will probably end up in the 190-200 range!
Good to know I'm not alone with that. I'm trying my best to see if I can avoid the 200's this time. Even better if I can somehow avoid the 190's. Though, I have my doubts. It's kind of depressing. I am up to like 177 this week and I've been walking and started pilates again. I hope this slows down at some point. Just going to do the best I can. I figure if I keep active, it'll make it easier to lose after baby comes. So, even if for some reason I can't slow the gain as much as I would like, I can think of it that way. And it's healthier to be active anyway for me and baby. So, yeah.
I think the thing that gets me the most is I was really set on not having another one and getting to my ideal weight finally after having so many years above a healthy weight and having babies. Well, my hormones took over and I ended up caving to having another. I am happy to be having this baby, but it's still really tough to see those numbers climb up.
I've found it helpful to keep a food diary on my fridge that my husband and I review together. It helps me with accountability as well as with meal planning. I didn't really start it for weight goals... more for promoting conscientious choices about food, but it's helpful for both. Before I open the fridge for a snack or to prepare a meal, I can see RIGHT THERE exactly how many times I've eaten pasta that week or how few times I've incorporated leafy greens, etc. I do weigh myself every few days at home and try and make choices around that, too.
I definitely think that Dayiscoming's attitude towards establishing a healthy routine now will help "on the other side" as well! That's what I'm hoping for, too. : )
Kitteh, I agree with you. I actually went searching for an app or something like that and couldn't find anything. I was using "Lose it," maybe I'll start using it again and just ignore their recommended calorie intake. I tend to disagree with their recommended calorie intake even for weight loss anyway, but their tracking tools are good.
Some of you may find this helpful if you were going to try to watch your calorie intake. http://www.freedieting.com/tools/pregnancy_calorie_calculator.htm
Go to advanced options if you want to add in your body fat or anything. They have 3 different methods.
Oh wow Mrs Floyd, I didn't know all of that about MFP! I guess I'll have to go over there and do some exploring. I definitely don't think I'll be tracking every day, but every now and then it's nice to see what is actually going in. The one I had on my phone was so convenient, I wonder if MFP has an app?
Thanks for the tip!
Oh and I'm exactly 20 weeks today and up 7-8 lbs. At this point with DD I was up 12 lbs, so I'm happy that I've been able to keep it under control so far. I'm definitely still eating a ton, so I guess the big difference is the running, maybe? It'd be nice not to take over a year to lose the baby weight this time!
Follow Mothering