LCHF while pregnant
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Tanukiko
Posts: 186 Member
wondering if there are any ladies on here who maintained LCHF lifestyle while pregnant. Im not really concerned with is it safe (I know it is!) what Im more concerned with is how you got over the first trimester/morning sickness. A good friend of mine was trying to maintain but all she could keep down were crackers and bananas. I have about 60 extra lbs on me so not concerned about losing during pregnancy (doctors say if you have extra weight its safe to not gain weight or to even lose during pregnancy). I want to maintain the lifestyle to avoid gestational diabetes.
Please share your experiences :-)
Please share your experiences :-)
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I'm not a doctor or female, but may I suggest consulting a doctor for this question?0
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My best guess would be that pickles and similar things will be your best friend. They say sour things really help with morning sickness, and the sodium boost could help combat low carb flu symptoms, which can include nausea, headaches and fatigue. If you have a LC-savvy doctor or midwife you can consult, that would be ideal, of course.
Congratulations! I wish I could go back and do over my pregnancies on a LCHF diet, though my babies turned out fine anyway. I suspect my body would have been a lot more comfortable.0 -
blacktie347 wrote: »I'm not a doctor or female, but may I suggest consulting a doctor for this question?
Im not looking for medical opinions, but rather women's experiences with combatting morning sickness while trying to maintain LCHF.
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mlinton_mesapark wrote: »My best guess would be that pickles and similar things will be your best friend. They say sour things really help with morning sickness, and the sodium boost could help combat low carb flu symptoms, which can include nausea, headaches and fatigue. If you have a LC-savvy doctor or midwife you can consult, that would be ideal, of course.
Congratulations! I wish I could go back and do over my pregnancies on a LCHF diet, though my babies turned out fine anyway. I suspect my body would have been a lot more comfortable.
You're right pickles would probably help a lot. One cannot live on pickles alone
my girlfriend could not stand the sight of eggs or meat for 14 weeks! That's a long time!
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I used diclectin (sp?) while pregnant. I was pretty nauseated in the first four months and found that I was sick a few times per day; I usually lost 10-15 lbs in the first trimester. Diclectin slowed e down so I was only sick once a day.... Not better but an improvement.
By time the second trimester rolled around I was heaving if I even looked at a toilet - conditioned like Pavlov's dogs. LOL
I used to drink a lot of ice tea mix. I figured I needed the calories and I found that liquids are more pleasant coming back up than solids. I think if I was pg while LCHF I would be living off of smoothies and bullet proof decaf coffee. BPC smoothie would be nice too. Cold was better coming up than warm...
Congratulations. I hope the nausea is not too bad for you.0 -
Thank you nvmomketo! I will definitely come up with a good smoothie recipe. Not sure if i'll be able to handle BPC. In the past i start gagging at coffee around week 6 but i think a coconut milk smoothie with low carb fruit and some avocado might work. :-)0
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A little bit of a tasty protein powder in an icy smoothie might work too.0
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Hello! I'm 19+1 today and REALLY enjoying a low carb pregnancy. I'm 33 years old, and went from 115kg to 76.4kg before becoming pregnant (from Jan 2015 to August 2015). Sadly I flew right off the handle, lost the low-carb plot, got some problems with depression and put on weight again. I got to 86kg just before getting pregnant. I have two other children and had a BMI of 50+ with them, ate Burger King and all sorts of crap all day long, and had gestational diabetes with my daughter in 2012.
Unfortunately I couldn't handle low carb very well during the first trimester, or anything else for that matter, and ended up on medication and basically just ate what I could handle. Quite frankly, with two kids already to handle and a lot of life stress I just let it go for then.
Since about 11 weeks I've gone back to my low carb ways. I was 86.6kg at my 13 week midwife appointment, and today I am 83.9kg.
So far so good with the baby and I. No GD yet! My weight is remaining steady, the baby is growing beautifully and kicks up a storm 6+ times a day. I feel fit and happy and eat so much good-for-me low carb foods that surely this pregnancy must be 20 times healthier than with my other kids.
My carbs vary from 35-60g per day. I don't take any notice of kilojoules/calories right now. Some days I'm so hungry that I eat ALL THE FOOD and other days I'm fine with a regular amount of food. My carbs mainly come from avocados and dairy products.
If I fall off the wagon and splurge on carb heavy foods, I really feel like crap, hunger goes up massively, I get tired, I get grumpy, way worse than pre-pregnancy.
I have the anatomy scan when I am exactly 21 weeks I will come back and report on how baby is doing. At 13 weeks everything was right on track during the NT scan.
I will say that my midwife isn't impressed and is very unsure and worried about low carb during pregnancy. I have to see a consultant at 20 weeks at the hospital too because of my BMI, two previous c-sections and having had GD last time. I don't think I'll tell him/her about the low carb. Expect health professionals to look horrified and presume you are a dieting bulimic due to not scoffing 20 pieces of bread per day. This has been my experience in New Zealand anyway.
Also I love coffee again :-), couldn't stand it in first tri.0 -
I did somewhat low carb during mine, had a little sickness but not too much. During my pregnancy I would lose weight due to my LCHF diet which worried the Drs so they sent me to see a nutritionist. I kept my carbs around 100ish after that, no where near the keto range. I still remember my one piece of toast I'd get at the end of the day, it was like a treat to me
I loaded that puppy up with like 3tbsps of peanut butter and washed it down with almond milk.
Anyway - to answer your question, the nutritionist modified my diet to be a "diabetic" diet, where I still had a little carbs. I still kept my counts lower than her recommended diet but above the ketosis range, I didn't want to risk anything. She was very supportive because my baby was over 7lbs and was on track to be a 10lb baby if we didn't do something about it..!0 -
Thank you all for sharing your experiences. Yes please do post updates on your progress.0
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It's entirely possible that you won't even get morning sickness this time around. Many women find that LCHF and even (gasp!) keto makes it so they have no morning sickness to begin with.
I wasn't LCHF when I was pregnant, but I did find that hamburger was off the menu for my entire pregnancy. Hot dogs were okay, though, and I think chicken was, too. Ice water and pickles were my best friends, though. The vinegar and coldness of the water was a tummy saver. Aside from that, I don't remember much of what else I ate during that time. I think a fair bit of rice and whatever would stay down.0 -
I had THE WORST morning sickness this time, I didn't get it too bad with my other kids. I was diagnosed with hyperemesis at 7 weeks. I finally started to feel better about 15 weeks and went off the medication.
I'm 21 weeks tomorrow and have my anatomy scan then, keen to see how baby is doing.
How are you doing @Tanukiko?0 -
hellobaconplease wrote: »
How are you doing @Tanukiko?
Hi! I'm actually not pregnant yet sorry for the comfusion. We have been trying for about 6 months without luck and I finally realized that it might be my weight affecting my cycle. I got pregnant last time after 6 weeks of LCHF right before my wedding (sadly miscarried at 6 wks) so I figured it might work again this time. Only this time I want to be able to continue to LCHF as much as possible throughout my pregnancy. I stopped LCHF last time because we were in Turkey for our wedding and honeymoon and it was just too difficult (and considered rude) to not try what hosts where offering which was often lots of carbs.
Anyway thank you all for your support and suggestions. Good news is that this last month after a couple weeks back of LCHF my cycle returned to the normal 28 day length (normal for me that is). The last year it had gotten all messed up and was only 24 or 25 days long. Progress :-)0 -
I'm very curious as well. We are going to start trying this fall and I plan on staying low carb if I can. I probably won't be letting the medical professionals know that I'm doing low carb unless they ask.0
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we are ttc as well. no luck. I was off low carb for nov and dec and it really showed with my cycle and bbt. we have been trying off and on for 2 years. hoping lc will help make it happen.0
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It took me 8 years to conceive my son, and a good 14 months for my second child. I don't know if it was the low carb or what, but this baby showed up while using contraception and barely having any sex!
Just thought I'd update that baby (girl!) is growing just fine. Had a scan at 21 weeks exactly and all was measuring about where it should. Only thing that differed from my other kids was the abdominal circumference, it was on the smaller end rather than the huge end. I'm doing well too and only gained a couple of pounds. I don't feel really any better or worse doing LCHF during pregnancy compared to high carb but I enjoy not gaining any weight.
In the name of science!
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Oh wow... Glad things are going well. 0
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Yey I love scan pictures, it's all so exciting! Congratulations.
I low-carbed in order to get pregnant nearly 2 years ago but was frightened into eating carbs during pregnancy by everyone around me (I'm in the UK, midwives, doctors and my husband were all against me!)
I put on a lot of weight as a consequence, and am only really starting to lose again now my daughter is 1 (I have PCOS).
Next time round I will not hesistate to continue to low-carb during pregnancy (I just wont tell anyone), I figure it's not much different to the gestational diabetes diet they put people on... just more informed.0 -
Here is an article of a woman who was zero carb during her pregnancy. I found her blog to be an interesting read. http://myzerocarblife.jamesdhogan.com/wp/2015/02/eat-zero-carb-pregnant/0
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Warning - this is going to be long.
With my first three pregnancies I was eating the standard USDA type diet.
With my oldest (I was 26 at time of conception) I didn't get morning sickness at all, just developed an aversion to Pepsi (not such a bad thing, lol). Gained 50 lbs, went 42 weeks, 1 day and was induced - 8 lb 4oz baby girl. By far and away the most miserable pregnancy of the four (heartburn, backaches, insomnia), keeping in mind I have easy pregnancies, so even that one wasn't that bad, compared to what many other women go through. No complications though (no GD, normal BP, etc)
Took about 18 months to lose the fifty lbs I'd gained, and lost another ten lbs before conceiving baby number two - baby one had just turned two years old and I was 28 (lost the weight using standard advice - cutting out soda, eating more whole graines, eating less fat). Terrible nausea for the first twelve weeks (no vomiting though, I'm not a puker). Gained the same 50 lbs, went 42 weeks again, but didn't need to be induced that time - 9lb 2 oz baby girl. Easier pregnancy overall (no heartburn, but still had the backaches and insomnia), no complications (no GD, normal BP, they did test baby's blood sugar a few times after she was born due to her size, but it was normal each time).
Took about 18 months to lose the baby weight, then lost another five lbs before conceiving again (baby two was not quite two years at that point, I was 31). Again lost the weight with standard advice, further cut back on junk, ate more fruits and veggies, leaner meats, fat free dairy; at this point my diet had become a dietitian's wet dream. Third pregnancy I had the worst morning sickness of the bunch, that blessedly stopped at 14 weeks (still no puking, but severe 24-7 nausea that only subsided when I was actively eating something). Gained 45 lbs that time - stayed more active during the pregnancy. Went 42 weeks again, spontaneous labor, baby girl 8 lbs 5 oz. Aside from the more severe morning sickness, it was the easiest pregnancy of the first three - very little heartburn and I think exercising kept the back aches at bay. Still had insomnia though. No complications.
After number three was born, I weighed 195 lbs at my six week checkup. A year later I turned 33 and realized that I had only lost five lbs during that year - I couldn't figure it out... I was doing the same things I had done the first two times (heck - I was eating even "healthier"!), but this time it simply wasn't working. Decided to try something different and started learning more about LCHF diets. Worked so well that I lost not only the 25 lbs of "baby weight" I had remaining, but went on to lose a total of 45 lbs in seven months. Decided LCHF would be a permanent way of eating for me.
Got pregnant with baby number four at the end of 2014 (baby three was just over two years old, I was 34). Despite eating LC, I still got morning sickness, but it was not as bad as with babies number two and three. I did increase my carbs during the pregnancy, especially in the first trimester (easier to keep down, more palatable for nauseous tummies), from 50-80g per day, up to around 100 g per day, but tried to make the extra carbs come from fruit and starchy veg, rather than sugar or grains. Even though I was having a "geriatric pregnancy" (yes, that's a real term for when us over - 35s get knocked up, lol), it was the easiest, most comfortable of the bunch. No heartburn. No backaches (I credit exercise for that). No insomnia until the ninth month (rather than starting during the sixth month with my previous kids). Normal glucose screenings (even though I had to do it twice this time due to being geriatric :P ). The really freaky thing was that this baby was born on. her. due. date. And let me tell you, after having three pregnancies go two weeks past the due date, having her come on time was epic. She was smaller - 7 lbs 1 oz (normal size baby, but seemed tiny to me). I still gained 50 lbs during the pregnancy, seems that happens no matter what I do, but what was really dramatically different was this:
In the first six weeks post partum I dropped thirty of the fifty lbs I had gained (twice as much as I had lost in the same time frame with any of my previous children). She is now seven months old, and I am five lbs from prepregnancy weight. Still nursing, so I think I'm hanging on to that last bit. But still - I've lost the majority of the weight in less than half the time it took on my old USDA style diet. Amazing.
Okay, so tldr... Lol. As for surviving morning sickness, well - that's just it. I took the approach of doing whatever I had to do to survive it. Especially with three older kids to take care of. There were days when I'm sure my carb intake was close to 200 g, but when I felt okay, I opted for low carb. And once the nausea passed (about the twelve week mark), I was able to easily stay around 100 g per day (some days as low as 80, some days as high as 120). I loved the idea of bone broth during the first trimester, but getting anywhere near it made me want to yack
. Eggs were my friend though, especially scrambled. Anyways, you never know, you might not get very bad sickness, but if you do, just focus on getting thru it, however you have to. It typically only lasts six weeks anyway. Then you can get right back on track (assuming you get off track in the first place) 0
