LCHF during pregnancy?
KaitlynPeri
Posts: 45 Member
I’ve had an on again off again relationship with keto and low carb. Mostly the reasons being that I got pregnant and went off at the recommendation of a doctor. This caused all kinds of complications for me in my last pregnancy. I am currently 10.5 weeks and already up 10lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight.
My question is has anyone used keto/low carb during pregnancy to regulate blood sugars? Im not too concerned about losing weight until after baby is born. Personal experiences welcome, also looking for the science.
My question is has anyone used keto/low carb during pregnancy to regulate blood sugars? Im not too concerned about losing weight until after baby is born. Personal experiences welcome, also looking for the science.
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I was eating very LCHF during my last 2 pregnancies, but not tracking, just lots and lots of cravings for meats and I've always been a big veggie eater.
Last I heard, they do not recommend below 100g of carbs for pregnancy or breastfeeding, but 100g is still plenty low.0 -
KaitlynPeri wrote: »I’ve had an on again off again relationship with keto and low carb. Mostly the reasons being that I got pregnant and went off at the recommendation of a doctor. This caused all kinds of complications for me in my last pregnancy. I am currently 10.5 weeks and already up 10lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight.
My question is has anyone used keto/low carb during pregnancy to regulate blood sugars? Im not too concerned about losing weight until after baby is born. Personal experiences welcome, also looking for the science.
I talked briefly about my experience here in response to this thread:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10783343/baby-5-with-gd-started-lchf-3rd-trimester-now-clean-keto#latest
The Diet Doctor has an article here that references keto pregnancies and mentions multiple fertility docs/ob-gyns who use it for PG, IIRC. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/pregnancy
There are some members around who did LC in pregnancy.
I can't Google search this group but here's an old thread from 2014 in the Keto group with good info. Check out what Dragonwolf says about it.https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10033369/keto-and-pregnant
Here's a thread about LC and breastfeeding:
Like I said in one of the threads referenced. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have been low-carb with all of my pregnancies. 120g didn't do it for my gestational diabetes (I still had to take a med but no insulin), but I'd bet money 50-75g would for certain. Possibly 100g if I were active.
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I did LCHF during both pregnancies with my youngest two kids. I didn't advertise I was keto/LCHF to anyone but I did let the doctor know I was lower carb, had been before pregnancy and was during pregnancy. So if ketones showed up on the urine tests they do every single time you visit the ob, they'd know why.
During my pregnancy in 2015, the ob sent me to the hospitals diabetic nutritionist once I was dx with gestational diabetes. She pushed for me to have 100g carbs minimum every meal and 50g minimum for snacks 2x a day. When I asked about the fact that pushes my blood sugar numbers higher, with proof since I was already testing, her response was just add more insulin. I questioned how that made sense, why not just lower carbs so you could lower insulin? It wasn't a great experience. I talked to my ob and my MFM, they both recommended me to stick to lower carbs and that way I could use less insulin. They did strongly suggest I didn't go under 25g carbs a day to try to keto but under 100g, was fine. The diabetic nutritionist kept hounding my ob for weeks afterward until my ob finally got on the phone and told her to stop it, that low carb had been proven in smaller studies to be just fine for at risk women, and provided study links. I wish I had those links!
I did the same with my pregnancy in 2017. I kept it under 100g a day, often 50g a day and the doctors were fine with it. It did help insulin amounts I had to take during pregnancies and weight gain, and kept the baby size smaller then if I was on higher amounts of insulin. I also avoided T2 diabetes so far. I am now 43, had my son at 39, my youngest daughter at 41 so I am right at the right age for T2 diabetes and other health issues. I had 'geriatric' pregnancies for my last babies, great wording huh?
IF your doctors ask, then you can say you are on lower carbs because you were eating that way before pregnancy. Don't usually need to volunteer how low carb if they don't ask specifically. Congratulations!!2 -
Thank you both @baconslave and @alliwan
I remember fighting with the nutritionist the last time I was pregnant and will certainly keep in mind the under 100g. If I can avoid insulin again I’m all for it!
A diet consisting of mostly meat, veggies and dairy does sound better than low carb high fat to most doctors haha.1
