Pregnant - Increase in Calories

MommyisFit

I am 12 weeks pregnant and I am now starting to feel extremely hungry. I haven't really logged since finding out I was pregnant, but have been eating around maintenance (guessing about 1600 calories a day) and have gained 1lb so far. I am 5'2" and my pre-pregnancy weight was 125. ( I like my weight best around 115.)

I was told to gain about 1/2-1lb a week from here until delivery. I want to make sure I am eating enough but not too much! Over the past week, I have eaten about 1700-2000 calories a day. Does that seem like the right number? I don't want to gain the 60lbs that I did with my first pregnancy, but I don't want to gain too little either.

acampbe2umd

I used some calculator that I found online. I ate maintenance my first trimester and then I bumped up I think 200 calories for my 2nd trimester and another 200 my 3rd trimester and I ate back my exercise calories. The bump up in calories came from the website and were specific to me, so find out what you should do yourself. Something like this:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/pregnancy_calorie_calculator.htm

I just had my 3rd baby earlier this year and I gained 33 lbs and worked out until the day I delivered. I am typically average while not pregnant.

MommyisFit

I used some calculator that I found online. I ate maintenance my first trimester and then I bumped up I think 200 calories for my 2nd trimester and another 200 my 3rd trimester and I ate back my exercise calories. The bump up in calories came from the website and were specific to me, so find out what you should do yourself. Something like this:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/pregnancy_calorie_calculator.htm

I just had my 3rd baby earlier this year and I gained 33 lbs and worked out until the day I delivered. I am typically average while not pregnant.

Thank you! This seems about right. It gave me 1588 for maintenance, 1788 for 2nd trimester, and 1988 for the 3rd. I set it to sedentary so I can just eat back some of my exercise calories.

Rynatat

I'll be honest: when I first got pregnant my biggest worry was weight gain & not gaining too much - I'm on MFP as I used to be obese... But as I listened to my body & what it needed, I adjusted to what our soon-to-be-Son wanted rather than what I wanted. I'm almost 37 weeks, gained about 35-lbs already, BUT, everyone says I still look great & that all the weight is in my belly - which is mostly true (I've thickened up in my chest, legs & arms but that will go away the moment I get back back into weight-lifting again). My profile pic is from 2 weeks ago (I'm the one on the left... )

I eat around 2000-2300 a day, depending on how hungry Sprout makes me. There are days he just sleeps to "grow" more & I may only eat around 1800, then other days (like yesterday) he was on the move all day & I was STARVING & ate about 2300 cals. I look at it this way: I'm eating healthy foods, good foods, foods that have pure nutrients, vitamins & minerals that will help me & Sprout be healthier now & going forward: whatever I gain will be gone 6 months after he's born. I was lucky that I didn't get cravings, so my meals have stayed the same - possibly even healthier as he seems to really enjoy fruits & veggies :happy:

My advise to you: focus on eating GOOD foods, not junk or processed: if you're hungry you'll get better nutrients from clean eating than processed foods & will feel full longer & you AND your Baby will be healthier. Please avoid stressing about too much weight gain, your Baby will feel your stress, which will lead to "pretend hunger" making you think you need to eat when you don't. This is my first as well, and I know for a FACT, once I'm allowed to start working out after he's born (figuring 2 weeks as I was super fit going into this), I'll start walking, then jogging, adding in my strength training by 4 weeks & by 6 weeks I should be back into jogging/arc trainer & building back up into weight training. By 6 months, I'll be back to my pre-pregnant fit & possibly even more fit (as he'll start to crawl & get into things really keeping me on my toes!).

Make your plan for AFTER Baby is here - focus on that instead of what you're going to go through in the next 6-7 months - your body is changing like never before, just listen to it. There are even workouts you can do WITH your Baby to build a stronger bond: jogging outside with him looking at me from his stroller is one (bonus, he gets fresh air & nature) and there are some DVD's where you get to use Baby for a yoga-style workout & the Baby thinks it's play-time so loves it :bigsmile:

Just enjoy this time now: if you want, I can recommend the prenatal DVD's I've been using my last 3 months since I could no longer keep up with my regular workouts - they are a lot of fun & have helped keep me mobile, in shape & should help make labor easier as a result.

Good Luck with everything: Be Strong, Be Healthy - for You & Baby :flowerforyou:

MommyisFit

I'll be honest: when I first got pregnant my biggest worry was weight gain & not gaining too much - I'm on MFP as I used to be obese... But as I listened to my body & what it needed, I adjusted to what our soon-to-be-Son wanted rather than what I wanted. I'm almost 37 weeks, gained about 35-lbs already, BUT, everyone says I still look great & that all the weight is in my belly - which is mostly true (I've thickened up in my chest, legs & arms but that will go away the moment I get back back into weight-lifting again). My profile pic is from 2 weeks ago (I'm the one on the left... )

I eat around 2000-2300 a day, depending on how hungry Sprout makes me. There are days he just sleeps to "grow" more & I may only eat around 1800, then other days (like yesterday) he was on the move all day & I was STARVING & ate about 2300 cals. I look at it this way: I'm eating healthy foods, good foods, foods that have pure nutrients, vitamins & minerals that will help me & Sprout be healthier now & going forward: whatever I gain will be gone 6 months after he's born. I was lucky that I didn't get cravings, so my meals have stayed the same - possibly even healthier as he seems to really enjoy fruits & veggies :happy:

My advise to you: focus on eating GOOD foods, not junk or processed: if you're hungry you'll get better nutrients from clean eating than processed foods & will feel full longer & you AND your Baby will be healthier. Please avoid stressing about too much weight gain, your Baby will feel your stress, which will lead to "pretend hunger" making you think you need to eat when you don't. This is my first as well, and I know for a FACT, once I'm allowed to start working out after he's born (figuring 2 weeks as I was super fit going into this), I'll start walking, then jogging, adding in my strength training by 4 weeks & by 6 weeks I should be back into jogging/arc trainer & building back up into weight training. By 6 months, I'll be back to my pre-pregnant fit & possibly even more fit (as he'll start to crawl & get into things really keeping me on my toes!).

Make your plan for AFTER Baby is here - focus on that instead of what you're going to go through in the next 6-7 months - your body is changing like never before, just listen to it. There are even workouts you can do WITH your Baby to build a stronger bond: jogging outside with him looking at me from his stroller is one (bonus, he gets fresh air & nature) and there are some DVD's where you get to use Baby for a yoga-style workout & the Baby thinks it's play-time so loves it :bigsmile:

Just enjoy this time now: if you want, I can recommend the prenatal DVD's I've been using my last 3 months since I could no longer keep up with my regular workouts - they are a lot of fun & have helped keep me mobile, in shape & should help make labor easier as a result.

Good Luck with everything: Be Strong, Be Healthy - for You & Baby :flowerforyou:

Thanks for responding. I plan on working out as long as I can - I run, do Spin class, and Body Pump still. I have a gym membership that I will maintain before and after. This is my 3rd child. I gained 60lbs with the 1st, 24 with the 2nd, but this one was a surprise and I had just gotten back into a size 2 before finding out. So I am really trying to not gain more than the 25 lbs. I usually eat pretty clean (80/20) but was pretty sick in the beginning and could only stomach lots of carbs and not many veggies. Thank God I am out of that now!

SandySherwood35

Hi! Maintaining a healthy diet during your pregnancy is key to both your and the baby’s health. The key to a good diet in pregnancy is moderation; there are very few foods you need to avoid, but pay attention to the amount consumed not only for health risks like food borne illnesses or toxins, but also to avoid unnecessary calories.

Doing exercise during pregnancy can also help maintain a healthy body, alleviate constipation, improve your mood and build your strength and endurance, which can potentially help during labor and delivery.

There are a lot of helpful pregnancy diet and exercise videos in Youtube that you can get tips from. Check out videos by Mothercare UK and live yoga life for pregnancy diet and proper prenatal exercise tips.

Sandy Sherwood

http://www.yogaforpregnancy.net/