Figuring out calories needed

AsellusReborn

Okay, I am 12w4d today. I bumped my calories to maintenance once we found out we were expensive, which according to MFP was 1750. My calories have been set there.

Well, at maintenance (plus eating back exercise cals) I lost 2lbs over the next 6 weeks. I had eaten about 7,000 cals over my maintenance number so figured I should have been up 2 lbs, not down.

I think I've figured out my maintenance is actually about 2,100 so mostly have been aiming there, and weigh in today had my weight stable.

While it scares me (body issues) I know I need to start gaining soon as I am about to head into the second trimester, even though I'm still 14lbs overweight (154, bmi of 25 would be 140). Given that I'm still overweight, what kind of weight gain - and thus extra cals - should I be aiming for? I am terrified of gaining "too much" whatever that means - with my daughter I was hyperemetic and lost weight the whole pregnancy, so even though this is baby #2 I feel like a first timer figuring this stuff out.

pineygirl

I also have been losing during my 1st trimester. I think my weight is starting to stabilize now after eating at maintenance for almost 2 weeks. I initially lost 2lbs while eating at maintenance, but have gained 1lb back, lost it, gained 2lbs back, lost 1lb...so it's starting to stabilize. My calories are set to 1500....I'm 5'0 and 109lbs. I eat back any exercise calories and also extra calories burned from very busy work days (I use a fitbit).

I'm only going to increase my calories by about 150 per day for the second trimester and around 300 per day for the third. I'm aiming to gain about 25lbs.

Try to remember that a lot of that weight is from the baby, uterus, placenta, amniotic fluid, breast tissue, and some additional body fat. If you are overweight to start with you might only need to gain 15-20lbs, but since you aren't very much over weight it might be still okay to gain the recommended 25-35lbs.

AsellusReborn

Lol I put "expensive" instead of "expecting". Freudian slip? :noway:

Thank you for the input! I did ask my doctor office too but each doctor has a different answer, so I was trying to figure out what "real" people are doing if that makes sense. One of the docs did point out I'm overweight but not very, so my weight gain pattern could vary - I might gain more like an overweight person or more like a non-overweight-person. I know logically gaining is what my body needs to do to support this baby and I want to do everything in my power to support him or her - it's just taken me so long to adjust to the idea I was fat, and then I worked my butt off to lose the weight and now I feel like I'm at a fairly good weight, a little higher than I want...and now I have to get fat again. Lol.

kcasey155

My personal opinion is that I don't think you're heavy enough to worry so much about how much weight you gain. You also have all the tools already to know how to keep your weight gain to a minimum and afterwards lose whatever you gain. (You've done it before and can do it again!) Perhaps you should trust your body a little more and just listen to when you're hungry and eat a little of what you fancy. As you're keeping track of everything I think you'll soon notice if your weight is rising too steeply too fast. How much weight is the right amount to put on and when I can't answer, but then I don't think it's an exact science either. Baby won't put on the majority of it's weight until the last trimester, so during the second trimester I guess you should see a small but steady rise. I've been wondering if maybe keeping track of my measurements is more reliable than worrying about my weight. If my arms, legs, neck and below bump measurements don't rise significantly then I'm guessing most of the weight gain belongs to the bump. Just a theory!

kellykneppergrundy

I started my pregnancy in the healthy weight range, but only just. The first trimester I ate at 1/2 pound loss a week and ate all my excercise calories. I lost about 4 pounds over the trimester, but was also pretty sick for most of it. For second trimester I am on maintainence calories with excercise calories and have gained 5 pounds at 24 weeks. I'm happy with my weight gain so far as I know from my previous pregnancy that I gain most of the weight at the end. I don't think I'll need to up my calories at all, unless I find I am really hungry in the 3rd trimester. Here in the UK, the recommendation is to only eat 200 extra calories in the last trimester and I think that will be ample for me to gain a healthy amount and hopefully no more. Play it by ear, if you find you are gaining too much step it down a bit. It's so hard to watch the scale go up after trying to get it to go down!