weight loss while pregnant

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Replies

  • tyrantduck
    tyrantduck Posts: 387 Member
    My wife and I just came from her OB Doctor on Monday. We went to verify she was pregnant, due on Jul 8th :-). I specifically asked him about her continued exercise, primarily walking, and caloric intake and informed him of our participation on this site. He told us that as much exercise as she could do was perfectly fine, in fact encouraged, and that she should continue to watch caloric intake and keep it right around 1600. Just for reference, my wife is 5'2" and currently 209 (I think, well really close to that if not exactly) pounds.

    congrats! i'm a july 8th baby myself :)
  • blink1021
    blink1021 Posts: 1,115 Member
    You have to ask your doctor only they can tell you if its ok. I am currently pregnant and only have 3 weeks to go. I have a lot more weight on me than you have on you and I was told I could lose, mantain, or gain up to 11lbs. Right now my baby is already averaging around 7lbs and is healthy. I have gained and lost throughout my whole pregnancy, but I was sent to a dietician to make sure that I was eating the right kinds of foods and even though I was up to a 2000cal diet I still lost because they say you burn more calories while pregnant. If the doctor oks it I would ask for a referral to a dietician.
  • DenyseMarieL
    DenyseMarieL Posts: 673 Member
    I am not a doctor, nor am I giving advice. Just my experience. I was 20 when I got pregnant with my son, weighed 115 lbs. I was SO sick for the first 4 months, that my weight did not go up at all, in fact I lost weight. I put on no fat, just baby. In total, my weight gain by the end was all of 15 lbs. He was a super healthy 9.5 lb baby. I was ALL baby. I ate very healthy in the last 5 months (because I could finally eat) and did not deprive myself whatsoever. I think babies take from you no matter what, and as long as you are eating healthy and getting regular walks in, you may not put on alot of weight, which will make it easier after to lose it.

    I wouldn't recommend trying to lose while pregnant. What happened with me was NOT typical...haha. With my second baby I gained 25 lbs. Again, I ate really healthy and the weight wasn't hard to lose.

    Just enjoy being pregnant! It really is a miracle!
  • SairahRose
    SairahRose Posts: 412 Member
    There's even a Weight Watchers section dedicated to healthy choices while being pregnant.

    No. No there's not. And there probably never will be. There's lots of discussion on the WW message boards about it, but the only WW-modified plan is for nursing moms AFTER you've had the baby.

    Really? I ask actually only because my SIL stated throughout her pregnancy that she still went to her WW meetings, and she was following the plan for it.
    Unless she worked it out with the team leader (I have no idea what they call them), and therefore I just assumed.
    Sorry about that.
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
    Here's my experience:

    Got pregnant with first DD after losing 40 lbs and started at 250. During my pregnancy, I focused on eating healthy, whole food and indulging in moderation. For most of my pregnancy, we probably had fresh baked cake almost every single week because that was what I craved. I gained about 10 lbs my first trimester and about 5 my 2nd and into the third. Then, at about 32 weeks, I started gaining 2-4 lbs per week. I retained a lot of water even though I had very good BP and no other complications. I also exercised daily, sometimes up to an hour. Usually this just involved walking. In fact, the day before I had DD, I took a three mile hike with DH and left him and the dog panting behind me. When I went in to have DD, I weighed 291, for a gain of 41 lbs. Just 1 month after giving birth, I was down to about 255 and 3 1/2 months after giving birth to DD, I was down over 60 lbs. This means I ended up at about 25 lbs less than pre-pregnancy weight in less than 4 months time. I didn't breastfeed her.

    Unfortunately, over the years, I gained that weight back and then some. I was 310 when I got pregnant with DD2. I had more morning sickness with her and no matter what I did, nothing helped. It wasn't horrible sickness, but if I tried to eat to much or had too much liquid, I couldn't keep it down. So, by default, I had to cut my food intake. I also shied away from watery foods more - salads, some veggies, some fruits, etc. because they were harder to keep down. I did a little walking, but not much, especially towards the end. When I went in to deliver her, I weighed 295. I breastfed DD2, and a month post partum, I was at 290. Breastfeeding made me ravenous, and within 9 months, I was up to 316.

    All of that was to say that I don't think you should focus on losing weight. I think you should do as others have said and focus on eating a healthy diet with limited treats and eat to satisfaction. With DD1, I gained at a healthy rate and the weight loss was amazingly easy after she was born. With DD2, I lost weight while pregnant, but the weight didn't come off like it did with DD1. I think it's partly because my diet wasn't as healthy during the pregnancy, and partly because I didn't exercise as much and partly because I breastfed.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    There's even a Weight Watchers section dedicated to healthy choices while being pregnant.

    No. No there's not. And there probably never will be. There's lots of discussion on the WW message boards about it, but the only WW-modified plan is for nursing moms AFTER you've had the baby.

    Really? I ask actually only because my SIL stated throughout her pregnancy that she still went to her WW meetings, and she was following the plan for it.
    Unless she worked it out with the team leader (I have no idea what they call them), and therefore I just assumed.
    Sorry about that.

    WW specifically will not allow pregnant women to follow the plan. I'm surprised her leader allowed her at the meetings. It's a liability issue.
  • mikayla169
    mikayla169 Posts: 40 Member
    My BMI was high before the pregnancy, so my doctor told me to try and maintain my weight throughout the pregnancy. Turned out, I actually lost 19lb in total; I didn't do anything different to my knowledge, I wasn't trying to diet, I had just changed my ways and was walking about alot more than I used to.
    My baby boy was born at 7lb 14 and completely healthy!
    If you stay within calorie goals (I'd up it a little from 1500 as you are going to need the extra sustenance), and eat healthily and maintain a gentle exercise program, I can see no reason not to lose weight whilst pregnant. My doctor was extremely impressed with my weightloss during pregnancy, so obviously it's not a massive concern if it's nothing considerable.
  • mikayla169
    mikayla169 Posts: 40 Member
    There's even a Weight Watchers section dedicated to healthy choices while being pregnant.

    No. No there's not. And there probably never will be. There's lots of discussion on the WW message boards about it, but the only WW-modified plan is for nursing moms AFTER you've had the baby.

    Really? I ask actually only because my SIL stated throughout her pregnancy that she still went to her WW meetings, and she was following the plan for it.
    Unless she worked it out with the team leader (I have no idea what they call them), and therefore I just assumed.
    Sorry about that.

    WW specifically will not allow pregnant women to follow the plan. I'm surprised her leader allowed her at the meetings. It's a liability issue.

    I don't know if you're english or american or if this is a strictly English thing, but we have Slimming world - exactly the same as WW, and they do cater to pregnant women.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    You are trying to walk the fine line between providing enough energy and nutrients (2 different things) to build the baby while using fat reserves for everything else, and not providing enough such that you will suffer, the body usually makes sure the baby will get what it needs - but that's a bad risk too. Because if you mess up your body enough by going under too much, how do you know your body will do that correctly?

    You better nail your figures exactly as can be.

    For your level of activity right now that you plan on keeping as long as you can, do you know how much you can eat and not gain or lose weight or inches?

    For a long time then, the idea is you could eat at that level, of no weight change, and as the baby grows and adds pounds, you'll drop fat as the energy source for your daily activity while the baby gets the benefits of the consumed energy and nutrients.

    So that means you can NOT take your guess of activity level, or MFP's guess of maintenance level, or your guess of exercise level, or HRM's estimate of calories burned, ect.

    Find your TDEE by increasing your eating until you maintain. And hold it there. You'll lose fat and grow baby is the idea. At some point of course you'll need to eat more though.
    Those charts of baby/placenta weight gain at some point show where you probably couldn't realistically lose that much fat at the same rate, so you should eat more. Now many times at those points, you'll be exercising less anyway, so a balance may be possible of eating the same and exercising less.

    I'm going with guess you talked to Dr about this already, and that means of nailing the figures as exact as possible is so difficult they don't even entertain the idea.

    You might get away with a very slight deficit at first, from the real TDEE figure you discover, like 10% off.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    There's even a Weight Watchers section dedicated to healthy choices while being pregnant.

    No. No there's not. And there probably never will be. There's lots of discussion on the WW message boards about it, but the only WW-modified plan is for nursing moms AFTER you've had the baby.

    Really? I ask actually only because my SIL stated throughout her pregnancy that she still went to her WW meetings, and she was following the plan for it.
    Unless she worked it out with the team leader (I have no idea what they call them), and therefore I just assumed.
    Sorry about that.

    WW specifically will not allow pregnant women to follow the plan. I'm surprised her leader allowed her at the meetings. It's a liability issue.

    I don't know if you're english or american or if this is a strictly English thing, but we have Slimming world - exactly the same as WW, and they do cater to pregnant women.

    I'm American. That makes sense. We're too litigious over here. :-) But, yeah, the US WW program does not allow pregnant women.
  • deejaycee114
    deejaycee114 Posts: 139 Member
    ...but in a way I am being selfish because I was set on losing it this time and then I found out I was 8 weeks pregnant.

    i'll admit, i felt the same way when i found out i was pregnant. i had already lost almost 30 pounds and thought, oh no, i'm gonna gain it all back! but in the end, it's all worth it. i can't wait to meet my little one! :)
  • BrianaC07
    BrianaC07 Posts: 10
    First, talk to your OB about this. Second, just eat very healthy and do a something like pregnancy yoga to stay in shape. You really don't WANT to lose weight while pregnant. But, you can maintain YOUR weight and only gain BABY weight. And, once you have the baby, any weight you did gain should come off within a few weeks. And then you can start losing the weight you really want to shed. But it's definitely something you need to discuss with your OB. I know how much it sucks gaining weight during pregnancy and not wanting it :/ I gained over 60lbs this time after losing 30lbs after my first and maintaining my weight for months! It was really depressing, and now I have to do it all over again. But the most important thing is that your baby is safe and healthy.
  • ZoobityBop
    ZoobityBop Posts: 22
    I would ask your doctor, but you should be alright, since I lost a lot of weight around the time of my 2nd pregnancy with the diet solution program. i would highly recommend it for someone with your stats and situation. Here's a great review on it that I found: http://fantasticfitnessreviews.com/the-diet-solution-program-review/
  • schondell
    schondell Posts: 556 Member
    Eat healthy and try to maintain your weight until you can speak with a doctor about this :)

    EDIT: Also, working out while pregnant isn't bad. There's yoga and stretching classes for pregnant woman at my local gym!

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