Pregnancy and Calories

You're pregnant. You want to eat in a calorie surplus. You can do the bookkeeping however you like.

Have you been exercising throughout the entire pregnancy? I hope so, because starting Boot Camp at 18 weeks sounds a little risky if you've been sedentary. That said, YES, eat the calories!

You're pregnant. You want to eat in a calorie surplus. You can do the bookkeeping however you like.

You should be eating a surplus of 300-500 calories a day.

Make sure to consult your doctor (if you haven't already) about performing strenuous exercise.

Also, just to throw this out there. There is a 99.9% chance your doctor doesn't know anything about MFP and its method of separately accounting for exercise calories. If he gives you a calorie target, it will most likely be based on estimated TDEE + a surplus, which is totally normal and reasonable. In this case, you wouldn't worry about "eating back exercise calories"

Yes, eat them back.

Also, unless you've been doing boot camp all along, I don't recommend picking up this kind of workout during pregnancy. Generally, maintaining your pre-baby level of fitness with modifications (no jumping or jarring exercises, etc.) is a good idea, but it's not recommended to try something new while pregnant unless you're already in good physical condition working at the same level of fitness as before. If you are very fit, then you should be fine to continue.

Yes, definitely! Now is not the time to worry about weight loss or maintenance. You're thin and will gain weight during pregnancy.

Get used to the idea for the health of your baby.

I know lots of women who did strenuous workouts until they were so big they couldn't do it anymore. I don't think you're dumb for doing strenuous exercise, but I do think that if you don't know if you should be eating 500 calories worth of exercise back into your body, you probably should speak with your doctor and ask her to give you a ballpark calorie goal.

Unless you have a medical condition, and you feel good, there's no reason your exercise needs to be less vigorous. But do be careful about eating enough.

Just looking for some opinions. I'm 18 weeks pregnant and have started back at the gym doing boot camp classes. I'm earning about 500 calories a day. Would you eat the calories back if you were me?

I would say you should. I'm pregnant with my 2nd child (11w) and I am eating my excercise calories back. You don't look like you need to lose a bunch of weight, so you should be eating to maintain, rather than at a calorie deficit. The most important thing is a healthy baby and mommy!

An anecdote: When a friend of mine was pregnant, she ate really healthy, very clean; when she gave birth, the midwives and doctors all commented on how healthy her placenta was.

I would consult with your doctor so that you can be sure you are nourishing yourself and your baby properly.

^ What they said. Everyone can be a bit different and your doctor should be giving you a target weight to go towards for each trimester if not month.

Just looking for some opinions. I'm 18 weeks pregnant and have started back at the gym doing boot camp classes. I'm earning about 500 calories a day. Would you eat the calories back if you were me?

As a an OB nurse who is now teaching this, and if your photo is truly representative of how you started, you need to gain about 30 lbs for your whole pregnancy. Subtract what you have gained so far and divide the difference by 22. that will tell you how many pounds to gain per week until your due date. Your weight gain may not follow that exact curve, but that is a guideline to follow. Remember it takes approximately 500 extra calories per day for anyone (not pregnant) to gain a pound in a week. If you are exercising enough to negate that extra intake, you need to cut down on the exercise or eat more.
If you have been doing this exercise before it might be okay to continue, but if you have a history of any complications, don't do it until you run it by your doctor. I wouldn't say you absolutely should not, but it is true that any woman is more prone to injury during pregancy because of the softening effect the hormones that maintain pregancy have on connective tissues, in particular, not to mention the change in center of gravity and balance as you grow. Take it easy so as to avoid injury.

you need to eat if you are hungry. you dont want the baby to take all of what you have, you want the baby to take from the food you eat.