Caloric intake for preggers

I've got to be honest, the responses to Bumbeen's posts have be fairly rude and ignorant. Dismissing him because he's male and never been pregnant is ridiculous.

There is nothing wrong with eliminating grain during pregnancy as long as the women is still consuming the necessary nutrients. Bumbeen is right that grain is a nutritional weakling compared to other foods. My wife didn't, she likes bagels too much, lol. If I was pregnant (no thanks - lol) I would skip the grain as much as I could and stick to meat, dairy, fruit, veggies and nuts. Although if I suffered from morning sickness I would probably eat grain, especially after seeing what my wife went through and how crackers were often the only thing she could stomach.

Seriously, no need to respond to Bumbeen's post so aggressively, I thought his posts were polite and respectful.

Ultimately, it pays to be extremely careful. My personal belief is that she should eat at maintenance or potentially eat if she's hungry and then monitor her weight gain. If she's gaining too much, reduce intake. That is how my wife's doctors worked with her and many other women I know during their pregnancy.

My sex doesn't prevent me from knowing about erectile dysfunction and other such male related issues. The fact that I have never dealt with any of them and do not study them to a high degree gives me the idea that I should not open my mouth and give advice. I do not see your level of education being of much help to this woman, and it was solidified by your persistent need to cut down what these women who have had children, some of them while overweight and obese, have said. You are not helping the OP in any way by continuing to behave like this.

OP has already been helped, they should listen to their doctor, not some forum. I am trying to argue a point here, and that point is that fat loss while pregnant is not a bad thing.

Why do you think you have greater knowledge on the specific nutritional requirements of pregnancy than an entire thread full of women who have been pregnant, plus the advice of their respective medical professionals?

Because they seem to think that an extra slice of cheese pizza is going to make or break a pregnancy. Cheese pizza isn't exactly the bastion of nutritional fortitude. I should hope this is self-evident.

They also stated pregnancy is not a time for fat loss, which I already showed is false. Their doctors already recommend fat loss during pregnancy if they start out at a BMI over 30.

Who's doctors? My obgyn, dietitian, and midwife agreed that I (my BMI is 35) should not be losing weight, but gaining at a steady and healthy rate. I do not appreciate your generalized statements about these "women" and "doctors" I haven't seen a shred of evidence behind anything you have said.

How much weight did they say you should gain, or what is the range?

I was not given a specific amount to gain. As long as my blood pressure was great and I was gaining at a rate of less than two pounds a week, (I am now at two pounds a week) then I was given the okay. I am allowed to eat 2200-2600 calories a day depending on my exercise amount. I eat less grains, less processed foods, and was a given a specific protein, fiber, and carb daily amount to meet.

So your upper limit is 64 pounds. 8X4X2. Those doctors sound wild!

edit:

this is where I got that information http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pregnancy-weight-gain/PR00111

Overweight (BMI 25 to 29.9) 15 to 25 pounds (about 7 to 11 kilograms)
Obese (BMI 30 or more) 11 to 20 pounds (about 5 to 9 kilograms)

These recommendations necessitate fat loss for BMI over 30 and necessitate either fat loss or no fat gain for overweight women.

edit2: and my supposition, that reducing calories by 140, not eating that slice of cheese pizza, will take you from 11lbs gained to 0lbs gained. If this sounds like it's going to cause problems for the fetus to you, then I give up.

Well I should have gone to bed an hour ago so here is a riddle:

If you're obese, and even overweight, your doctor already recommends fat loss during pregnancy. I'm sure someone will figure this out before morning.

And I refuse to engage with white knights who provide no science. At least make an appeal to authority or something.

Are you a MD? A fellow of the ACOG?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I am on my second pregnancy. I was overweight/borderline obese the first time. My OB, who, by the way, is a MD and a fellow of the ACOG, advised me NOT to lose weight. She said I needed 200-300 calories above maintenance for my pre-pregnancy weight. My sister and SIL went to her for the five pregnancies between them and both were obese for all five pregnancies. I assure you, they were never advised to LOSE weight. (ETA that all five pregnancies, plus one of mine, resulted in healthy, full-term babies, including a set of twins who were born at "term," since that has a different meaning with multiples. The remaining one is my current pregnancy.)

That said, if a doctor DID advise that a pregnant woman lose weight, certainly s/he would be monitoring the baby's growth on a more regular basis than s/he would for other women with normal pregnancies. No woman should take on that agenda on her own.

A biochemistry degree is all fine and good, but you are not an OB or even a MD. As such, please refrain from attempting to override the advice we were all given by medical professionals.

How much weight did you gain during that pregnancy? Was it under 25lbs? If so then you lost fat.

This is incorrect - approximately 5lbs of that 25lbs of gained weight are additional fat gained for delivery and breast feeding - for a woman to actually lose fat during pregnancy based solely on pregnancy weight gain the figure would be more in the limited gain of 15 lbs to 20 lbs - which is acceptable for some doctors for some pregnancies for highly overweight women.
But you are wrong, in the general case a small deficit of a 140 calories (your pizza slice) is actually a NET deficit of 400-700 or so of NEEDED calories for the development of the pregnancy.

A couple of things I have seen that are incorrect in this thread:

A baby does not suck up iron - the supplemental iron need is locked up in the addition 4-5 lbs of blood supply for nutrient transport. Hemoglobin production binds iron pretty much irreversibly.

You stated "It is incorrect to state a calorie deficit is not appropriate for pregnancy" - your statement is incorrect or at best poorly worded - a calorie deficit from the TDEE of the women pre-pregnancy would be catastrophic for the pregnancy. Even the smallest recommended gain during a pregnancy of 10-20 lbs represents about 200-300 calories over maintenance if if was just fat weight gain (most major gain is usually seen ib a 6 month period - do the math). However, given the actual metabolic changes - high cellular synthesis, protein turn-over, hormonal fireworks - the actual needs are closer to double or triple that. And slightly more important than calories are micro nutrient needs - gaining a few pounds over the recommended weight is less of an issue than not gaining enough and assuring these needs.

edit2: and my supposition, that reducing calories by 140, not eating that slice of cheese pizza, will take you from 11lbs gained to 0lbs gained. If this sounds like it's going to cause problems for the fetus to you, then I give up.

You should give up because a pregnancy with zero gain - as you suggest a few posts up - results not only in risks of premature birth and low birthweight babies (which have a higher risk) and are clearly a sign of undernourished/malnourished during pregnancy.

1000 cals is not healthy for anyone.

1400 is not healthy for pregnancy.

Please talk to your OB or midwife to find a healthy number, because those are WAY WAY WAY too low.

A healthy amount to gain during pregnancy is 15-25lb for overweight women, 25-35 for average women, and 28-40 (or more!) for petite and underweight women.

You are growing a human being, and that takes a lot of work. PLEASE EAT MORE!!!!


And for the record, ACOG does NOT RECOMMEND weight loss during pregnancy, so there should NOT be any calorie deficit.

Weight loss is not recommended during
pregnancy, even for those who are overweight
or obese. Prenatal weight gain should follow
the Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines:
• 25-35 lbs. for women of normal weight
• 15-25 lbs. for overweight women

http://mail.ny.acog.org/website/FinalObesity.pdf


EDITED TO ADD:

Oh, and since some people seem obsessed with credentials, I'm a Certified Doula and a midwifery student. So yes, I do know a thing or two about pregnancy. Not to mention being pregnant twice.

How can a pregnant woman gain 15lbs and not lose any fat. That is impossible.

Please talk to your OB/GYN hun, it's your safest bet and they will know what is right for your specific needs

When I was pregnant I had gained 24 pound at 24 weeks of pregnancy. I was 176 at 24 weeks. I started eating a Paleo diet, but did include dairy. It is similar to eating clean. Lots of protein, eggs, meat, nuts, fruit and veggies. I ate as much as I needed to be satisfied. I only tracked a few days for the sake of knowing how much I was eating, and it typically was about 1800-1900 calories/ day. I did not gain any weight from 24 weeks to 34 weeks, and then gained about 4 pounds in the last 5 weeks.

I know you should not "diet" when pregnant, but if eatin protein, fruit and veggies is bad for my baby that is crazy!! Just make healthy choices and avoid simple sugars like desserts. I also cut out all breads, pastas, rice, etc.

I am happy to say I lost all of the baby weight in 8 weeks, and now an additional 13 and the baby is 4 months old. It was very helpful to not put on 40-50 pounds during pregnancy, which was where I was headed!!

If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them for you

OP congrats on your baby!

And my advice, for what its worth, is to set your goal to maintenance and focus carefully on meeting micro nutrient goals (not just macro nutrients) UNTIL you can get in to see an OB and/or nutritionist who SPECIALIZES in the care and feeding of overweight pregnant ladies. Most good sized towns have someone who does it. I know around here there is one of each.

And once again, congrats and best wishes for a healthy baby AND mommy.

Well I should have gone to bed an hour ago so here is a riddle:

If you're obese, and even overweight, your doctor already recommends fat loss during pregnancy. I'm sure someone will figure this out before morning.

And I refuse to engage with white knights who provide no science. At least make an appeal to authority or something.

Are you a MD? A fellow of the ACOG?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I am on my second pregnancy. I was overweight/borderline obese the first time. My OB, who, by the way, is a MD and a fellow of the ACOG, advised me NOT to lose weight. She said I needed 200-300 calories above maintenance for my pre-pregnancy weight. My sister and SIL went to her for the five pregnancies between them and both were obese for all five pregnancies. I assure you, they were never advised to LOSE weight. (ETA that all five pregnancies, plus one of mine, resulted in healthy, full-term babies, including a set of twins who were born at "term," since that has a different meaning with multiples. The remaining one is my current pregnancy.)

That said, if a doctor DID advise that a pregnant woman lose weight, certainly s/he would be monitoring the baby's growth on a more regular basis than s/he would for other women with normal pregnancies. No woman should take on that agenda on her own.

A biochemistry degree is all fine and good, but you are not an OB or even a MD. As such, please refrain from attempting to override the advice we were all given by medical professionals.

How much weight did you gain during that pregnancy? Was it under 25lbs? If so then you lost fat.

Nope, I gained 65. But thanks for playing.

Too much, 40lbs max recommended for underweight women

Being pregnant is a good excuse to pack on mass though....... I wish I could get pregnant.

Thanks for the medical advice and telling me it was an "excuse to pack on mass." That's totally what I was going for. I had no idea that I shouldn't have gained that much, really, until you told me that.

Have a good day!

Let me apologize, I thought your previous tone was antagonistic as per the rest of the responses to me in the thread.

As a Doula, I can tell you that you should still be thinking about calories - not too little, not too much.

First trimester - eat at your maintenance amount.
Second - maintenance +200
Third - maintenance +300

It's so important to eat enough and to also not "let yourself go" and eat buckets of icecream. Listen to your body and what it wants. Craving ice cream? Have some frozen yoghurt. Burger? Have a lean steak. Fries? Have some sautéed new potatoes.

This is what I did..increased cals per trimester...focused on nutrition..baby grew but I didn't. Finished pregnancy where I started..5th pregnancy but first one that I didn't gain on. I also didn't diary every day just occasionally to check (personal) I didn't what to fixate on number just nutrition and paying attention to hunger with good choices. Third trimester was the hungriest for me. I still went to my PT but she knew what she was doing...I wouldn't have done training on own with limited knowledge. Walking at best though.

Current recommendations for weight gain:

Pre-pregnancy weight Recommended weight gain
Underweight (BMI less than 18.5) 28 to 40 pounds (about 13 to 18 kilograms)
Normal weight (BMI 18.5 to 24.9) 25 to 35 pounds (about 11 to 16 kilograms)
Overweight (BMI 25 to 29.9) 15 to 25 pounds (about 7 to 11 kilograms)
Obese (BMI 30 or more) 11 to 20 pounds (about 5 to 9 kilograms)

Well I should have gone to bed an hour ago so here is a riddle:

If you're obese, and even overweight, your doctor already recommends fat loss during pregnancy. I'm sure someone will figure this out before morning.

And I refuse to engage with white knights who provide no science. At least make an appeal to authority or something.

Are you a MD? A fellow of the ACOG?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I am on my second pregnancy. I was overweight/borderline obese the first time. My OB, who, by the way, is a MD and a fellow of the ACOG, advised me NOT to lose weight. She said I needed 200-300 calories above maintenance for my pre-pregnancy weight. My sister and SIL went to her for the five pregnancies between them and both were obese for all five pregnancies. I assure you, they were never advised to LOSE weight. (ETA that all five pregnancies, plus one of mine, resulted in healthy, full-term babies, including a set of twins who were born at "term," since that has a different meaning with multiples. The remaining one is my current pregnancy.)

That said, if a doctor DID advise that a pregnant woman lose weight, certainly s/he would be monitoring the baby's growth on a more regular basis than s/he would for other women with normal pregnancies. No woman should take on that agenda on her own.

A biochemistry degree is all fine and good, but you are not an OB or even a MD. As such, please refrain from attempting to override the advice we were all given by medical professionals.

How much weight did you gain during that pregnancy? Was it under 25lbs? If so then you lost fat.

This is incorrect - approximately 5lbs of that 25lbs of gained weight are additional fat gained for delivery and breast feeding - for a woman to actually lose fat during pregnancy based solely on pregnancy weight gain the figure would be more in the limited gain of 15 lbs to 20 lbs - which is acceptable for some doctors for some pregnancies for highly overweight women.
But you are wrong, in the general case a small deficit of a 140 calories (your pizza slice) is actually a NET deficit of 400-700 or so of NEEDED calories for the development of the pregnancy.

A couple of things I have seen that are incorrect in this thread:

A baby does not suck up iron - the supplemental iron need is locked up in the addition 4-5 lbs of blood supply for nutrient transport. Hemoglobin production binds iron pretty much irreversibly.

You stated "It is incorrect to state a calorie deficit is not appropriate for pregnancy" - your statement is incorrect or at best poorly worded - a calorie deficit from the TDEE of the women pre-pregnancy would be catastrophic for the pregnancy. Even the smallest recommended gain during a pregnancy of 10-20 lbs represents about 200-300 calories over maintenance if if was just fat weight gain (most major gain is usually seen ib a 6 month period - do the math). However, given the actual metabolic changes - high cellular synthesis, protein turn-over, hormonal fireworks - the actual needs are closer to double or triple that. And slightly more important than calories are micro nutrient needs - gaining a few pounds over the recommended weight is less of an issue than not gaining enough and assuring these needs.

edit2: and my supposition, that reducing calories by 140, not eating that slice of cheese pizza, will take you from 11lbs gained to 0lbs gained. If this sounds like it's going to cause problems for the fetus to you, then I give up.

You should give up because a pregnancy with zero gain - as you suggest a few posts up - results not only in risks of premature birth and low birthweight babies (which have a higher risk) and are clearly a sign of undernourished/malnourished during pregnancy.

I like most of what you said, but I left the hospital with both children weighing less than I did when I conceived them. I had my son on my due date, my daughter a week overdue. My son was 9lb 7oz, my daughter 8lb 13oz. I didn't gain a pound during the first pregnancy, gained 10 with the second. I had to go buy smaller jeans the minute I left the hospital both times.

Granted, my body apparently handles pregnancy very differently than the average woman. But I didn't have a single complication and have perfectly healthy children.

For the record, my son, with 0 pounds gained, came out holding his head up, and was doing pushups during tummy time at 2 weeks old. He was insanely strong, too. No ill effects whatsoever.

Ending your pregnancy weighing less than when you got pregnant? Not great. Zero pound gain, a little better, but still not great... but not the end of the world.

Wow... and I totally took over this thread. Sorry - as a nursing student/CNM wannabe/women's health research junkie I get a little passionate about this stuff.