Calories before pregnancy
Amber1070
Posts: 106 Member
Ive been dieting since 11-13-12 and have lost 35 lbs eating between 1000-1050 calories a day and exercising daily for 30-60 minutes. We're going to try again soon and I'm wondering how I should adjust my intake. I seem to gain really fast so I dont want to blow it before we even conceive but I don't want to affect the pregnancy,when it happens, negatively right at the start because I'm not eating enough. My dr only wants me to gain max 20 lbs during do to a chronic back injury which is why I recent dropped the weight. So I'd have a comfortable buffer and not get to heavy. I'm 5"10 and currently weigh 162 down from a very puffy 196. Anyone know how important it is to already be maintaining my weight? I really don't know how many calories it takes to do that yet. I've recently been eating 1100 to see what it does.
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When I decided to start mantaining I had a hard time mentally eating all those calories. It sounds like you already have a bigger deficet than the 500 calories a day most of us use to lose 1lb a week. What I did was switch my calories to "lose 1/2 a pound a week" and when I realized that I was still continuing to lose I set it to maintain and monitored that. So I guess what i'm saying is i'd up my calories by 250 for a few weeks and if you are still losing then up them again.0
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You lost a little over 3 pounds per week. That is a 1500 calorie per day deficit.
If you added 1000 back in and ate 2100, it would be a lot safer than what you are currently doing. If you aren't comfortable with that, try anything between 1100 to 2100.
With the exception of (possibly) morbidly obese, it is not recommended for women to diet/restrict during pregnancy. If you are overweight, it is okay to gain less than the average gain recommendations. Get a recommendation from your doctor on what total gain would be healthy.0 -
1200 calories is considered the minimum allowable amount for a non-pregnant person, so you definitely should be upping your calorie intake past 1100 right now, though I would suggest even more than that, especially if you are working out. Eating that little may mess with ovulation, too, making it harder to get pregnant and/or have the appropriate hormone production to allow your baby to implant and grow. My suggestion would be to go to maintenance now if you are actively trying to conceive (or intend to in the near future).
I appreciate that for you it's a medical issue as to why you should only gain so much, but 20 lbs is not a lot of a gain, especially for someone who is not overweight. The typical recommendation is 25-35 lbs for a woman of a healthy weight, and at the recommended gains of 1/2-lb a week for the second trimester and 1-lb a week for the third, that's 20 lbs right there. I'm not saying it's not doable, but you might end up having to be too restrictive with your eating if you try too hard to stay at or under 20 lbs. I'd just hate to see you trying to diet to stay within that when it might not be what is healthiest for you and your baby.0 -
I would suggest moving up to the 1200 range while TTC...or like another suggestion change your setting to lost 1/2lbs instead. You're weightloss might slow a bit but you should still be getting enough calories. I'd look at your nutrients as well and make sure you're getting enough iron, calcium and protein no matter what calorie intake you choose.
I did the TTC thing at 1200 and managed to conceive (mind you I had a little fertility help). After I found out I was pregnant I ate whatever for the first month but most people try to eat a minimum maintenance calories for the first trimester.0
