Pregnant... do I have to gain?

I would discuss this with your dr. I always lost weight when I was pregnant, by simply eating healthier and dropping caffeine. But I was very overweight. I also had 4 very healthy sized babies.

I'm going with "talk to your doctor."

When you asked your doctor this question, what did he/she say? I would go with that.

Congrats! Talk to your doctor about your diet and exercise.
You WILL gain. But you're supposed to.


This isn't about just you right now

This is only my personal experience. When I was pregnant with my first
I ate a bit unhealthy before so when I fell pregnant I made sure to eat my five a day drank milk for calcium had fruit juice with my dinner to help absorb the iron from the meat. I had musli for breakfast for the oats and fruit to keep things moving along so to speak and doing all this I lost more than a dress size in first month I was pregnant. I didn't count calories I ate good meals snacked on berries and grapes. There is no need to put on a lot of weight. If you already run and have no pelvic floor problems it's safe to carry on running. Any sport with tackling is not a good idea, I always went to aqua natal an water aerobic class for pregnant women.

When I got pregnant with my first, I weighed 250 lbs, so I was obviously already eating way over what I should. it is uncomfortable to be that heavy and pregnant, so with the help of a nutritionist, I managed to not gain, but I didn't lose either... so obviously I lost some to make up the difference, lol. That was the first two trimesters. My overall gain was 10 lbs, and he was 8lb, 8oz.

I also worked out when I could, but I was pretty sick through most of the pregnancy. I cut out the really high intensity stuff and focused on walking, swimming (swimming felt GREAT), and lifting weights up to a point. I had a heart rate monitor and was told to keep my heart rate within a certain range (but I don't remember what it was now). I had a doctor that was really understanding!

You will probably gain, BUT it is easy to keep it low, especially if you are larger to begin with.

Congrats!!

Talk to doctor.

You should be eating at least at maintenance. You're doctor can direct you as to how much more to add and when, and as to what kind of activities are appropriate.

Hey OP, congrats!!!

As countless others have (and will!) say, you need to discuss this with your doctor.

Anecdotally.... I was (still am) severely overweight when I found myself pregnant with my 2nd child. I tracked my calories on here, and made eating healthy AND not gaining serious weight my priority. I gained a total of 18lbs, most of it in the last trimester. I gave birth to a nearly 9lb baby, and within days was back to the weight I was when I found out I was pregnant with her.

Also, as far as working out. I kept running with my first pregnancy (before I went to my first appt) because I had read over and over that whatever you were doing prior to getting pregnant, at that point was probably okay. And at my first appt my dr found two large cysts, one on each ovary…and told me no more running because of risk of torsion. I was so naive. I could walk after that though and did some arm stuff with 10 lb dumbbells. And prenatal yoga.

I'd lost weight before 5th baby and felt the same as you. What to do? Definitely speak to your Doctor as they can give you better information in regards to what is the appropriate weight gain for your current BMI. They don't want you to overly gain either if already in the obese range for the sake of a healthy pregnancy/birth for mum and baby but neither do they want you to undermine nutrition.

I ate for health/energy. Pretty much stopped logging to avoid having a dieters head. I kept up training too but that was under the guidance of a PT who was experienced in training pregnant women. The first trimester I gained (ate a greater balance of carb due to nausea), the second sort of levelled out with a slower gain and I ate normally (as in nutrition being well rounded), then in the third my appetite definitely increased so I just ate more protein, veg, pulses, dairy and fruit and put on slightly more than first trimester. Obviously this may be individual. Once bub was born, I was pretty much back to where I started and baby was healthy/average size. I knew that if I let it all go, I'd be an unhappy mum and I didn't want that. I understand why you are asking.

It's really important to speak to a doctor though to give you confidence/knowledge with this. Obviously you know you will gain but it doesn't have to blow out completely. You need to have a balance in your head of acceptance, nurturing baby, your health and patience.

In the first trimester you can eat at maintenance till you talk to your doctor or midwife. It is true that there are different guidelines for people with an obese bmi, but we aren't qualified to advise you. You don't need to gain a lot of actual body weight. I am slim. For my second pregnancy I gained around 30 or 35 pounds, but only ten pounds was my body weight.

Soooo just found out yesterday that I'm pregnant! I've been working my butt off for the past few months and I'm in such GREAT shape so there's that part of me that was bummed to have my progress derailed (BUT I'm also excited, don't get me wrong... this is my 4th baby!). I'm still considered to be in an "obese" BMI range. I really don't want to gain a ton of weight and I'm thinking about continuing to count calories and wondering if I should change my settings to maintenance??

I also want to continue working out, but I was working out pretty hardcore before, lots of high impact stuff. Anyone know if it's still ok to do that stuff or do I need to tone it down? I plan on talking to my doctor at some point but I won't get in for a while yet.

Congratulations!

Well, you will naturally gain weight with pregnancy. That's just how it works.

Lots of women work out while pregnant. However, it's important to be under a doctor's care regarding both working out and your eating habits.

Good luck!

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Morbidly obese it is beneficial to lose some weight while preggers, so if you're only a measly "obese" you should ask your doctor what he/she personally recommends for you. :drinker: maintenance sounds good to me but I'm only a nurse.

I guess I worded the title wrong. Obviously I know I will gain SOMETHING, but I've always gained a TON during my pregnancies. My first I gained 60 pounds. I really don't want to do that again. This is my 4th baby, but I've never once paid attention to what I eat during pregnancy and I would like to pay better attention to my food choices.

When you put it like this….No you don't have to gain a TON of weight.