Pregnancy, Weight Loss, and Motivation

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miacatherine
miacatherine Posts: 18 Member
in Motivation and Support
I've had a complete blood work panel complete and my body (according to blood) is working perfectly fine.

I'm nearly 16 weeks pregnant.

In 4 months I've gained 29 lbs. Prior to conceiving I was hovering around 290-295 lbs. for about a year. I was not actively trying to lose, at least not consistently. When I became pregnant, a switch flipped and I started gaining weight. My diet/exercise has not changed. In fact, I was eating significantly less sugar after becoming pregnant.

I don't drink any soda, at all. I have juice sparingly about 4 oz less than 3 times per week.

In order to stop morning sickness I have to eat a high calorie (400-600c) meal first thing. I've tried substituting with several low calorie snacks, it doesn't work.

I'm not significantly bloated or anything that would lead to information to the excessive weight gain. This is my third child. First pregnancy I gained 40 lbs on a very unhealthy, very inactive lifestyle. I retained ALL of the pregnancy weight after delivery. The second pregnancy I initially lost weight and ended up with a gain of 11 lbs. I immediately lost all the gained weight and an additional 14 lbs. over 6 months.

I have tracked calories (1800 limit) for a week and a half and ended up gaining 3 lbs in 10 days. This kills my motivation. If I stay on a strict plan I'm still not losing weight. I drink an excess of water (about 1.5 gallons/day).

It's currently too hot for any outside activities at all. I have a limited budget for fitness investments.

Additionally, as with my last pregnancy, it's likely I'm developing SPD (Symphysis pubis dysfunction) which limits exercise a ton.

I know weight gain needs to stop & I need to lose weight, my midwife is accepting and only encourages healthy loss (which is the only way to do it). I am feeling extremely discouraged, I'm motivated, but seeming met with a brick wall at every turn.

Does anyone have any advice on how to break through?

Replies

  • dandelyon
    dandelyon Posts: 620 Member
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    I realize how upset you must be about having gained weight early on, but you can't go back and undo it. I think your best bet is to pack as much nutrition as you can into your 1800 calories and understand that your baby still has a lot of growing to do, so there may be more to gain.

    Remember that if those pounds you gain are not the result of 3500 surplus calories, then they are not pounds of fat and should fall off quickly after the birth.
  • Hime51
    Hime51 Posts: 1
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    I am 33 weeks pregnant and currently understand your predicament. I am usually around 200lbs but since being pregnant I was losing weight up until a few weeks ago when I suddenly started gaining weight. I gained 6lbs in two weeks. I don't know about the obgyn but that was a lot to me especially since he was saying I wasn't gaining enough weight...I am hopping that I don't gain an extreme amount of weight this pregnancy but people tell me that the last 2 months of pregnancy are the months that people balloon up! I am trying denise austins fit and firm pregnancy and 10minute solution prenatal pilates. They are working for me so far, maybe they will work for you too since they are only 20minutes or 30minutes long depending on which dvd you do.
  • feedmedonuts
    feedmedonuts Posts: 241 Member
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    Congrats on your pregnancy, I am 16 weeks as well :flowerforyou: I'm sorry for your frustrations with morning sickness....I have yet to gain anything from it which is concerning in the opposite!

    I know you said your condition limits exercise, but are you able to do walking at least??? I don't exercise as much as I did pre-preg obviously but walking has been a great form of exercise! Outside or on a treadmill with a slight incline. I know you say it's too hot outside....I live in South Florida so I understand REALLY hot and humid, but I still walk just in the mornings or evening when the sun is not at its worst. Sure sometimes it's even still a little hot then but I listen to my body and stay hydrated :)

    PS do you know if your having a boy/girl? My morning sickness was so bad I had a feeling it was a girl....girl indeed!
  • aefallis
    aefallis Posts: 169 Member
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    Congrats to you! I just had my fifth at the end of June. I gained everything during the first half of my pregnancy and then stayed pretty much the same weight till the end. Maybe try upping your calories a bit? If you aren't eating enough, your body will hold on to everything to make sure the baby (and your body) is taken care of. Then once it realizes that it is, you should start loosing some or at least not gain.
  • momRN2B
    momRN2B Posts: 247 Member
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    come join the fit, fabulous and pregnant group so that you can get support from other pregnant women here on MFP. I used MFP to log my food and exercise during my last pregnancy in order to gain 25 lbs for the pregnancy and stay fit. I had a healthy 8 lb baby boy who is now almost 6 months old. In your situation I think the goal should be to eat healthy and stay within your calorie goals, set them at maintenance for now. Your goal for the rest of the pregnancy should be to maintain your weight since your already gained more than you need and you have extra weight from before the pregnancy. Also try to stay as active as you can like walking, swimming or whatever you can handle. I gained about 19 lbs during the first and second trimester and only 6 in my third. You should also run this my your OBGYN or midwife to make sure that they are ok with it. Good Luck!
  • lisajtubs
    lisajtubs Posts: 62
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    congrats on your pregnancy :-)

    my experience was a little difference to yours i guess so may not be directly relevant. The only real symptom of pregnancy that I had was a MAJOR increase in appetite. The kind where I ate twice as much as i would on a normal day and would still be hungry. I tried to curb it for a month or so but was fed up with it. I decided to just eat whatever I wanted (and i really did). I figured I would deal with the weightgain after my pregnancy once hormones are back to normal. I weighed myself about 6 weeks after giving birth and had gained about 30lbs at that point! looking back, i wish i had exercised throughout, but I would still have eaten the same!

    I say enjoy your pregnancy and do what makes you happy
  • angelblu_92
    angelblu_92 Posts: 1
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    I feel your pain. I found out I was pregnant during the first week at a weight loss challenge which was part of my news years resolution. I weighed 200 lbs which is 50lbs over my reccomended weight for my height. My doctor told me I could still work out but not hard core like I had been trying. But the first trimester I was so exhausted and sick the whole time that I never really worked out. I didnt gain any weight during the first trimester which was nice but then suddenly my second trimester arrived and weight started piling on. I hadnt changed anything in my diet but suddenly it was weight gain galore. My OB said that 5 or more lbs was extra water weight since I have become quite bloaty. But now my second trimester has come to a close and I weigh 230lbs! It can be so hard to look at the scale and know that the weight gain for the baby has just begun. I made a decision that I wasnt going to let this get me down and even though it has gone this far I am starting using the myfitnesspal app to track my meals, excercise, and weight gain. it can be a lot of extra work but I feel in the past week alone I have already made more positive decisions that might hinder extra gain. My goal is to get the fat away and have the baby takes its place.

    Also, I too have now been restricted on certain excercises by my doctor. Some options that have worked for me might work for you too if you have access. Where we live there is no AC anywhere, except cars and grocery stores, so I can understand it being really hot! I am going to the pool once a week, sometimes two. I live in an apartment complex so this part is easyier to accomplish for me, but if you walk up and down the stairs of a building for about 30 minutes that burns major calories and is free opposed to the stair climber a tthe gym. Also on pinterest there are lots of pregnancy safe workouts that you can find and all you need for most of them is your living room!

    Good luck to you and congratulations!

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