Pregnancy Nutrition Help

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dmcohee
dmcohee Posts: 99 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I recently found out that I'm pregnant. I normally keep my calories to an average of 1400/day during the week but I go way over on weekends in part because I will go out for drinks. I've been mostly just maintaining my weight. Now that I'm pregnant and have cut out the weekend drinks and daily morning latte I would need to increase the amount that I eat so that I'm not losing weight, right? I read that in your first trimester you don't really need to increase your calories, so should I adjust my calories so that I'm maintaining my weight, which would be around 1800/day? I know these may sound like common sense questions, but I don't want to increase my calories more than I really need to and then find myself filling them with junk (since I've already been craving cake cake cake). Right now I mostly just eat when I'm hungry and am doing my best to stay eating healthy. It's just tough right now because the extra calories feel like a hall pass to eat all those things I gave up to become more healthy. So also any suggestions on low cal desserts would be great! Thanks in advance :smile:

Replies

  • jessicamichalski
    jessicamichalski Posts: 45
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    I am in the same position you are..so I would like to know as well!
  • Kirstie_C26
    Kirstie_C26 Posts: 490 Member
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    i like the weight watchers rich choc dessert, the weight watchers belgian choc +vanilla mousse, eat smart choc mousse, weight watchers mini cupcakes with choc topping....

    :) hope this helps

    best wishes
    Kirstie xx
  • rmhand
    rmhand Posts: 1,067 Member
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    Congratulations!
    My sister had a baby 3 weeks ago and was asking about using MFP. I think its not recommended for pregnant or nursing moms but I know there is a lot of info out there about nutritional needs and you could maybe create your own custom food goals.

    I haven't really done any research on it but I'd look at the MFP basics and see what they say.
  • fuhrmeister
    fuhrmeister Posts: 1,796 Member
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    Congratulations!!!

    I have never been pregnant but I have a frined who is she is just maitaing her cals in the first trimester. I have been trying to get pregnant and I have read you really only need to increase your cals by about 300 in the later trimesters.

    As for low cal desserts. I love fruit on the bottom greek yogurt. raspberry sorbet, whipped cream on my pudding cups to make them feel special or plan old ice cream served in a tea cup so i don't eat too much.

    I hope this help. Best wished to you for a healthy pregnancy.
  • skinnyhopes
    skinnyhopes Posts: 402 Member
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    Yay! Congrats.

    Some really good law cal desserts are:

    Baked Apples with cinnamon
    Frozen fruit (especially grapes and berries)
    Apple with nutella or peanut butter
    Graham cracker and whipped cream, freeze it for 30 mins
    Whipped cream drizzled with chocolate and caramel syrup
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    Increase your calories to your maintenance amount for at least the first trimester. Of course, if you find yourself hungry you should eat something healthy, even if it makes you go over your calories a little. Sometime in the second trimester you should increase your daily calories by 300 and eat at that amount for the rest of your pregnancy, unless you have multiples. You'll need 500-600 extra for twins, about 900 extra for triplets, etc.

    I recommend taking the GNC prenatal pack. It has a multivitamin, extra calcium and DHA in separate pills. I took 1 multivitamin in morning, 1 at night (you have to take two a day), and the calcium and DHA with lunch. Take the DHA with food or else you may get fishy burps, which are totally gross. GNC's DHA is made using a special process that takes any mercury which may have come from the fish oil out, so there's no worry of your baby getting exposed to high levels of mercury.

    As far as desserts go, choose natural. Avoid artificial sweeteners at all costs! Have some yummy sorbet or fresh berries and peaches with vanilla yogurt or a little whipped cream. Stay away from refined sugar as much as possible and high fructose corn syrup too. Anyone can develop gestational diabetes and both those cause big blood sugar spikes.
  • dmcohee
    dmcohee Posts: 99 Member
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    Thanks everyone! This is actually my 3rd pregnancy (4th child), but the first time while being a "calorie counter". I want to continue counting calories while pregnant to make sure that I'm still holding myself accountable to healthy choices and to make sure that I'm eating enough. I will be stopping by GNC this weekend.

    The dessert advice is great too!

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