Gaining for Pregnancy

Although i've never been pregnant, my mom is an OBGYN Nurse Practitioner and she has had two kids. We have talked about weight gain and pregnancy and she stated that you should just continue eating normally, get all of the nutrients in that your body needs and you'll be set. You will naturally gain weight throughout the progression of the pregnancy. Talk to your doctor about how much weight you should gain though because I am not a doctor!

Unless you were underweight to begin with it is not concerning that you have not gained weight up to this point...16 weeks is still really pretty early. Most women only need to add 200-300 calories a day to their diet for a healthy pregnancy. Make sure to take your prenatal vitamin every day. If you are dealing with severe nausea than talk to your doctor about different options...I was on 4 different anti-nausea meds that I had on a strict schedule where they would overlap with each other otherwise I couldn't even keep water down.

Hey there!

I had my baby 11 weeks ago. I loved being pregnant, I didn't gain a ton of weight by 16 weeks either, nor did I worry about it. Every woman gains differently in pregnancy. You don't need to worry about the amount you eat, that's a pretty out dated assumption. The nutrition you eat is what's important, your body knows exactly what to do and as your baby starts to get bigger that's when you'll see the scale start to creep up, which will be very soon!! Your general body fat should stay within your healthy set amount throughtout most of your pregnancy if that's where your starting, you might see a bit of extra fat around the hips in the last couple of months. But if it's a real concern and your doctor is giving you strict orders to gain weight, then I recommend some good protein rich foods that are fatty but full of nutrients like cheesie veggie laden omllets, salmon (salmon is very low mercury and can be eaten as often as you like.) Add a tablespoon or two of a good extra virgin olive oil to anything and everything you like, put it on bread or in salads or in soups or even in smoothies for a good wollop of healthy fats. Granola is another excellent source of protein and healthy fats, have it with a dollop of Greek yogurt and some berries and you've got yourself an A+ pregnancy meal complete with calcium, vitamins, complete protines and all kinds of fat and carbohydrates your body needs to build a human being. If your baby can't gain weight it's more likely to be a problem with the placenta and not what your eating. It's still really early so don't worry about anything like that yet!

Even if your trying to put on weight be sure you're getting plenty of excersise, that makes all the difference in how positively you experience your pregnancy and labour. I worked on my feet until eight months pregnant and enjoyed 5km walks a few times a week. I ended up not gaining much fat at all. My labour was only 6 hours and was completely natural with no meds or anything! My baby was a good healthy 8.4 lbs and super alert with eyes wide open. I was home in my own bed three hours later!

Bottom line, take care of yourself, eat well and clean, do as much moderate excersise as you can that you enjoy to keep your body and mind as strong as possible. It's not time to sit on the couch and get pampered, pregnancy is time to prepare yourself for the most rewarding and empowering marathon of your life, labour!!

Hope this helped,
Nikki