Help! Pregnancy Too Much Weight Gain!

Okay, so first off - I would really consider another doctor, or at least consulting one. For this reason: there can be many very good reasons for you to be gaining extra weight right now.

You could have a baby that is going to end up as a big little one who needs more nutrition.
You could have multiples (which can be quite hard to detect this early on, frankly - but do cause more severe nausea and elevated HCG, often).
You could have something yourself that requires more nutrition (I had this myself - I turned out to have an undiagnosed disease that caused me not to absorb nutrients properly. If I hadn't overeaten, I could have lost the baby or been quite ill).

While, yes, gaining a large amount of weight throughout the whole pregnancy could be problematic, you've got a LOOOOONG way to go before you're in that situation. And ANY doctor who is recommending that a highly nauseated woman go exercise shows a lack of compassion and understanding of the condition that, truly, says poor things about him and his ability to be a person you want anywhere near you while giving birth and feeling more vulnerable than you may ever feel in your lifetime.

As for foods - first off, truly, if you can, I'd consider getting a celiac disease blood panel. It is on the rise, involves gluten, and during pregnancy the body can become more sensitized (or sometimes the pregnancy can trigger it, actually), and can make nausea much worse. If you have a good regular doc, might be worth asking for the test.

SEcond - after you get a celiac test, because the following advice will cause less accuracy to the test and invalidate it - you might try to drop wheat, or all gluten containing grains plus oats. A study years ago looked at cultures who have morning sickness. Three had never even heard of it, and the only common ground for them was they were the only cultures who didn't consume wheat. Two ate corn only, one ate only rice. I know some gals who have gone this route and the nausea was much better.

This site is great for learning to cook a lot of veggies. It's just a huge list of recipes, by vegetable, and how to cook them. Has a lot of basic information too (because i"m not much of a cook either!) http://aveggieventuresrecipebox.blogspot.com/2005/03/alphabet-of-vegetables_6295.html

For ground hamburger - I started finely grating veggies and adding them to my burgers to cook. Like, yellow squash worked well, and actually made the burger more juice. Adding a bunch of stuff to ground meat can take up space, but add taste and nutrition - and often lower calories, if you are using veggies. Tiny pieces of mushroom, veggies, etc...

I used to keep a baggie of food in my pocket so I could eat a piece or two every few minutes - I was totally in your place, just nauseated all the time and trying to keep it down. Hunger seemed to make it worse, so that constant little snacks actually helped more than eating, getting nauseated, then eating again, if that makes sense?

At night, I kept something by the bed so whenever I got up to pee, I would grab a bite, hungry or not, and that made the mornings better, too.

Having a veggie or fruit with a protein dip is nice for some, and as protein seems good for you, might be nice. Like apples and peanut butter, carrots or cucumbers and hummus, broccoli and soothing dairy based. .


One thing that struck me after getting to know a lot of mothers was how individual we all ended up being. Some folks felt better with more protein, some with more carbs, some when they avoided dairy or wheat or sweets or coffee, some felt better when they only drank liquids at a certain temperature, or if they avoided artificial dyes and preservatives....it was really all so individual. The big thing seems to be to try different things and see what works for you.

I wish you good luck, and hope you feel better soon!!