Pregnancy Weight Gain?

DaneDog28
DaneDog28 Posts: 11 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all, I am currently 14 weeks pregnant with my first. I am 5'3", and pretty small, pre-pregnancy weight was about 113-115. I was only 113 when I found out I was pregnant, and only gained about 3lbs in the first trimester. I am working out several times a week - alternating between walking on the treadmill at 4.0-4.3 RPM or weight circuits - obviously I am not lifting as heavy as I was before I was pregnant, and need to ask the doctor how heavy I can actually lift ( I was told to only scale back a tiny bit and I used to lift pretty heavy). Because of my size I don't want to get huge but don't want to deprive the baby either. I work a corporate desk job but get up and move around a lot during the day, sometimes using the bathroom on the 2nd floor so I am forced to go up and down stairs.
Any advice on how many calories I should be eating? I know they say 300 in the 2nd trimester and I've set my goal here to gain .5 a week. I still can't tell if I am eating too much or too little and if I should eat back my exercise calories?

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Yes, you should eat back exercise cals if you're following MFP recommendations for calories.
  • DaneDog28
    DaneDog28 Posts: 11 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Yes, you should eat back exercise cals if you're following MFP recommendations for calories.

    Im confused on how that works, isnt the point of working out to create a deficit?
  • marissafit06
    marissafit06 Posts: 1,996 Member
    Not if you're pregnant. You can work out for pleasure, calculate the caloric burn from the workout and eat more back to compensate. If you look in the weight gaining threads a lot of those people are still exercising, they just increase their surplus so that they are still gaining weight.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited March 2018
    DaneDog28 wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Yes, you should eat back exercise cals if you're following MFP recommendations for calories.

    Im confused on how that works, isnt the point of working out to create a deficit?

    No...your calorie target is already your deficit if you said you wanted to lose weight and it excludes exercise.

    Beyond that, the fact that you're talking about creating a deficit with either diet or exercise while you're pregnant is rather disturbing...you should be eating more and gaining weight, not creating a deficit.

    Exercise is for health, fitness, and overall well being.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    DaneDog28 wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Yes, you should eat back exercise cals if you're following MFP recommendations for calories.

    Im confused on how that works, isnt the point of working out to create a deficit?

    Not when you're pregnant
  • DaneDog28
    DaneDog28 Posts: 11 Member
    Im not trying to create a deficit or lose weight - I am just confused on the whole eating back your workout calories.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    DaneDog28 wrote: »
    Im not trying to create a deficit or lose weight - I am just confused on the whole eating back your workout calories.

    Which is why you need to eat them back. Otherwise you're burning extra calories and creating a deficit
  • DaneDog28
    DaneDog28 Posts: 11 Member
    Ah ok got it.
    Thank you everyone for your help!
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
    DaneDog28 wrote: »
    Ah ok got it.
    Thank you everyone for your help!

    the very best thing for you and your baby is ask your ob/gyn

  • julie_broadhead
    julie_broadhead Posts: 347 Member
    I would add the 300 calories manually. If your not hungry for them all don't eat them all. Most prenatal care providers these days will tell you if you are gaining too fast. You can expect to gain between 30 and 40 lb for your entire pregnancy. Most of that weight will be gone by the time you go to your post natal check up. Here are some resources for working out during pregnancy:
    https://m.acog.org/Patients/FAQs/Exercise-During-Pregnancy?IsMobileSet=true
    https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/blog/pregnancy/5-types-exercise-avoid-pregnancy/
    Girls Gone Strong has great prenatal exercise info.
    https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/blog/category/pregnancy/
    Congrats on your pregnancy! You are right to discuss all of this with your care provider. I used to ask my provider all the time if my weight was doing alright:-)

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