Pregnant, what should my calorie intake be?
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DomesticKat wrote: »I would determine what your maintenance calories are for your desired weight and stick with that. No one ever has to eat "more" when they are pregnant. If you are overeating, causing your excess weight, there is nothing wrong with cutting back to "normal" portions. What you don't want to do is go on some strict, calorically controlled diet meant for extreme weight loss.
I've known several very overweight women who've used their pregnancy to clean up their eating habits and ended up weighing less at delivery than when they started out.
The March of Dimes and pretty much every health organization would disagree with you. This is honestly one of the most dangerous comments I've ever seen on here.
https://www.marchofdimes.org/pregnancy/weight-gain-during-pregnancy.aspx
I agree that my post was "dangerous" in regards to a woman who is already at an ideal weight and eats "normally." For instance, during my first pregnancy, I was 5'7" tall, weighed 130 lbs, and ate a normal diet. Of course, I wouldn't cut my calories. Of course, I added foods to my diet.
In this case, we are talking about a poster who is already significantly overweight. I would venture to say that to get to being that overweight, the poster probably eats well over 2,000 calories a day, probably more. This poster does not need to follow the March of Dimes advice and add 300 calories per day to her diet. In fact, she could safely cut her calories to 2,000 a day, wonderfully feed her baby in utero, and probably shed a good amount of pounds during pregnancy. My own OB/GYN recommends this for overweight women in pregnancy. It's a heck of a lot safer then going into pregnancy overweight and adding more weight on...lots of problems there.
I have to agree with @DomestiKat. Giving a pregnant woman advice on weight loss, nutrition, health, etc. is dangerous and irresponsible. OP, talk to your OB, GP, midwife, whatever and stop asking for advice on chat forums until after that kid is either born, or if breastfeeding, weaned.5 -
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Set to maintenance until you talk to your doctor
This. Please do NOT take advice, especially weight loss advice during pregnancy from random folks on a message board. There are instances where not gaining weight/losing weight is what's best for the baby, but let a Dr tell you if that applies. Not us.4 -
Maintenance0
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300 calories above what you need to maintain. Congrats!3
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christineturcotte1 wrote: »300 calories above what you need to maintain. Congrats!
300 calories above what she needs to maintain her goal weight or her current weight of 250 pounds?3 -
DomesticKat wrote: »You are NOT this woman's doctor and you are not more of an authority than an organization like the March of Dimes. Even obese women should gain weight. Stop.
I completely agree that OP should consult a doctor for her individual circumstances. But I wanted to correct the misinformation that it is never safe to lose weight during pregnancy.
In many studies, for obese women, maintaining or even losing weight during pregnancy has been associated with BETTER health outcomes for mom and baby.
The idea that one should never attempt to lose weight is propagated so that healthy-weight women do not attempt to restrict their weight gain, which is important.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25730217
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070605185550.htm
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3953/1ec53cd38d064eb521693d2f3dab477a4e51.pdf
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/busting-5-myths-about-pregnancy-and-weight/
http://www.doctorthornton.com/docs/study.pdf
https://www.bda.uk.com/dt/articles/maternal_obesity5 -
whisker1984 wrote: »DomesticKat wrote: »You are NOT this woman's doctor and you are not more of an authority than an organization like the March of Dimes. Even obese women should gain weight. Stop.
I completely agree that OP should consult a doctor for her individual circumstances. But I wanted to correct the misinformation that it is never safe to lose weight during pregnancy.
In many studies, for obese women, maintaining or even losing weight during pregnancy has been associated with BETTER health outcomes for mom and baby.
The idea that one should never attempt to lose weight is propagated so that healthy-weight women do not attempt to restrict their weight gain, which is important.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25730217
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070605185550.htm
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3953/1ec53cd38d064eb521693d2f3dab477a4e51.pdf
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/busting-5-myths-about-pregnancy-and-weight/
http://www.doctorthornton.com/docs/study.pdf
https://www.bda.uk.com/dt/articles/maternal_obesity
Where is the misinformation? Let's do some math:
An obese woman gains 11 pounds during pregnancy according to the chart from March of Dimes. Her baby weighs 7.5 pounds, her amniotic fluid weighs 2 pounds, her extra blood weighs 4 pounds, her increased bodily fluid weighs 4 pounds, her increased breast size weighs 2 pounds, her placenta weighs 1.5 pounds, her growing uterus weighs 2 pounds. That's not including ANY fat stores. That adds up to 23 pounds. If the scale shows an 11 pound gain at the end of her pregnancy, that means she LOST 12 pounds during her pregnancy. She will come out weighing less than she started.
Math is a wonderful thing.5 -
The idea of maintaining one's weight during pregnancy is also misunderstood. If the same woman "maintains" her weight during pregnancy, she LOST 23 pounds. True maintenance would show a 23 pound gain on the scale, and her weight would return to start after birth. As most people understand, pregnant women have special nutritional needs and maternal illness and premature birth can be mitigated by a nutritious diet. Calorie restriction can make it difficult to check all of the nutrition boxes that allow her baby to thrive in utero. An obese woman who allows for a small gain (which is actually a loss) during pregnancy increases the odds that she is getting enough macro and micronutrients in her diet to help herself and her baby thrive, and nutritional counseling during pregnancy can help with that.2
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This would be a doctor question, not a rando internet stranger question...5
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DomesticKat wrote: »The idea of maintaining one's weight during pregnancy is also misunderstood. If the same woman "maintains" her weight during pregnancy, she LOST 23 pounds. True maintenance would show a 23 pound gain on the scale, and her weight would return to start after birth. As most people understand, pregnant women have special nutritional needs and maternal illness and premature birth can be mitigated by a nutritious diet. Calorie restriction can make it difficult to check all of the nutrition boxes that allow her baby to thrive in utero. An obese woman who allows for a small gain (which is actually a loss) during pregnancy increases the odds that she is getting enough macro and micronutrients in her diet to help herself and her baby thrive, and nutritional counseling during pregnancy can help with that.
This is what happened to me. I was obese prepregnancy. I was told to gain maybe 15lbs. I didn't gain all that, but after having the baby, I had lost about 26lbs. My baby was born small, but healthy.
Please OP, consult your Dr. Some ob/gyns have nutritionists in house to answer any dietry questions you may have and how to meet your personal needs, as well as the baby's. Good luck.0 -
Pregnant women aren't immune to the laws of physics. I'm really surprised more people don't seem to understand this and have such a difficult time interpreting the data around pregnancy weight gain.0
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At this point make good food choices. As soon as morning sickness hits, gaining won’t be an issue.
I always lost in my first trimester because food just wouldn’t stay down. Even though I was overweight, my doctor got a little concerned by the time I had lost 17 pounds. I tried to eat healthfully, but nothing stayed down. My doctor told me to eat what I was craving because it was more likely to stay down.
So, talk to your doctor. Your doctor will evaluate your situation and advise you.0 -
Just eat healthy foods, in healthy amounts. I already weighed 20 lbs. more than I should when I began both pregnancies, but I was determined to eat healthy foods for my babies. I ditched the junk food (for the most part; I had a few candy bars with my second daughter), and didn't stuff my face. I just made sure I was properly nourishing us. I didn't gain extra weight while I was pregnant (just 20 lbs for each baby and all the extra fluid and placenta, etc.), but I didn't lose any, either. It took a couple of months to lose all the extra water and for my hormones to normalize. I think it helped that I breastfed. I actually didn't diet until I'd finished breastfeeding, 18 months later.
And, yes, talk to your doctor about your concerns. From your photo, you don't look terribly overweight to begin with, so putting off weight loss for 9 months, while you're pregnant, or longer, if you want to breastfeed, is, IMO, just what you'll have to do for your baby. But, being pregnant doesn't mean you can't start eating healthier foods and get into the habit of nourishing yourself properly, which will make weight loss easier for you afterwards.1 -
Congratulations on your pregnancy! Don't panic.
Eat a filling variety of healthy foods and talk to your doctor when you can about calories and weight gain. The best information for you will come from a qualified professional who can actually see and examine you.0 -
Congrats on the new pregnancy! I am right there with you- 5'11" tall. Starting weight was 240 lbs. I am now 22 weeks pregnant and weigh 250 lbs.. My doctor says I am right on track.
This link (https://www.freedieting.com/pregnancy-calorie-calculator) is fantastic for setting a calorie goal during pregnancy. It will break it down by trimester as well as give some really great information.
Don't stress. Eat healthy. Eat when hungry. Indulge a little. Drink lots of water. Rest as much as possible. Enjoy this amazing journey!0
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