Pregnant

Does anyone know how many calories my goal should increase by for maintenance?

Yes, your Dr. & Nutritionist can give you reliable advice on this.

At first you shouldn't really need to increase, but it all depends on your body fat makeup. If you are on the low end for your weight, the doctor will probably want you to gain a little more. The only one who can tell you how many calories is your doctor/midwife.

As far as I was told both pregnancies, it was only an extra like 300 calories, so like 2 glasses of milk.

This! Although the two glasses of milk obviously depends on what kind of milk you drink. I was told the same thing with my first pregnancy. My second I had gestational diabetes so I was being monitored more for that than my overall calories.

Please do not get your prenatal advice from the internet.

I am in the same boat...shhh...we haven't old anyone yer. But is most definitely 300 calories on top of matinence, but everyone's matintence level is different...mine is 1500 not 2000 on here so talking to your doctor before adjusting and even if you haven't been...you can always call and ask ?s...you may talk to the nurse but most of the time if they feel it is something not in their relam of expertise they will talk to the dr and call you back!

Same boat here - I thinks it's approx 300 extra calories but talk to your Dr.... I don't think I've been eating 300 more but 1st trimester weight gain should be low... maybe I'll get more hungry later? I haven't had any weird cravings... no late night ice cream binges... hope it stays that way!

As a side note - one of my best friend gained over 80 pds with each pregnancy... the 2nd time was twins and she was back to her skinny self w/in 6 mos... She is probably the exception but you really can't diet when pregnant.

I'm just trying to get all my nutrients in, I got a handout from my Dr and there is NO WAY I can eat the amount of food that paper work says!!!

If you have good insurance get a script for the prenatals because it's cheaper than OTC. Mine cost 25 cents per 30 day supply compared to OTC.

Thanks all! My doctor gave me a handout saying 2,500 cal was the average. I haven't been dieting just watching what I eat as I usually do. My maintenance is 1,690. I just can't see this little person needing over 700 calories a day. I definitely want a happy healthy baby but without all of the weight left over.

The dr's handout is not tailored to your specific calorie needs (consider that the 'average' person they're talking about probably didnt' just lose 33 lbs and probably has a maintenance requirement higher than yours) - If your maintenance is 1690 then that's your starting point. Eat your exercise calories on top of your maintenance, and add in extra for the pregnancy. That calculator I posted is based on the same BMR calculation that MFP does - it takes your maintenance and adds the average amount needed in each trimester. You could just do a straight 300 per day if you want, too. And keep an eye on your weight and if you feel it's not enough, feel free to indulge in an extra healthy snack here and there. :-)

I would suggest talking to your doc and asking them what your goal weights should be, mine was very helpful with that. That being said, I would not suggest eating 2 pb&j sandwiches, a pack of twizzlers, and a half gallon of skim milk for lunch every day . . . take it from personal experience this will cause you to gain excessive weight.