Calorie Tracking while Pregnant

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OneClassyMiss
OneClassyMiss Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi everyone,

I'm pregnant and want to keep my calories in check. In this program, I use the "maintenance" setting. However, I don't think that my calories should necessarily go up as I gain weight. I was wondering how I should program this? Should I put in my pre-pregnancy weight and calculate it based off that? Or should I manually enter a calorie goal? I am at the higher end of my BMI, at 5'5", 159lbs, 17 weeks pregnant. I was 154 pre-pregnancy and could have stood to lose a few pounds. Let me know what you think please :)

Thank you,
Kelly

Replies

  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
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    The system will not increase your calories automatically, it will only do so if you 'update your profile' or if you click on 'goals' and then choose 'change goals'. Entering a new weight into the system does not automatically update your calories, you have to actually go in and tell it to update your calories. So no worries there about that issue.

    As far as the calorie goal goes, there are several ways that people go about it. Some will shoot for maintenance during the first trimester but not stress if they eat over that goal by a bit. Some will set their profile to 'gain 1/2 lb per week' which gives an extra 250 calories over maintenance. Some manually input their calorie goal for 300 over their maintenance amount (since 300 is the average number given out to most pregnant women).

    There is a site, I totally can't find the link right now, but it recommends adding only a small amount of extra calories in the first trimester (I think 85 over maintenance), adding a little more in the second (285 over maintenance I think), and then adding more in the third trimester (I *think* 425 but don't quote me on that since I can't find the link). The idea is that teeny tiny baby doesn't need 300 calories per day, teeny tiny baby only needs a little extra. And bigger baby that's trying to chunk up for the birth needs morein the third. But between the different amounts over all 3 trimesters, it averages out to gaining close to 1/2 lb per week over the course of the pregnancy, just slower in the beginning and faster at the end.

    Pick whatever method/goal is going to be easiest to follow and less stressful for you. Don't stress if you sometimes eat a little under, and if you're hungry don't stress over going a little over. You're already almost halfway through your pregnancy, if it were me I'd go the easy route and just set my profile to 'gain 1/2 lb per week' and stick fairly close to that, along with the 'no stress if I'm a little over or under' thing. :-) Congrats and good luck having a healthy and happy pregnancy and birth. :-)
  • Virginia90
    Virginia90 Posts: 317 Member
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    I agree with the pp! What I plan on doing when I'm pregnant again is set myself at maintenance for the first tri, and then readjusting manually as needed (per my doctor recommendation) for the second and third. This next pregnancy will be a whole new experience, because we don't plan on getting pregnant again until I lose quite a bit of weight, and the last time, it wasn't recommend I gain more than 15lbs (I gained 31, but lost 17 just by giving birth to my 10lb 11oz kid. lol).
  • OneClassyMiss
    OneClassyMiss Posts: 2 Member
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    thank you ladies so much!!! What great advice! I will definitely do what you suggest :)

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