Net Calories During Pregnancy

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Replies

  • broox80
    broox80 Posts: 1,195 Member
    I totally understand your concern. When you put on too much weight during a pregnancy it can be detrimental to the baby. Its not a total vanity issue. I guess some people dont understand that!!! I gained over 70 pounds with my son who is now 5 and my OBGYN and even workers at the hospital treated me like crap because I had gained so much weight. That is why I wanted to stay on MFP so that I could have more accountability and would not gain an excessive amount. I am eating between 1600-1700 cals a day and still trying to exercise as much as I can, but I am really tired so it can be difficult. So just dont listen to any negativity and just know that this a true concern that other pregnant women should consider. I wish I would have been more concerned with it when I had my son. My labor would not have been as hard!!!!
  • SkinnyRuthy
    SkinnyRuthy Posts: 154 Member
    Those are really good questions! Let us all know what your midwife says!

    Part of the reason I'm trying to lose now is to get ready for TTC in the fall. I only gained ~ 20 during my 1st pregnancy and lost most of it after giving birth, however my daughter was 7 weeks early due to preeclampsia. So I ate terrible the month she was in the NICU and the first couple months she was home because it was just so stressful and so I gained a lot of what I had lost before getting pregnant. BOOO!

    I really don't want to gain too much extra next time either because once that baby is home, there is so little time and energy for yourself to work on weight loss. And for me, since I couldn't breastfeed successfully, losing the weight was even harder. Next time I will need to be even more cautious with my nutrition, especially in regard to sodium. I think I will keep using MFP to keep me on track with good nutrition and proper calorie intake.

    It's hard to strike a good balance of gaining just the right amount through nutritious food, without going overboard on those craving foods (loved my ice cream too!). I also found that I had a lot of food aversions and was also really tired, which made eating healthy and exercising a bit more challenging than it is when not pregnant.

    I think it would be hard to understand for those ladies who have never been through it just how out of control and strange your body can feel when you're pregnant. And there are some situations that you just can't control, like being stuck on bedrest, that mess with you even more. I was only on bedrest for about 2 weeks, but I could tell my muscles were a bit atrophied and my cardio endurance down.

    As far as I understand it, during the 1st trimester you need to net your maintainance calories daily and won't need to gain much during this time. So yes, eat back your exercise calories? Then for the 2nd and 3rd trimester you should net your maintainance + 300 calories to gain just the right amount. I'm guessing this must vary, depending on where you start (obese, overweight, healthy, under). For me, I wasn't supposed to gain more than 20-25 total. So about 0.5 - 1 lb a week after the 1st trimester.

    Also, I have heard/read that your body tends to give the baby 1st priority where nutrition is concerned, so it's usually the mother that suffers first when calories and nutrition are lacking - as in the case of mothers with severe morning sickness that lasts the whole pregnancy. For instance, I've heard that women can actually lose calcium from their own teeth/bones during pregnancy if they are nutritionally deficient because it will be taken for use by the growing baby. I wonder if this is true? Crazy things these babies do . . .

    Best of luck with your pregnancy!

    I had pre-eclampsia with my first pregnancy as well and I'm freaked the heck out that it will happen again. However, I ate HORRIBLY, was in a very bad and stressful environment (thank you LORD for lifting me out of that!!!!!), and due to both, my sodium was very high and out of control... in fact, I didn't even think about my nutrition really at all. I was 19-20yrs old too... Newlywed and bit oblivious to how important the whole process really was and how much it would affect me/baby.
    I will say that my blood pressure has been golden and I have had very minimal to no swelling this time around and have been feeling great. So, there is hope, for sure! Definitely work on watching your sodium now (I am trying so hard to keep this in check---still fail on some days) because there is an overabundance of salt in everything, it seems. I personally try to balance my sodium with a healthy intake of water and including enough potassium in my diet. That has REALLY made a difference to me.
    Good luck in your efforts and best wishes with your next pregnancy whenever the Lord blesses you with one :)
  • redheadmommy
    redheadmommy Posts: 908 Member
    It's a sad day when a woman carrying a new life inside of her is more worried about how many calories she's taking in than whether or not she's getting enough nutrition - from real, whole, natural foods and not processed food products - for her and her baby.


    I'm not trying to offend anyone. I don't have kids and it's doubtful at this point that I will (I'm 41). But it's kind of selfish, I think. I just can't understand it.
    Actually making sure you are eating the right amount of foos is the best you can do for your baby.
    During my pregnancy I gained 70 lb!!!!! That is not healthy for the baby. Itt was not by eating junk food, or icecream, but form whole some food, but a LOT of it.

    After eating nice big portions of food during the day, I got up at night and was so hungry. I went to the fridge, I ate a greek yogurt, then a banana, then I started to eat a "few" nuts and sometimes a bit cheese. Sometimes I just heat up the leftover from the dinner and ate dinner again at the middle of the nigh. Somehow I craved spicy food like crazy, and every other day I cooked things like spinach curry paneer ,which is super dense in nutrients, but it has a zillion calories.

    After the baby the breastfeeding comes and you are hungry even more. I breastfeed for my child until he was 2 yr old, because that what is recommended by the world health organisation. I really could start to lose all that weight after finished breastfeeding.
    I just recently reached my pre-pregnancy weight and my child is already 3 yrs old! If I ever get pregnant, I would be very careful not to repeat this food mania during pregnancy.


    For answering the OP, I would go by the general medical recommendation maintainance +300 cal on average though the pregnancy. This maybe come as eating only maintainance +100 cal at the 1st trimester , maintainance + 300 cal in the 2nd, and maintainance +500 cal in the 3rd trimester.
  • missemmapeel
    missemmapeel Posts: 69 Member
    It's a sad day when a woman carrying a new life inside of her is more worried about how many calories she's taking in than whether or not she's getting enough nutrition - from real, whole, natural foods and not processed food products - for her and her baby.


    I'm not trying to offend anyone. I don't have kids and it's doubtful at this point that I will (I'm 41). But it's kind of selfish, I think. I just can't understand it.

    This is laughable. Seriously. Until you become pregnant and understand how challenging it is, don't comment.
    Save yourself the embarrassment.
    I care very much about my nutrition--in fact, it's something I think about daily. If you don't want to offend, don't say offensive things in a demeaning manner. If you intend to help, say something helpful. That would be my advice to you.

    For everyone else that CARED enough to reply kindly and non-judgmentally:

    The reason why I ask is because before becoming pregnant, I was at 1200cal (to lose 2lbs a week) and I would try and get 1000-1200 net calories after exercise in. I didn't know if that changed when you are pregnant or not. I was guessing that maybe net calories would be around 1500-1800, but I wasn't sure and I asked on MFP since I couldn't find great information on the internet.
    Babyfit.com has my calories set at 2100-2450 and unless I exercise a lot, anything above 2100 has me gaining a bit too much.
    I am currently at 172lbs, 5'6", 2nd pregnancy, eat many organic/whole foods/vegetables/fruits and really want to make sure I don't over do it. I don't want to gain more than 20lbs this pregnancy and since I gained 2lbs in the last week (goal is .5lbs) I guess I'm a bit concerned.
    It is very unhealthy to gain too much weight during pregnancy, this is why I am concerned about my caloric intake and maintaining my health while I am pregnant with my son.

    Hi Ruth,

    I'm 23 weeks pregnant and just gained 2 pounds this past week (up until now, I haven't gained more than 1 pound in a week). Please don't be alarmed about your 2 pound weight gain, this happened to me with my last pregnancy too. Weight gain during pregnancy is not linear, although some say a pound a week through the second and third trimesters, it really doesn't work this way. The best set of recommendations I've seen are No weight gain in the first 14 weeks, 6.5 pounds from 14-20, 11 pounds from 20-30 weeks, and another 4.5 between 30-40 (many women start losing weight after 35 weeks). These are quite strict recommendations for women who are a normal weight at conception.

    It sounds to me like you are doing everything right. Keeping track of your nutrition and calorie intake. I'm sorry I can't be more help in the number of calories you need in a day, this varies from person to person. What I have been doing is weighing in a couple times a week, and plan on modifying my intake I'm gaining more or less weight than I'd like. For me, I'm going to be diligent about tracking what I eat, and if I gain more than one pound this week again, I'll reduce my daily calories by ~100.

    I wish you all the luck with your pregnancy, it sounds like we're pretty much at the same stage so I hope you are feeling well and enjoying the new life inside you- I'm loving it!!!
  • SkinnyRuthy
    SkinnyRuthy Posts: 154 Member
    I spent some time (after all of your wonderful suggestions and advice) and sought out fitness coaches who may be able to give a bit of insight into this particular subject.
    The consensus I received was that eating back all of your calories burned would be unwise as you would just be back at square one. What was suggested is that if a woman can get a minimum of 1200 net calories without being pregnant and typically speaking a pregnant woman is supposed to eat around an additional 300 by the end of her pregnancy than it would be wise to keep the net calories at no less than 1500 for the entire pregnancy. I thought that was pretty stellar advice.
    As someone mentioned above, they had read 1st trimester, extra 100cal, 2nd trimester, extra 200cal, 3rd trimester, extra 300cal, that is Dr. Oz advice, if i remember correctly. I read part of one of his pregnancy books. I think that's good advice in general, however, it doesn't take into consideration those who are on MFP trying hard to drop lots of pounds. I think that if I only ate 1300 cal 1st trimester, 1400cal 2nd trimester, and 1500cal 3rd trimester, I'd be feeling very weak and very sick.
    It is very important to listen to your body, but I'll tell ya (and so will any other pregnant woman), if you do everything your "body" tells you to do, you will end up gaining WAY too much weight because your body will not tell you to go out and exercise or to choose the fruit instead of the candy bar. Your body/brain/desires will tell you it's ok to eat what you want when you want while you are expecting because darn it I'm pregnant!! But, pregnancy should NOT be the time for excuses and to abandon all reason.
    I had a very specific goal in starting this thread:
    1) To really find out what other mothers had heard, were doing, and had success (or even failure!) doing.
    2) To take these ideas presented to my midwife on Monday and ask her which ideas to run with and which ones to drop and what ultimately would be best for my body and my baby
    3) To maybe get other mothers out there to think about this as well and help them stay focused
    4) To raise a bit of awareness on the Calorie vs. Net Calorie issue, because there is one and I think a lot of people are missing the boat on how to really handle their weight loss.

    Best wishes to everyone and thank you for your kindness, support, suggestions, and ideas! :heart:
  • Dch2012
    Dch2012 Posts: 19
    I would consider looking more at something like canada food guide to ensure you are getting the proper nutrients rather than focusing on calories. But then again what do I know I gained 70 pounds during both my pregnancies.
  • jessicasloan91
    jessicasloan91 Posts: 184 Member
    If you care so much about your nutrition, why would you not be asking your doctor this??

    Usual cocky/arrogant answers on the forums.
  • SkinnyRuthy
    SkinnyRuthy Posts: 154 Member
    If you care so much about your nutrition, why would you not be asking your doctor this??

    Usual cocky/arrogant answers on the forums.

    Kinda makes me giggle. People can be snarky. To each his own. Pffft :flowerforyou:
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    First off, congrats! :smile: I am newly pregnant as well and I've decided to eat maintance calories for the first trimester. I listen to my body right now and eat what I crave, but watch portions. For me, this is my 3rd pregnancy, if I don't eat what I crave then I will keep thinking about it and it drives me nuts. :laugh: In my 2nd and 3rd trimester I will eat 200-350 more calories and listen to my body. If I am still hungry, I will pick a health snack. I am not exercising much right now because I just feel sick most of the day, but if I were I would still NET my maintenance calories. Just my 2cents though.
  • Samiegogo
    Samiegogo Posts: 2
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  • Samiegogo
    Samiegogo Posts: 2
    It's a sad day when a woman carrying a new life inside of her is more worried about how many calories she's taking in than whether or not she's getting enough nutrition - from real, whole, natural foods and not processed food products - for her and her baby.


    I'm not trying to offend anyone. I don't have kids and it's doubtful at this point that I will (I'm 41). But it's kind of selfish, I think. I just can't understand it.

    This is laughable. Seriously. Until you become pregnant and understand how challenging it is, don't comment.
    Save yourself the embarrassment.
    I care very much about my nutrition--in fact, it's something I think about daily. If you don't want to offend, don't say offensive things in a demeaning manner. If you intend to help, say something helpful. That would be my advice to you.

    For everyone else that CARED enough to reply kindly and non-judgmentally:

    The reason why I ask is because before becoming pregnant, I was at 1200cal (to lose 2lbs a week) and I would try and get 1000-1200 net calories after exercise in. I didn't know if that changed when you are pregnant or not. I was guessing that maybe net calories would be around 1500-1800, but I wasn't sure and I asked on MFP since I couldn't find great information on the internet.
    Babyfit.com has my calories set at 2100-2450 and unless I exercise a lot, anything above 2100 has me gaining a bit too much.
    I am currently at 172lbs, 5'6", 2nd pregnancy, eat many organic/whole foods/vegetables/fruits and really want to make sure I don't over do it. I don't want to gain more than 20lbs this pregnancy and since I gained 2lbs in the last week (goal is .5lbs) I guess I'm a bit concerned.
    It is very unhealthy to gain too much weight during pregnancy, this is why I am concerned about my caloric intake and maintaining my health while I am pregnant with my son.

    SkinnyRuthy why don't you get off your pregnancy pedastool and not shoot someone down offering advice (hpsnickers1) (THAT YOU ASKED FOR) just because they are not pregnant. That's discriminatory and I find now I am pregnant it's like I'm in some exclusive club where everything is forgiven and those non-pregnant people are just forgotten about. If you weren't so sensitive you wouldn't have reacted that way, take her pose with a grain of salt - she was referring to the sad issue of low body image and self esteem that many women have today, as a consequence of societal expectations, self-pressure etc etc, not having a direct go at you. For you to react that way you obviously need to take a good look and understand why it has an obvious charge on you...and learn from it.

    Yes, many people, like you have explained, do put too much weight on. I do agree. I have been lucky to maintain a healthy weight (if not need to eat more calories, which is why I found this posting in the first place). And on the flip side I don't approve of women using pregnancy as an excuse to eat more crap - not more healthy stuff, so I commend you in looking to take care of your body, and your baby, this time around.

    Some women are body confident pregnant. I have found others are concerned about losing "their bodies" etc etc. I don't see this as them being a bad person, you never know what happens behind the scenes - their partner might have become totally disinterested and having a baby can make you totally vulnerable to physical changes and even the strength of a relationship. And you can't judge those relationships ("well you guys weren't ready to be pregnant") because even if the guy is pulling away, he has his own emotional reasons, e.g. fear of the unknown, that you will never understand until you are him or the people involved. That's not my own experience, everyone says I look fit, beautiful, together and glowing and my partner is so supportive of my body's changes which is carrying the most beautiful thing - his child - but I still see some of my friends struggle with all this, and really feel for them and want to support them. My pregnancy wasn't entirely planned so being thrown into the pregnancy club has been an interesting time where all of a sudden I find people are nicer to me, laugh at more of my jokes, make more allowances, accept my opinions etc which I find interesting because I can see why many women lose their identities during their pregnancies and get depressed after when the attention is turned to the baby and not them anymore.

    Good luck all of you and just remember with or without child, we're all female, sisters from afar, and there is no need for such attacking comments as every women deserves to be respected
  • vonsie
    vonsie Posts: 1 Member
    It's a sad day when a woman carrying a new life inside of her is more worried about how many calories she's taking in than whether or not she's getting enough nutrition - from real, whole, natural foods and not processed food products - for her and her baby.


    I'm not trying to offend anyone. I don't have kids and it's doubtful at this point that I will (I'm 41). But it's kind of selfish, I think. I just can't understand it.

    Seeing as you've never been there I don't think it's your place to judge! As a mum to be on baby no. 2 I would like to know how I can provide the correct nutrition for my baby whilst also ensuring I keep my own weight in check and healthy! With no guide it's very easy to over eat - particularly when you're someone who's used to counting points/calories. Last time around I gained way too much weight and I'm keen not todo the same this time. It's very difficult to find precise advice though.
  • 8ritt55
    8ritt55 Posts: 17 Member
    I just set my weight loss settings to maintain my weight until our son is born, then 150 here I come!! :)
    btw only 11 days until my due date!!!

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