MFP and Pregnancy

First congrats.

Second......I don't mean this harsh at all......this is what I'd say to you if you were my best girlfriend sitting right in front of me.......

Get off MFP. If you are honestly "freaked out" about gaining weight during pregnancy, I would even suggest going to therapy to talk about your thoughts on food and body image status.

You seem aware and smart and I'm going to bet that you are well aware how to eat healthy, right? That's the best you can do right now.

You're going to gain weight. You might be heavier after the baby. Trust me (and I'm sure you've heard this)....those first few months after are so incredibly hard......hard enough without worrying about your weight. Once you feel human again, come back.....this site will be here, we'll all be here, and you'll have a ton of support to get back to a shape you're happy with.

But if you were my friend, I would tell you to think about looking into why you are so anxious about weight gain during pregnancy instead of focusing your efforts on using a weight loss website. ***hug*** Good luck.

Congratulations! Children are life-changing -- you will love it.

As the husband of Smc_Chick, I have to say I kind of disagree with dumping MFP completely. Why? It's hard to get into the habit of consistently logging food and exercise. You might want to stick with MFP only insomuch as to log your food and exercise (but ignore the calorie guidelines). Of course I would throw out weight loss, weight gain, or maintenance tracking completely until after your baby is born. This is going to be an exciting time in your life, and the last thing you need to worry about is weight gain -- it has to happen, but its a beautiful thing! You and your baby need that for now.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck. Enjoy!

I'm currently 21 weeks pregnant. My doctor told me to eat maintenance for the first trimester (12 weeks) and then up my calories by 200-300 starting in the second trimester. This is when the baby needs more from you. By no means should you be trying to lose any weight at this point. The goal is to help your baby grow and develop and that can be hindered by cutting calories. You can worry about losing the weight after the baby gets here. That being said, don't go crazy "eating for two". Your baby is the size of a sesame seed right now. That's hardly eating for two. Lol! Congratulations!!

From a calorie requirement perspective in pregnancy, for your first trimester you should eat maintainence, then you need an extra 200-300cal per day in your second trimester and then another 200-300cal per day in your final trimester. I think MFP can still be a very useful tool but only you can be the judge of that. Healthy weight gain is normal and recommended in pregnancy, too much and too little can be unhealthy for you and baby. Speak to your doctor and get some advice. You should aim/expect to gain 1-2 kg in your first trimester, then 1-2kg per month until delivery. All the best!

I say don't dump MFP either! I wish I had found it before I got pregnant in 2010 - I gained so much weight in the first 4 months it caused severe SPD and my baby ended up being born premature. I agree that you should use it for logging your calories and exercise just so you can keep an eye on what you're doing - I worked out that I was probably consuming nearly 3000 calories a day during the first few months of my pregnancy (I had the mind set of 'I'm pregnant, I can eat what I want') - next time I get pregnant, I will be staying on here for sure! I know I have to gain weight when pregnant, but too much can definitely be a bad thing! Good luck and congratulations!

PS....Thought I'd throw this in there so you know where all that 25-35 lbs is going for your new baby from what to expect.com.......



"What to Expect.com says that with a 30 pound pregnancy weight gain, distribution is approximately; baby: 7.5 pounds, placenta: 1.5 pounds, amniotic fluid: 2 pounds, enlarged uterus: 2 pounds, mothers breast tissue: 2 pounds, mothers blood volume: 4 pounds, mothers tissue fluid: 4 pounds and mothers fat stores: 7 pounds."

This is a healthy weight gain:) Best of luck, and again CONGRATS!!!!! I love babies!!!

I think you should stay on MFP. Set your calories manually to match what is required for each trimester. Don't try to lose weight but I'd still track. It's better to have a healthy diet and track what your eating.

I'm hoping to become pregnant soon and plan to continue using MFP. I have been reading "How to excercise when expecting" by Lindsay Brin and I've gotten some very good information about nutrition during pregancy. It is very important to gain slowly and only the recommended weight. This makes for a healthier preganancy, easier delivery and faster weight loss after baby. Not only will I use it to help track calories, I plan to use it to track other nutrients like iron and calcium. I think it would be overwhelming to NOT track these things. As always, you should check with your doctor. Good luck on a happy and healthy pregancy

Fit, Fabulous, and Pregnant:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1903-fit-fabulous-pregnant

Hello! and congratulations! I'm currently almost 8 months and I've been using MFP since March 1st of last year. I've gained almost 20 and MFP has totally helped. While I slip up, MFP helped me to lose about 20 pounds pre-baby and I know it'll be there as soon as I have her. There are tons of groups on here for expecting moms. We even have one that crosses over to Facebook.
As far as gaining weight, you will gain weight, you should expect to gain between 25-35 pounds but a lot of that is fluid and baby. Maitenance the first trimester and then after that 200-300 extra calories. Good luck and congrats again!

Fit, Fabulous, and Pregnant:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1903-fit-fabulous-pregnant

Indeed! No need to leave MFP! Join us! :happy:

For the record - you do need extra calories after first trimester and it's expected and good for the baby to gain weight using pregnancy. And there's nothing wrong with having cncerns about weight gain and wanting to stay fit during pregnancy. Everything else is bunk.

My advice might not be good and I was not on MFP while pregnant.

BUT, I feel some women gain a lot in pregnancies and others do not. I am one that gains 50-60lbs/baby!! yes, i have done this SIX times. Every pregnancy I swore that I would not gain that much and then, BOOM, 2nd trimester hit and I was gaining 2lbs/week. That means that I was eating an extra 7000 calories per week!! And, I can promise you that I was not.

My main concern was to make sure tha the baby got what he needed. Like you said, just mentally keep track of how you are doing...or if you choose to track on here, I would not overly worry about the calories. Do what your body tells you to do.

My babies were all 9-9.5lbs. I always lost the weight after each child....yes, the last kid was harder, but I was 39! I breastfed and I swear that is like liposuction!!

Anyway, congrats on your pregnancy...what a wonderful gift to have that child growing in your body!!!!

bump for future reference.

I just had my third baby a little less than three month ago. I didn't use MFP at all during my pregnancy. I ate a ton (after the morning sickness was over) and it wasn't super healthy for a lot of it. Morning sickness made it impossible to eat anything but carbs and even water made me sick, so I drank a lot of soda. Then, we lived in a hotel for 6 weeks while we waited to close on our house, then it took a while before we had appliances. So, lots of frozen foods and restaurant meals. But, I only gained 15 pounds.

You cannot freak out about gaining weight. It's going to happen and it needs to. I actually feel a little guilty that I only gained 15 pounds last time because my baby was the smallest of my three, which isn't really normal for a third baby. That was a big surprise for everyone though, I'd been measuring 2 1/2 weeks ahead for my entire third trimester. Even my doctor expected her to be about 8.5 pounds, and she ended up being 7 pounds 5.2 ounces.

So, you have to gain weight. Try eating at your maintenance amount and see how you feel. If you aren't that hungry in the beginning it's not a big deal. Once you hit 20 weeks you should start eating an extra 300 calories a day. But, definitely listen to your body. If you feel hungry, eat. Don't restrict yourself too much because your body needs all the nutrition it can get. Just make sure you eat healthy foods most of the time. Give in to some cravings. If you don't, they'll drive you crazy. My rule is that if I crave something I won't make a special trip to get it. If I have a craving I'll wait until the next time I go grocery shopping. If I still crave the food, I'll get it. About 75% of the time the craving went away. The rest of the time I got whatever food I was wanting.

Feel free to add me if you want. I've been through this three times now and I've figured out good ways to keep my weight under control without going crazy and without depriving myself.