MFP and Pregnancy

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.

Congratulations! I am a childbirth instructor, I teach a twelve week class. Nutrition is a HUGE component of a healthy pregnancy. All of the mothers in my classes keep track of everything they eat and turn it in to me for review each week. I am looking for a balanced diet, vegetables, protein (you need 80 - 100 grams / day), and water intake (1/2 of your weight in ounces everyday). I think MFP is a great place to log your food and make sure you are getting everything you and your baby need to have a happy and healthy pregnancy.

That's a lot of water! If someone is heavy to begin with, and they are drinking half their weight in water, I'd be worried about over hydration and the effect it could have on their potassium and sodium levels in water.

But definitely make sure you get plenty of protein!

Just a suggestion...if you go to your "goals" page "your diet profile" shows how many calories you burn through normal daily activity...you could use this as a baseline, then do some research as to how many extra calories you should be taking in per how far along you are in your pregnancy and adjust your goals through the "custom" setting by putting in how ever many calories you need at that time. You could also adjust amounts of protein, etc. depending on how much is recommended during pregnancy. MFP could be a good tool right now to make sure you're getting the nutrition you need!

Congratulations! We have been TTC our first child since late last year. I must admit I am a little nervous about losing weight only to gain it right back. However, I feel more confident about it since I have completely changed my lifestyle. I know what I should/should not be eating and plan to stay on this site to continue to track calories & eat correctly. Feel free to add me if you'd like support.

Congratulations! I am a childbirth instructor, I teach a twelve week class. Nutrition is a HUGE component of a healthy pregnancy. All of the mothers in my classes keep track of everything they eat and turn it in to me for review each week. I am looking for a balanced diet, vegetables, protein (you need 80 - 100 grams / day), and water intake (1/2 of your weight in ounces everyday). I think MFP is a great place to log your food and make sure you are getting everything you and your baby need to have a happy and healthy pregnancy.

That's a lot of water! If someone is heavy to begin with, and they are drinking half their weight in water, I'd be worried about over hydration and the effect it could have on their potassium and sodium levels in water.

But definitely make sure you get plenty of protein!

It is not that much water when you consider the increase in blood volume and the extra water necessary to support the growth of an additional person and the amniotic fluid. Over hydration is very rare and even more rare during pregnancy, where as dehydration is very common during pregnancy.

The pickle craving is your body's way of letting you know that it needs more sodium to increase your blood volume and production of amniotic fluid. A good rule of thumb during pregnancy is "salt to taste."

Holy moly, congrats!!! I'm 9 weeks pregnant also and hopped on this morning looking for support! I say definitely DON'T dump MFP! I hadn't even heard of MFP when I was pregnant with my first and was seriously out of control, I gained 60 pounds with her and after 2 years, I found MFP and just got the weight off about 6 months ago now I'm pregnant again! From about 6 weeks until now I was sort of MIA but now I'm back with a clear head and determined to keep the weight gain to a minimum. As far as the calories go, I put in to maintain my current weight then manually added an extra 300 calories, which is what you need during pregnancy. Im still weighing regularly and have picked back up at the gym and it really has made a difference. Feel free to add me as a friend!!