pregnancy help

joannea1988
joannea1988 Posts: 73
edited December 19 in Health and Weight Loss
ive just found out im pregnant and really unsure of the best diet for a healthy baby, calories needed and so on whats the best foods. Im trying my hardest for a healthy pregnany, ant help would be great.

(info this is my 8th pregnancy, i have a 4 year old girl, but my son was stillborn at 34 weeks , 4 miscarriages and a partial hydroform molar pregnancy, )

Replies

  • Mindmovesbody
    Mindmovesbody Posts: 399 Member
    First off all congratulations! Secondly, I am so sorry to hear of all your heart break leading up to this. I have many people in my life right now going through fertility issues, it is so frustrating.

    As far as your diet, it's really really simple, eat when you are hungry, I would not try to count cals during pregnancy! Feed your body nutrient rich foods. Whole foods. Fruits and veggies are obvious but try to stay away from artificial sweeteners, limit refined sugars, like in white bread and bagels for example...try for whole grain breads. Also watch out for hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. A lot of products have this crap in them...peanut butter is a good example. If you but PB try for a natural one. Really, the healthier or rather 'cleaner' you eat, the better....for you and baby! I was a gestational diabetic and had preeclampsia with my last two pregnancies so my food intake was VERY important! If you have further questions you can message me. I would be happy to help!
  • joannea1988
    joannea1988 Posts: 73
    thank you so much for the help, with my daughter i was only 19 when i fel pregnant , and i did the whole eatting for 2 gained so much weight and just got so chunky, which wasnt healthy for either of us. but at 19 i knew it all :laugh: . with my son i ate a lot healthier, but ive forgot whats ment to be cut out, whats limited how many cals and so on , so thank you so much for the help. xx
  • ariant23
    ariant23 Posts: 161 Member
    as a mom who did it right with #1 and wrong with #2, you SHOULD count calories, or practice portion control or something. The average person with an average pregnancy needs and average of 300 extra calories a day. Notice the word "average" there a lot?

    Basically you shouldn't gain any weight in teh first trimester. 5-10 lbs in the second and 15-20 in the last.

    You need an average of 300 cals extra a day, but most of that is needed in the third trimester when the baby really starts to put on weight.

    I was overweight w/ both my kids (though on the verge of "normal" when i got preg w/ #2). With my first I kept it to 20 lbs total and fit in my pre-preg stuff at her first ped visit. Pay attention to your weight. It is not healthy to "eat for two" overweight babies are bad for mom and baby, gestational diabetes is much more likely if you gain too much (I just barely passed the gestational test for both my kids, so i was told to be careful with high glycemic index foods (simple sugars)).

    with #2 who is 13 months now, I put on 35 lbs, and I am just now 2 lbs away from the weight I was when I got pregnant. (I can't diet at all when nursing, and she BF for 9 months)

    So, start healthy, start now. Take your vitamins as prescribed. Keep up the level of exercise that you have already been doing and go see your OB right away. I'm sure that given your history (I'm so sorry, my heart goes out to you), he'll want to see you right away and often.

    Best of luck on the new little one. Feel free to add me as a friend if you need.
  • ariant23
    ariant23 Posts: 161 Member
    Oh, as for specific foods.

    COMPLETELY AVOID:
    Deli meat, hot dogs, other precooked meat. As well as soft, unpasteurized cheeses. They carry a high risk of Listeria. It is one of the few dangerous illnesses that passes along the placenta and leads to preterm birth, brain damage and other sad things.

    Green potatoes, linked to spina bifida - type birth defects. It's too much chlorophyll You can eat potatoes, just cut them up first and look for green spots. dont eat the ones with green spots. feed them to anyone else who isnt pregnant

    Any drugs, herbal supplements, anything with an "active ingredient" or "Supplement facts" not directed by your doctor. there are lots of "natural" things that are specifically bad in pregnancy.

    any kind of "natural energy blah-blah" not good. for natural energy, try good food and exercise.


    Be sparing in your consumption of:
    Large predatory fish (tuna, swordfish, mackeral, etc). they contain the most mercury. Small fish like salmon, talapia are good to eat for the omega-3s and
    if you eat canned tuna, buy the cheaper "chunk light" rather than "Albacore". same thing here, less mercury.

    caffiene-containing products -- i drank an average of 2 diet cokes a day with my second, after being paranoid with my first. she's just fine.
  • TKHappy
    TKHappy Posts: 659 Member
    For sure count calories!! I wish someone told me that before I thought it was okay to literally eat for two people with my first. I was told you should up your calories by 300-400 calories a day...the last two pregnancies I stuck to the lower end. Congrats and best wishes!!! :)
  • Gwoman2012
    Gwoman2012 Posts: 163 Member
    Congratulations!

    I totally agree with this-
    "As far as your diet, it's really really simple, eat when you are hungry, I would not try to count cals during pregnancy! Feed your body nutrient rich foods. Whole foods. Fruits and veggies are obvious but try to stay away from artificial sweeteners, limit refined sugars, like in white bread and bagels for example...try for whole grain breads. Also watch out for hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. A lot of products have this crap in them...peanut butter is a good example. If you but PB try for a natural one. Really, the healthier or rather 'cleaner' you eat, the better....for you and baby! I was a gestational diabetic and had preeclampsia with my last two pregnancies so my food intake was VERY important! If you have further questions you can message me. I would be happy to help! "

    Don't do what I did- eat my way through the first trimester with Big Macs and Kraft mac and cheese:( I gained 40 and 50 lbs and I am still struggling to lose the last 10 lbs of baby weight (my youngest is 2!).

    I would still count calories but customize MFP to total your maintenance for the first trimester and then maintenance + 350 for your 2nd and third.

    My OB put it this way- "don't purposefully eat any more than you normally would" (this only applies to woman of average or above average weight, because honestly we are going to put on enough without really trying ;))
  • joannea1988
    joannea1988 Posts: 73
    thank you all , i really didnt know that about green potatoes, its such a scary world being pregnant again, ive lost 32lb since jan and was on 1200 cals and have upped to 2000. the only exercise ive been doing since i found out is walking, im to scared to try anything different, i have an appointment with my gynecologist on wed, im already taking baby aspirin, folic acid, and ive just started on centruim pregnancy vitamins today xx
  • Mindmovesbody
    Mindmovesbody Posts: 399 Member
    I didn't know about green potatoes either! I guess I didn't have to count calories because I ate so clean during pregnancy....with the diabetes and the diet I had to adapt too (very low carb) I ate mostly vegetables and fruits. If you have trouble eating properly then you probably should count calories. I guess I didn't look at it that way! I have a ton of food ideas if you need some just message me. With the diabetes you have two choices 1) eat healthfully and manage with diet and exercise or 2) shoot yourself up with insulin every day! I chose to eat healthfully. I have an increased risk of diabetes now that I had gestational so chose to live a healthier lifestyle now in part because of the alone!
  • Mindmovesbody
    Mindmovesbody Posts: 399 Member
    Love this!!!! ---- My OB put it this way- "don't purposefully eat any more than you normally would" (this only applies to woman of average or above average weight, because honestly we are going to put on enough without really trying ;))
  • joannea1988
    joannea1988 Posts: 73
    oo im definately not trying to eat more than an average woman so aiming for 2000 a day, getting loads of fruit and veg in cooking from fresh x
  • melk513
    melk513 Posts: 15 Member
    My OB told me at my first visit to not get caught in the "eating for two" trap. She said "don't eat more, eat healthier"...I wish I would have listened to her!
  • s1lence
    s1lence Posts: 493
    Congrats on your pregnancy! I wish you and your growing family well.

    When I had questions about what to eat and what to do for exercise I asked my doctor first then I also looked it up in books and googled it. I loved finding most of my answers in What to Expect when Expecting. Really it did help. I ended up losing weight during pregnancy because of all the things I cut out of my diet and ate more fruits and veggies. I didn't count calories though, didn't think about losing weight, just keeping my baby healthy. I really do hope that everything goes well with your pregnancy :D. I hope this helped.
  • zaithyr
    zaithyr Posts: 482 Member
    Actually you can eat deli meat and hot dogs as long as you heat them to steaming first (although hot dogs obviously aren't good for you anyway lol). I ate Subway all the time when I was preggo and my OB said it was fine as long as you have them toast it first to heat the meat.

    As far as calories, as was already mentioned you need an extra 300 calories usually for baby. But eat regularly throughout the day and eat when you're hungry, even if you are at your calorie limit (your body knows what it needs). Congrats on the new baby!!!
  • RiseAndConverge
    RiseAndConverge Posts: 35 Member
    These ladies all have great advice. I just want to add though that in that first trimester, when/if you have morning sickness and the only thing you can possibly stomach is a whopper then get the whopper. You'll make up for that kind of bad eating in the 2nd and 3rd trimester! Trust me! I swear, all I could eat and NOT throw up was Burger King at the beginning. I hadn't had BK for 9 years prior to it. After MS went away, I craved only grilled veggies and grilled chicken for the rest of my pregnancy.

    So dont let the whoppers get you down if that's what gets calories into you at first. :)
  • zaithyr
    zaithyr Posts: 482 Member
    These ladies all have great advice. I just want to add though that in that first trimester, when/if you have morning sickness and the only thing you can possibly stomach is a whopper then get the whopper. You'll make up for that kind of bad eating in the 2nd and 3rd trimester! Trust me! I swear, all I could eat and NOT throw up was Burger King at the beginning. I hadn't had BK for 9 years prior to it. After MS went away, I craved only grilled veggies and grilled chicken for the rest of my pregnancy.

    So dont let the whoppers get you down if that's what gets calories into you at first. :)

    Very true!! I could only eat bread and pretzels my first trimester with my son (just had him in January) and with my daughter I remember there being a period of time when the only thing I could eat was grilled cheese lol
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    If you're going to count calories with MFP, check to see what it recommends for maintenance. Then add up to 300 calories per day as you are hungry. That's what I'd do, anyway.

    I ate for 2 the first time... put on 70 lbs.
    Second time I put on a much more reasonable 26 lbs.

    Congratulations!! :D
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