Hey everyone. My names Mindy. I'm 24 and pregnant with my second child. Before I had my son I weighed about 110 lbs and during my pregnancy, they kept telling me I wasn't gaining enough weight and needed to eat more (add an extra scoop of ice cream a day in fact) lol. Well then I hit 145 and they wanted me to stop gaining weight (this was around 30 some weeks). But it was too late, I was hooked on eating all the time. I had my son and left the hospital at 140lbs. From that point on (March 2011 to Jan 2012) I could not lose my baby weight, I have a very high heart rate which made cardio almost impossible. I ended up getting a trainer to help me lose the weight, get in shape and work on cardio to strengthen my heart to hopefully help (It's not the number that bugs me, it's how I feel and I just want to be in shape so I won't be so tired and I have more energy). Then I found out I was pregnant.

When I went to the doctors I weighed 140 lbs (8 weeks). When I went back around 16 weeks I weighed 136 lbs (My trainer said I had lost measurement sizes in my thighs, arms and chest, but of course my belly was getting bigger) and my stomach measurements and the baby were measuring right on track. But the doctor wasn't happy with my weight gain. I explained that i drastically changed my eating habits. I eat more vegetables and fruits, Chicken, almost completely cut out processed foods, and I was working out 2 - 3 days a week. She said she wanted me to start eating more, even adding more ice cream (which I wasn't eating very often at all) and to do what I needed to gain weight. Well she was expressing how important being active and working out was, now she was acting like she wanted me to stop.

Now I don't know what to do. I'm almost to my next appointment date. Which will be in about a week and a half. I currently weigh 142 lbs. I started keeping track of my exercise, sets, reps, cardio and what I eat. I'm eating at a minimum of 1500 calories (i know is low but sometimes i get super tired lol but almost always i eat about 1800 or a little more, she told me to eat about 300 more than normal, which wanted at about 1500) but I don't want to gain as much as they are wanting. I explained that I lost measurements because of working out (which was probably the fat from the first baby in my opinion because it was in the first 3 months of pregnancy) but i'm growing in my belly, eating enough. I don't know what I should do. They want me to gain about 20 to 30 more lbs in 16 or 17 weeks. I am enjoying working out because I feel amazing. It has helped so much with my energy, I don't hurt as badly and it helps with my hip pain.

I'm not trying to seem selfish at all, but during my first pregnancy and after I felt so terrible, I was exhausted. My husband leaves a lot for work so I'm on my own a lot and I can't afford to be tired all the time. I don't want to feel like that anymore.We would go to the park and I would get out of breath and exhausted. I was super proud of myself for doing so well with my eating habits and exercising but now they are wanting me to stop that and start being lazy and eating crap it seems. I don't know if I should continue with what I'm doing or suck it up and stop and do what they tell me.

Sorry this is so long. I would really appreciate any advice. Thank you so much.