My doctor told me for the first and second trimester I don't need to eat any extra calories at all. I have a normal BMi, 5'6 133 lbs. 14w4d pregnant and baby has measured 3 days ahead. I haven't changed my diet and have already gained 5 pounds which sort of leads me to think baby will be fine without adding extra. .. What do you think? Am I going to stunt baby's growth if I don't eat extra?
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I did/ do eat more when I'm pregnant. But I don't think I NEED to! First trimester I have lots of nausea and do have to eat constantly to not feel awful all day, but it's more about constantly having food in my stomach than needing actual extra calories. Since then I just do, and I feel that I gained weight a little too quickly as a result. So yeah, I'd say you don't really need much extra.
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I have some days where I'm constantly hungry, but the majority of the time I eat the same amount as I did pre pregnancy. I've gained plenty of weight.
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The only thing I did differently was that I had to eat breakfast during the first trimester to combat morning nausea.
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No I don't think so...? Definitely not 1st tri because I felt sick the whole time. Second tri I think I ate normally. Third tri my stomach was squished so I ate constantly but little amounts.
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The weight gain definitely takes care of itself in the third tri hahaha.
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My appetite really picked up in the 3rd trimester.
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I don't think you need to force yourself. Your body will tell you. I'm hungry all the damn time so I eat a ton more during pregnancy. And a lot more often. I obviously need it. If you aren't hungry you're probably fine.
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I think your body will let you know. I was always hungry. I actually had to work really hard not to eat more than what they recommended.
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I think your body will let you know. But I ate more and was more hungry in all trimesters. I am a ravenous pregnant lady.
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I have eaten less so far, until recently (when I'm probably eating similarly to pre-preg)
I've been on progesterone and partly blame it for killing my appetite 1st and part of the second tri.
But I started out overweight, and my doctor said it was fine I lost some weight and haven't gained much so far. He said they don't worry about weight gain so much until the baby is significantly bigger (later 2nd tri/into the 3rd).
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In the first tri I was starving and eating a lot more. My appetite has decreased a lot in the second and third trimesters and now I do not eat as much, but try to eat frequent smaller meals
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I don't really feel like I've eaten much more while pregnant. Extra snacks maybe, and a larger breakfast, but that's about it. Didn't gain anything in first tri, gained about 20 in second, and then around 15 in the third. I certainly don't think all 35 of those pounds could have come from me eating more. Your body just kind of collects the weight on its own lol. I never felt ravished either like you always hear. Only now in the last couple weeks of pregnancy do find myself hungry more often, but now i haven't even gained anything for 2 weeks!
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I ate about the same when I was pregnant. In the 3rd trimester, I ate less since LO was squishing my stomach
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It depends on where I am at in the pregnancy. Right now i'm in the 3rd trimester and find that I feel better if I eat a bigger lunch and super small dinner (like a bowl of rice) due to acid reflux. My swelling is out of control during the 3rd trimester also.
1st and 2nd I ate a little more than normal, just depending on how hungry I was. I have only gained 21 pounds at 25 weeks with this pregnancy.
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My OB told me I only need to eat 100, 200, and 300 more calories each respective trimester. 100 calories is like an apple.
With that said, I ate way more than 100 extra calories my 1st trimester with DS. All I craved was carbs and more carbs. My appetite and weight gained evened out the remaining 2 trimesters so I was okay.
With this pregnancy, I haven't eaten much because nothing sounds good and if something does, it's plain and simple.
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@pachamama: i dont think women need to eat more while pregnant. we should definitely be getting our fill of calories and on wholesome foods! i think someone confused six small meals a day with hey i'm pregnant so i'm gonna eat it all! breastfeeding tho i believe you need a little more calories.
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I ate a bit more while pregnant. As in if I was hungry I'd eat rather than just waiting for my next meal. But while breastfeeding I've been eating a ridiculous amount.
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First trimester, you won't need to eat much more, but you will need to eat about 300 more calories per day than you usually did for the rest of the pregnancy. BUT, your body will tell you when you are hungry. As long as you aren't purposely restricting your calories, you should be ok.
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I definitely ate more!! My weight gain came in spurts though. I lost 3-4 lbs the first tri from being sick and definitely ate less during that time. I gained about 10 lbs really quick from about weeks 15-20, and continued to gain pretty quick in the second tri and early part of the 3rd tri. I was hungrier and I think my body needed to gain that weight (1) to make up for weight loss in the first tri and (2) I was a little underweight pre-pregnancy. I'm 38w now and although my weight gain has slowed, I'm still gaining about 1lb a week even though I am eating a lot less than I was in the second/early third tri.
It's continued in spurts. I was about 5'9'' 125 pre-pg. I am 38 weeks and about 161-162 right now, so I've gained a little less than 40. I have a feeling when it's all said and done my total weight gain will be about 38-40 lbs. I NEVER dreamed I would gain this much while I was pregnant, but I don't feel like I've gone crazy with the eating - just listened to my body. Everyone says I look like I'm "all belly", etc. although I can definitely tell a difference mostly in butt and thighs. My doctor is 100% OK with it. I think since I was underweight pre-preg, this may be some extra fat stores that I/the baby needed and will probably need for breastfeeding and recovery once he gets here.
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I was 132 prepreg at 5'7." I didn't eat extra much. Maybe a lil bit in the third trimester. Def ate much less due to nausea in the first/second and still gained 33 lbs by the time I had Ds2 at 38 wks.
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My doctor said 200-300 extra calories. I never purposefully ate more or less, just whatever I was feeling. I gained 21 lbs with my first pregnancy and I'm up about 12 this time with 12 weeks to go!
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I started out overweight and my doctor said that as long as I was eating 1500 calories per day that it was fine if I maintained my weight or even lost we weight over the course of my pregnancy. I'm 33w today and I've been hovering around the same weight since the end of the first trimester give or take a pound or two at each appointment. I have less of an appetite than I did when not pregnant and have no sweet tooth at all. I'm sure I'll make up for it postpartum because nursing made me so thirsty and so hungry last time.
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Oh I ate more. I was starving. All. The. Time. I'm convinced my body doesn't want me pregnant at a low body fat, so it has me pack it on a bit. At the end, I hardly had room for food and still gained at an alarming rate (thanks, hypertension). So unless you're eating ice cream by the pint, your body will let you know what's up and if you need more
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I didn't, especially not with my first. D said he kept expecting to come home from work finding me holed up in bed with bags of chips and ice cream or whatever (insert stereotype of hangry pregnant lady here), but I had such terrible food aversions that all I ate were PB&J sandwiches.
This one is a little better...I can eat most foods (21 weeks today) but in very small portions (and not as often as I should to balance that, but if I eat too soon after again I get terrible indigestion and/or nausea). I just try to pack in the most protein and nutrients I can in what I do eat.
I've had trouble with gaining weight with both pregnancies (I've not quite put on a pound with this one, and only netted 4lbs with my last), but I had a big, healthy baby last time, and this one is growing right on track, so I'm not super worried.
Breastfeeding, though, forget about it. My first weekend home with E I ate an entire large pizza....by myself. I was so hungry it was painful...all.the.time. I was eating for four (and put on 50lbs that first year!)
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@Blackbird I kind of feel like this is the case for me, too - my body needs more body fat/fat stores during pregnancy or something.
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I didn't eat breakfast before become pregnant, but now I'm too hungry/nauseous to skip it. So I probably consume an extra 300 calories before noon every day. I have some days that I'm extra hungry all day, but I think my lunch and dinner are generally pretty similar to pre-pregnancy.
ETA: I think listening to your body is key - if you're hungry, eat! If you're not, don't!
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@blackbird: This was me too!
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I'm not intentionally eating more.. I just eat when I'm hungry which is pretty often now. Plus I've been really hypoglycemic. Baby has been measuring okay so far and I'm gaining.. slowly.. but gaining!
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I'm not good at listening to my body. I'm a teacher and off for the summer so when I'm bored (which is often) I eat!! No good.
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@pachamama: weird. My nutrition class said 0 extra calories/day for first tri only, then 300/day extra for 2nd and 3rd tri, and 500/day extra for early breastfeeding. But everyone is right, trust your body.
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@pachamama: Try a glass of water before you eat anything? I agree with PP that you can be guided by your hunger, with the caveat that you do need more protein! That doesn't have to be more food though, just different food.
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I think it really depends- for instance if you are not increasing calories, you probably should increase nutrition, make every bite count, so to say. I generally think 300 calories extra a day throughout out is a probably a good idea, but at least focus on increased protein and vegetables, take fish oil, etc.
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I'm naturally underweight so was told to gain 40, which sounded crazy to me and I ended up gaining 45! With this pregnancy,
I wasn't all that hungry in the first tri but now my hunger has greatly increased, but I don't think I'm eating all that much more than normal. I'm 20 wks and up about 12 lbs so yeah
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I don't think I needed to eat more, however I did need to eat on a regular schedule. No skipping meals or eating just a granola bar or whatever. I really needed to eat 3 well rounded meals plus a high quality snack to keep my energy up and me satisfied. I think the only thing I changed was eating less "low fat" whatever, so 2% or full fat yogurt or milk instead of skim, and a couple more treat items every now and then. But no, my diet didn't change dramatically. The weight gain totally took care of itself. I'm 5'5",, 125 pre pre and gained about 25 lbs. Didn't really exercise other than walking, but my job is pretty physical.
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I dont think I "ate more" but was more conciuos of what i ate and when! Making sure instead of having a pop tart for breakfast and a crappy lunch I ate a few scrambled eggs before work maybe a banana as a mid morning snack and a healthy salad with veggies and chicken for lunch, seems more than what I at pre pregnancy but it was healthier!
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I definitely need another full meal each day when pregnant. Before being pregnant, I only ate about 1400 calories a day to maintain a health weight (I'm 5' 2"). Most recommendations say about 1800 calories a day minimum for pregnancy. I switched to regular-fat versions of all dairy, drink a big glass of milk with a meal every day, and eat whenever I'm hungry.... which is a lot.
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I just ate when I was hungry. But I was always super hungry, so I definitely are more.
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I definitely got pregnancy cravings and my dr told me to gain 20 lbs by the time I reached 20 weeks. Well, with HG and two hospital visits, I didn't gain much by the time I got to 20 weeks. I was so concerned I was harming my babies (twins) by the lack of weight gain but my OB said she wasn't that concerned because the babies were looking good. If your dr isn't worried, I wouldn't be.
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