I am looking for some advice on how much I should be eating now that I am pregnant. Before I was pregnant or even TTC I spent a long time trying out different eating plans to figure out what worked best for me & my body. This was not related to weight & although I feel good when I am around my ideal weight (54kg) it was more about feeling energetic, improving digestion and my (acne prone) skin. Most of all it certainly wasn't about starving myself but about listening to my body.
What worked for me; a light breakfast of fresh, raw, fruits and or vegetables & later a handful of nuts with a coffee, a large lunch (biggest meal of the day) of meat or fish with rice & veggies, perhaps some dark chocolate, sometimes a cake or a couple of cookies as a snack & a light dinner of soup or a shake made from 1 banana, almond milk, peanut butter, chai seeds, coconut, cacao powder.
This worked really well for me physically but also because during the week it freed up time in the evening as I didn't need to cook.
However, since I found out just 1 week ago that I am pregnant I have changed to a more substantial eating plan (oats for breakfast, meat & veggies & carbs for lunch & dinner, plus snacks) as I am worried about not giving my body (and later my baby) the amount of energy & nutrients required. 1 week into this & I ready feel bloated, sluggish & my digestion isn't great (could be pregnancy related?). My question did you change your eating habits once you knew you were pregnant?
You might also enjoy...
-
I ate healthier overall but I just listened to my body on how much. Eat something healthy when you feel hungry. It's hard in the beginning when you feel crappy from the hormones. I felt kind of "off" food the whole pregnancy. By the second trimester you can focus on getting a broad range of nutrients and protein. You can ask your ob for advice once you go too.
-
I ate about the same amount with a couple extra snacks when hungry.
-
I ate worse because I needed more substantial food: I found myself eating bean and cheese burritos and Amy's breakfast egg burritos for snacks so I didn't feel sick. I just needed heavier stuff I guess. I became a bottomless pit.
-
The first trimester was survival mode. I ate about every 2 hours and would eat anything that didn't make me feel sick. Mostly this was dairy, pasta, potatoes, crackers, rice, and sometimes fruit. I hardly ate any vegetables and I still can barely eat meat even though I'm in the second tri now. Your digestion is very different and often slow during pregnancy. There might not be a perfect diet that makes you feel great and if you have morning sickness it is very likely that your diet won't be very well balanced. I think you have to be very forgiving with yourself, at least until you start to feel better. Good luck!
-
All the rules went out the window when I was preggo. The first trimester was survival mode. My typical diet of lean protein, veggies, and minimal processed foods went out the window when the only thing I could keep down were carbs, carbs, and more carbs.
Pregnancy was great for me because it really forced me to listen to my body. I went with the "eat when hungry, stop when full, and try to make healthier choices".
-
For me, at least, bloating, sluggishness and slow digestion have been totally pregnancy-related.
I haven't really changed my diet much- I eat oats in the morning, and then lean meats & as many whole grains as possible for lunch & dinner. I've been a bit more free with eating higher fat/calorie things like peanut butter & avocado, and I'll admit that my sweet tooth has come on with a vengeance. It's a pretty high fiber diet, and I've never had digestive issues in my life... until now!
Just going to power through, I feel a whole lot better with drinking a TON of water and adding prunes to my diet!
-
It didn't change much until I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Now I have a regiment of carbs and protein I have to balance with insulin.
-
Bloating, sluggishness and slow digestion are definitely all very much pregnancy related. That being said, your diet is still way better than mine. Before ttc, I started eating healthier and was doing really well. Then I had two m/c's, and moved from CO, where it's very easy to get healthy food, to TN where it's MUCH harder. Between the stress, the slight depression, and just the difficulty, I've gone back to eating terribly. And now that I'm pregnant again (14 weeks, so looking like this one will stick!) I'm just WAY too hungry to stop and try to find something healthy. I want substantial, easy, fast RIGHT NOW food. Once we get moved to our new house, I'm going to make a concerted effort to do better (it's closer to the whole foods), but I don't know how well I'll do when I'm this hungry all the time!
-
Fully agree on first trimester survival mode. My midwife told me that as long as I took my prenatal vitamins that I was welcome to eat nothing but sour sweets for 8 weeks if that was all I could handle.
Honestly my old eating habits have gone out the window (I'm very slim) and I don't care, I eat every few hours to keep nausea at bay. Some days this will be giant fried meals and some days just some fruit.
When I feel better ill put thought into what I eat again. -
I ate very well when I was pregnant because I was lucky to feel great the whole time and because the MWs I saw have a very strict diet requirement, which I followed. I gained a healthy amount of weight (29 lbs), had a healthy baby, and felt the best and healthiest I've ever been during my pregnancy, so of course I think diet had a lot to do with it! Because I ate well and only gained what my body needed, I also lost all of the weight quickly after my daughter was born.
I am happy to share the MW's diet if you are interested, but I also think you should not be so hard on yourself... Sluggish digestion, fatigue, and bloat are all caused by high progesterone, which is very much a part of early pregnancy.
-
i ate very well before getting pregnant. then the first 15 weeks or so was just survival. eating anything that didn't make me want to vomit.
lots of fruit and carbs were the only thing that worked. for most of the second tri and first part of third tri i could eat just about anything... now that i'm almost at the end the nausea is back so i'm just eating what i can. i look forward to being able to enjoy all my healthy favorites again soon!
-
I ate a bit more healthy when I found out I was pregnant, but in the first trimester, it was more about what I could stomach. Then, I was diagnosed with GD and I was forced to eat healthy. Protein with every carb, small amounts of sugar, etc. I was pissed when I found out I had GD, but after a couple of weeks, it wasn't bad at all. It wasn't hard once I got used to it (the diet was much more manageable than the constant glucose checking). I plan to eat as though I have GD throughout future pregnancies even if I don't have it.
-
@septca: Would you mind sharing? I think it would be a great reference tool!
-
I had a similar experience to @Mrs. Taco (for half my pregnancy with LO#1 and still during this pregnancy at 19-weeks). Carbs were a large part of my diet due to morning sickness. I normally eat a healthier diet, but food aversions and sickness changed that. I am finally able to eat vegatables and some protein (yay!) at this point and that thrills me.
-
I'm only in my first trimester, but want to +1 to what many others have said. Pre-pregnancy, I used to eat a very healthy balanced diet with at least 5 servings of fresh veggies daily (love them so much!) Once I hit the six week mark, even looking an an uncooked veggie was enough to have me gagging. I'm pretty much in survival mode now, eating whatever I can get/keep down, which is in no way healthy or balanced. I'm very much looking forward to the second trimester...
-
Mostly I eat whatever sounds good honestly. I don't force myself to eat more if I'm not hungry, but I don't feel bad if I need another snack to get me through the day. I eat more carbs, especially in the beginning, because it made me not so nauseous all the time.
The only real things I focus more on are trying to never forgetting to take my vitamins, working on eating more produce for the nutrients and whatnot, and trying to minimize the few chemical-laden foods I still love (like-- fake syrup or coffee creamer. Love it. Don't feel good about eating it now).
-
It impacted my eating habits by causing me to triple the amount of fast food I ate every week.
ya....not my finest moment (or nine months).
What can I say... I CRAVED cheeseburgers!!!!!
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
17 comments