Need Some Help with Weight Gain Issue

I was also "a little" overweight when I got pregnant with my second, and developed gestational diabetis, this in a way became a blessing because it forced me to eat a lot healthier and I did not gain ANY weight the last 3 months of my pregnancy but my baby kept growing normally (plus I felt I looked a lot better)

I was scared of how I was going to end, size wise, because with my first son I packed on pounds the last three months but the diabetis diet helped me.

Now what I did...... count the amount of carbs at meal, I was allowed only 30 gms of carbs with each meal (you do that checking labels)...

Snacks
I would have cheese strings, which were very filling and good.
Almonds
Can you believe that you can have almost seven little pieces of LINDT chocolate???? they are 30gms of carbs
(not all chocolates, again check labels)
Protein bars

I little advise, I would have for breakfast an egg and cheese, sandwich, because of the protein it keeps you without feeling hungry a lot longer during the day.

Yogurt, is another good snack.
Milk

Let me know if you would like more information in the diet I followed, for me it really helped.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW BABY!!!

Just some quick ideas... keep string cheese sticks handy, they are only 80 calories and give you extra calcium. They will also keep you fuller longer because of the protein. You can try to premake celery sticks with peanut butter and a few raisins. I always have a PBJ sandwich on hand, I am 29 weeks preggo and started out 70lbs heavier than I should have. I buy the smart balance peanut butter which has loewr sugar and then use jelly that has no corn syrup so so it also has less sugar and I do all this on whole wheat bread. Works great for me. Also keep thosemini packets of carrots close by, they are sweet enough to curb the sweets craving but are veggies so less sugar and more nutrition, this pregnancy I have gained <15lbs by eating healthier snacks when the chocolate craving hits :)

J.-I've been moderately overweight for most of my adult life. When I got pregnant, my midwife was serious about me watching my weight gain. The good news? I did it...I weighed 1/2 pound more on the day I went into labor than the day I took the pregnancy test.

I lost nearly 20 pounds in the first trimester--partially from puking, partially because I got really motivated about taking care of myself and only gained back what I lost. Granted, I didn't have a child to chase so I had the time to go to aerobics class (until I was 35 weeks, I went into labor at 37.5). My husband had left at that point, so I really just had to worry about me--no pity, not the worst thing that has ever happened to me!

The best thing I did was make myself responsible for what I was eating by keeping a journal. I am a little obsessive so I was tracking portion control and fat, calories, sodium, etc. in everything I ate. I certainly know what a healthy diet is, but really opened my eyes to how quickly calories can get out of control.

Being overweight puts you at higher risk for complications like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. A low-fat, moderate carb, high protein diet can help alleviate these issues. I baked big pans of chicken breasts to keep in the fridge and use it to make a yummy salad with avocado, Girard's Lowfat Champagne dressing, and some peanuts or almonds for some crunch. I also kept things around like roasted almonds, peanut butter, and granola bars. My most simple rule was that I could have as much as I wanted of anything nutritious and treats were limited to a few times a week. Yeah, peanut butter has a lot of fat, but if you buy the natural stuff there is little or no hydrogenation and it is a GREAT source of protein to keep your blood sugar level. Adding Brewer's Yeast to a smoothie will also really boost the protein value.

You can do this! It will make your labor and delivery easier if you manage this through the end. Goof luck!

How about fruit? Even dried fruit. This should help with the sweet tooth and shouldn't be too much in calories. But, it is sugar, just natural form and not as quickly absorbed in the blood stream. It is good for the baby too.

I also like cheese on crackers.

Try forcing yourself to drink a cup or glass of water first.

You're craving sweets and carbs because your body needs protein. Try eating a small protein snack instead and feel the difference it makes in how you feel. Add some raw vegetables and your whole body will feel better. Nuts are complex and add vitamins to your diet, leftover roasted chicken or turkey is good, avocados are mother's milk! Your baby needs good nutrients and so do you. Don't forget to walk :)

Snack ideas: handfuls of almonds. Or popcorn - air-popped is boring though, so here's what I do: pour a thin layer of olive oil into the bottom of a small saucepan, and add a handful of popcorn. Put on the lid, and shake it up to coat the popcorn. Heat it over medium heat - you'll need to shake up the pan every once in a while ot keep the popcorn from burning. Listen for it, just like you would the microwave. When it's done, sprinkle something fun from your spice rack over, instead of salt. I like italian blends. Or, you can use the shakeable parmesan cheese, instead of butter.

Also, I found that drinking a little bit of pineapple juice every day was great when I was preggo. Those little 6-oz cans are perfect. Pineapple helps to reduce inflammation, so it'll help a little bit w/ those swollen hands and ankles - it did me! But it takes a while to kick in, so you kind of have to drink it every day for it to work. Though now, I read that cherries or cherry juice are good for that, and have more of whatever reduces inflammation, so work quicker. (Think a couple of days, instead of two weeks.)

Hang in there, mamma! And congratulations!

Yogurt! The protein boost is awesome and it is so healthy for you. It'll give you all sorts of nutrients, energy, and should satisfy any hunger and sweet tooth. Yoplait and others have so many different flavors, you can't get bored! Add a little granola if you'd like a scrumptious snack. Everytime I would crash or even feel a little nausiated with my girls, just one yogurt would do the trick. Get Non-fat and you eliminate your weight gain. Also, don't forget some old fashioned excerceis. Chasing the kiddo is not enough. A good quick walk (20 min. a day, 10 minutes 2Xday even) will add some great metabolism, stamina, and help keep you in shape for the 'marathon' at the end called birth! ALWAYS check with your OB about eating and excercise programs. Good luck!

One of my favorite snacks that is healthy is a trail mix of sorts. It's cashews, almonds, pecans, dried cranberries & chocolate chips (not too many). It has a nice balance of sweet, salty & fruity. You can of course use any kind of nuts you like.

Good luck & congratulations on #2!

Good afternoon J.,
I am also 33 yrs young w/a teenager and school age child. I would like to offer this advice: Try Yoplait (regular-red top)pear flavored yogurt. My dtr and I love it. If a 1st grader says yum to yogurt then it must be great!! They have other great flavors as well. Mix your yogurt with fruit and add some sliced almonds. Instead of a regular candy bar try the miniture size candies and eat in moderation. Sorbet icecream isn't so bad either, try Walgreens. Whatever you do keep the sweets down but not out unless your doctor says otherwise. Hope this helps and remember to take care of yourself so you can be here for your family. I pray you continue to have a healthy pregnancy, have a super healthy baby, and all the love from God and family. God bless, no stress!!!

i ate my share of doughnuts with the first now 22months. i am prego with the second and almost in my 6th month. it sounds like were on the same weight gain program. although i havent been eating doughnuts, soda, onion rings. i have been eating a ton of oatmeal as this is suppose to help with breast feeding. quick snacks, fruit, raisns, yougart ( i eat plain non fat and mix unsweetened apple sauce) pickles, cottage cheese. breads reach for the whole grain or wheats. ( the ones that taste the worst are the best for you.) fiber one cereral ... seems to have the most fiber. i am currently in love with dark chocolate 75-80% ...its probably just bakers chocolate but oh my its soooo good. i try to avoid sweets as much as possible...its hard to get in exercise. looking forward to what other mommas said about this...i dont see how people stay skinny while they are prego...i just blow up like a balloon...good luck.

Granola is a good choice too. It's filling because it's got so much fiber in it. I would suggest, if you're up for it, making your own, so you can control how much sugar and fat goes into it. Ww make our oqwn granola at home with 1/2 the fat and at least 1/2 the sugar the recipe calls for and it still tastes great. When we eat it, we put low fat yogurt over it, or mix in fresh fruit and it makes a great snack.

Oh yeah, and the recipes often call for HUGE amounts of dried fruit, but we just adjust the recipes and put in however much we have on hand at any given moment. PLus, often the recipes call for different blends of grains like spelt, barley, rolled oats, etc. We just use whatever grains we have on hand as well.

If you want to make granola (give it a shot, its easy and yummy!) just goggle recipes for homemade granola and you should get lots of hits.

Good for you for wanting to control weight. I know from my own experience its really hard, so don't be too hard on yourself if it dosn't happen overnight...just keep woking on it and stay positive! :)

Stick with mainly fruits and veggies. Eating an apple everday is one of the best snacks for curbing your appetite and filling you up. They are easy to buy in bulk, not expensive and keep well in the frig. Also, keep a bag of baby carrots in the frig and munch whenever you need a little crunch. Yogurt is also a good snack food...lots of flavors to choose from.

My fav pregnancy snacks are -
apples dipped in almond butter
cheese and crackers
mixed nuts
homemade smoothies with some combo of frozen fruit, soy milk, and protein powder
Luna bars

I just wanted to add that a craving for sweets my be a sign that you need more protein. Depending on who you ask you should be eating 70-100 gm of protein per day. Nuts, yogurt, cheese, nut butters, and tofu are get sources that contain of other nutritants that you and your little one need.

Maybe it might help to shift focus from "not gaining more weight" to "getting healthy for my baby's birthday". I find that if I change the way I look at things the world is new again.

Howdy! I'd get a food scale and weigh ur foods... Now I know it's hard to find time so preweigh ur snacks the day before and put into baggies...I have a huge sweet tooth ad well! Keep a lot of Fruit snacks like motts prepackaged , low fat yogurt, ice cream pops low cal...it's hard but that's good ur doing something now cause imagine after the baby's out u will be at a good weight! Take care, Selina

Almonds, popcorn, fruit, celery and carrots sticks in ranch or hummus. EXERCISE is key. You should be doing some type of exercise every day. Chasing your 2yo does not count (unfortunately).

I would stay away from simple carbs and baked goods. Protein and high nutrient foods would be best!

Congrats and good luck!

I would tell you to start taking melaleuca prenatal vitamins. Sounds weird, but I lost weight with my last pregnancy. I did nothing to lose weight, I didn't diet or anything, but I did take those vitamins. I had never taken them before, so I know that they are why I lost weight. They helped my body work properly. I had so much energy! I love them and dont think I will ever stop taking melaleuca's vitamins. When I got preg, I weighed 206. Like you, I feared gaining a lot of weight during my preg, since I was so overweight to begin with. At the end of my preg, I weighed 202. I don't know what I weigh now bc I just had my baby a week ago, and I don't have a scale here. My son is so healthy and wonderful. You really should invest in those vitamins!!!!!! Let me know if you are interested! Good luck and God bless!

Hello
well, I would say first off not to lose weight. I think the healthiest thing you could do is to simply just maintain (don't gain more weight or much more weight). I was a size 16 when I had my son (put on 3 dress sizes when/after I had my child). To date, I've lost a dress size by simply doing a couple of things:
Have a bowl of fruit out on the kitchen/dining table. When I need a pick-me-up, I grab a piece of fruit. The other thing I do is once a week (usually on the weekend when I have a little more free time), I cut up a bunch of salad veggies (e.g., peppers, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.) and store them each in their own little tupperware container. Then, it just takes a few minutes to whip up a salad for dinner or lunch or whenever by grabbing the ingredients I want for that particular salad.
I'm eating far more salads than I ever did before because of this handy dandy system. I'm eating more fruit because it's also easily available to me now.
If you replace the carbs w/ the salads and fruit, you shouldn't gain anymore weight. If you lose weight, it's a bonus! :)
By the way, I still think it's okay to have some carbs, just make sure they're whole grain. For example, last night I made broccoli-cheese-rice-chicken casserole for dinner but I used fresh or frozen broccoli as that's the healthiest way, whole grain rice as that's the healthiest, and roasted white meat chicken as that's the healthiest. So putting all those together makes for a healthier version of this casserole.
Let me know if you want the recipe. I'm also collecting recipes that contain 5 grams of fat (or less) per serving. If you want me to send those to you, let me know.

Hope this helps,
J.

In addition to eating health snacks and smart portions with your meals, my advice would be to stop stressing about it until after you have your baby!

Then you can really concentrate on exercise and eating right! Don't beat yourself up about gaining extra weight, just be determined to get it off and allow yourself at least 9 months to get it off since it took you that long to put it on!

I know Weight Watchers online helped me lose almost 40lbs and I did it all online. So once you have your baby I'm sure you will find an option that works for you to help you lose!

Good luck!

I would suggest finding some sample meal plans on the Internet for the amount of calories you should be in-taking daily. I actually had gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy and had to follow a very strict diet for the sake of my baby and did not gain any weight for the last part. While I would not recommend that, I would find a calorie counting menu, to make sure you get all the calories you require. Sample menus are great, like a guide for you. Make sure you eat, your baby needs it. Snacks and small meals. Fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, protein, and fibers.

I disagree with the dried fruit and nuts suggestions. Dried fruit is high in calories and sugar, and because it is dried it will effect your blood sugar levels making you crave more sugar. Fresh fruit is fine, and unsweetened applesauce was a good suggestion.Nuts are also very high in calories. While they are good for you, they are not indusive to weight loss, especially considering a serving is only about 10 nuts, I can't stop at 10, can you? Peanut butter..same thing. Make sure you keep it down to only one to two tablespoons, and 2 has almost 200 calories!Light or low fat yogurt is a healthy alternative, and I like an 8oz glass of skim milk, with just a squirt of chocolate syrup in it.If you don't use too much chocolate, it makes a nice healthy snack.How about a few hard boiled egg whites? or one whole hard boiled egg. Protein! Do not drink juice or soda( Not even diet) Sometimes I steam up a zucchini, or a summer squash, add a little salt and enjoy! Keep lots of canned and frozen veggies i the house that you can steam or heat quick and easy, and they are great for a snack. Also there are 100 calorie whole grain English muffins, I toast them, and put a couple slices of ham or turkey on it( One slice per half) makes a nice , delish, lite sandwich!Good luck on your journey. you are right to try to curb the weight gain. It is easier to keep weight off in the first place than it is to take it off after the fact! Best of luck!