24 weeks pregnant and weight problems

[Pitbullmom29]

I am currently 24 weeks pregnant almost 25. My doctor keeps yelling at me for my weight. I felt good about it at first because I have only gained 22 pounds all together. But my doctor isn't happy with that. I admit I was slightly overweight before I got pregnant and I don't excercise but I do try and eat healthy. Is this normal?

 

[loeylo]

22lb is quite a lot for your gestation, especially if you are overweight to begin with. I was at the top of healthy weight range and I only gained around that amount for my whole pregnancy (and I ate like a horse!) however it is never okay for a health professional to yell at you. Have they given you practical advice about how to minimise weight gain?

 

[DobbyForever]

Agreed with pp. it's not ok for them to lay into you, but a lot forget their manners sometimes or come off more harsh than they mean to. My gyn showed me a chart that had my weight plotted and lines showing min and max weight gain for my initial height and weight. It was such a powerful tool. But I agree ask for ways to minimize the gain from here on out. Ask for solutions not her getting in your case for the problem. my mom gained like 20-40+ lbs with each pregnancy. Some she was underweight (90lb), some average, and some over. All her kids were healthy. She only had GD with my twin brothers. I will say she did not lost a lot of her pregnancy weight though.

If your pre preg bmi was 25-30, your total gain should be 15-25.
If it was over 30, your total gain should be 11-20.
Both are roughly .5 lbs a week starting second tri.

There's not a point to beating yourself up now. Just keep eating healthy and exercise more if you can. I gained three lbs tri 1 then 9lbs between 12w and 21w. I am a teacher so I am on my feet a lot, but very sedabtary when I get home. I eat very clean though. Breakfast is a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios (my cheat lol), snack is light string cheese, and lunch is leftover dinner which is a protein with two side veggies. I only use small sprinkles of olive oil and pepper and salt to taste everything. My other cheat is baked chips. But I just keep fruits and veggies around to snack on. I only allow myself a sausage mcmuffin like once every two weeks

 

[Pitbullmom29]

I didn't get a chart. And before I started gaining weight I had lost weight and they told me not lose weight. She just tells me to excerise and to eat healthy snacks. And I try to eat healthy. Usually dinner isn't the most healthy. But lately we have had some unexpected money problems so I can't always buy the good stuff.

 

[xdxxtx]

I wouldn't let anybody make me feel badly about myself. I get that you don't want to gain a lot - it puts you at a higher risk of problems and a c-section delivery in the end, but simply telling you that once and then letting it go because YOU HEARD IT THE FIRST TIME is enough. After that, I'd get a new doctor. I hope you're doing all right. I know how upsetting that can be!

 

[Pitbullmom29]

It is upsetting. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. In middle school and beginning of high school I wasn't very thin... sickly thin but then I started birth control and I gained weight but I've always struggled with my weight. So now to be told I'm gaining to much is hard for me to hear. My first reaction is to not eat and skip meals but I know I can't do that and I won't harm my baby to make my feel better. I just wish doctors understood that weight will always be a touchy subject for people. I thought I was doing wel and looked good but apparently not.

 

[Symphony7]

I have gained weight in the same way as you. I've gained a pound per week essentially...though not steadily. I'm at almost 30 weeks and up 30 lbs. My doctor hasn't even mentioned it...I was about 5 lbs over weight prepreganncy.

I can't see anything I can do about it at this point except to continue eating as well as possible. The weight is not going to come off, and it's rediculous to expect me not to gain any weight from now to the end. So I will probably end up over the ideal target weight. Try not to worry too much about it, I don't think you've gained too much. I certainly haven't been eating like a pig, it's just my body out the weight on where it wanted to.

 

[DobbyForever]

most targets and Walmart carry produce now. Even just some bananas are great or apples (must be organic) in bunches that are cheap. I got a Costco card and buy meat in bulk, freeze, and use that for a week or two. Upfront heavy cost, but really is cheap when you break it down. But my side veggies in bulk there as well (corn on the cob, asparagus, mushrooms, broccoli) and they last in the fridge and are now organic

But no matter whether or not you eat healthy or exercise, do not let yourself get down or let her make you feel bad. Your baby will be fine whether you gained 15 or 40 lbs. like I said just decades ago my mom grew up in the era of eating for two or f* you I'm craving fast food every day. It may not melt off as easily after, but there's nothing to feel shamed over.

 

[SonnyH]

Try not to worry too much. Weight gain in pregnancy is unpredictable in my opinion. I had a small melt down in the second tri as I weighed myself for the first time and had gained 25lbs by week 27! Which is what I'd have ideally like to have gained overall! But weirdly, I didn't feel like I'd gained much weight, my size 10 clothes still fit me and I had lots of comments about doing well for not putting on much weight..! So now I refuse to weight myself (and my midwife never weighs me?) and just go on how my clothes fit and my knowledge that I eat healthily 90% of the week. What will be, will be. It's only 9 months of my life, I'll loose the weight once I'm not growing a small human who needs me to eat! Your doctor shouldn't make you feel bad, that's really unprofessional!

They said, healthy eating doesn't have to be expensive. My partner and I spend about £40 a week on our food and it's all good stuff (bar some biscuits and the odd chocolate bar). We eat wholemeal toast for breakfast, homemade sandwiches, fruit & yoghurt for lunch and a home cooked meal such a turkey chilli & rice or a stir fry & noodles. A lot of it is just taking the time to do some home cooking! I'd love to be able to afford organic food but I can't, so we just buy bog standard veg. It's got the same nutrients at the end of the day - you live to your means!

 

[loeylo]

I agree that good food isn't expensive - it's actually often cheaper. Eggs, lentils, frozen vegetables, cheaper cuts of meat, potatoes, pasta and suchlike are all healthy, nutritious and most iportabtky, cheaper than convenience foods.

I believe the guide for weight gain is 0-5lbs in first tri then 1lb on average per week for the rest of your pregnancy.i did gain around 6lb in first tri, so I was panicking, but then it slowed down. As I said, I did eat a lot but it was mostly healthy.

 

[sarah1980]

I feel your pain, my booking in appointment was basically and hour of me sat being berated for being overweight! I was really ill at the time with the start of hyperemesis but the midwife wasn't interested in that all she went on about was what I ate! I told her that all of managed in the past few days was a cereal bar and she even went as far to tell me how unhealthy cereal bars are and that I should have had porridge! I'm 20 weeks now and still weigh less than I did at that booking in appointment due to the HG so she can shove it!

I'd say as long as you are eating healthy and exercising it's fine, you do seem to have gained quite a bit but it may be that you don't gain much more from now on, everyone is different. I don't think the doctors realise how hard it is sometimes.

Sarah xxx

 

[Cowgirl07]

I agree with check out Walmart, target even Aldis have good produce sections now in America anyway. I gained a lot, started thin by 25 weeks then it slowed down. Maybe talk to a dietician if the hospital offers (mine did for no cost) and get a list of excerise to do.

 

[SonnyH]

I do agree it'll probably slow down if you eat OK. Around 29/30 weeks, I think baby got into a position that squashes my stomach and now I don't find I can eat half as much! Sometimes my eyes are much bigger than my stomach and then I feel so sick afterwards! So usually I'm quite careful with my portion sizes to avoid the nausea! Had quite enough of that with MS!

 

[Pitbullmom29]

Thanks everyone! It's nice to see that others struggle as well. I do eat healthy but sometimes for dinner it's easier to through a lasagna in the oven and be done with it.

 

[jessmke]

In my first pregnancy I gained 37 lbs, so almost 1 lb a week. My baby was perfectly healthy. This time around I am trying not to gain as much only because I really struggled to lose the weight from baby #1 (even though I am very active and was breastfeeding), and I still had 10 lbs to lose when I got pregnant with baby #2. I don't have a scale at home and my midwife doesn't weigh me at my appointments until much later in the 3rd tri so I don't know exactly how much I've gained, I'm just trying to exercise and eat healthy. I like YouTube workout videos, there are some prenatal ones that are actually really challenging (I like Glow Body Personal Training). The videos are short, anywhere from 5-20 min long, so if I only have time to fit in a 10-15 min workout at least it's challenging enough to break a sweat and make me feel like I worked hard for those few minutes. If I have more time then I will do multiple videos or repeat the same video a few times.

My weakness is when I'm at work. I am a vet nurse and we always have clients brining us boxes of chocolates and cakes and cookies and other treats. Our staff room is always overflowing with delicious things and it's really hard for me to go for a 10 hr shift without indulging. I had a bit of a wake up call a few weeks ago when we were on vacation, we spent all day walking around and it was hot and I was wearing shorts. At the end of the day my inner thighs were chaffed from rubbing together while walking which has never happened to me before. So at that moment I decided that I won't have anymore treats at work for the remainder of this pregnancy. I had one slip up when I was starving and hadn't packed enough food so I had a piece of cake, but otherwise I've been good at avoiding the treats in the staff room!

 

[DobbyForever]

Dude. I hear you and those toss me in the oven lasagnas are the bomb dot com.

I eat staff room treats lol. Fts. But ours is like once a week and I just take one haha. You gotta live a little but my thighs are also looking quite large lately buahahaha idgaf

 

[ARuppe716]

I gained 58lbs with my first, I didn't eat terrible but could have done better and was fairly sedentary. My son is perfectly healthy and I had no issues other than a very long road to lose it all. Same starting weight for my second and have gained around 8 lbs so far at 19 weeks - I had gained about 20 at this point with my son. I do eat a little better and try to be a little more active but overall, things are not all that different. I had to eat to keep Nausea away with ds and this time threw up a lot more. I had major water retention with ds, swollen feet, carpal, etc. And have none of it so far with this one. My body just responded very differently the first time, also just having a very different pregnancy this time around in general (and a girl!) In some ways, our bodies are just going to do what they want to do. I always joked that with my son, I could gain weight by simply looking at food! Just take care of yourself, try to make good decisions most of the time, and stay moving.

 

[sil]

The recommendations are 25-35 pounds total before birth if you are normal weight, 15-25 pounds if you are overweight, and 11-20 pounds if you are obese.

However, as others say, I wouldn't get too stuck on the number as long as you are eating healthy and staying active. Just try your best to get in fruits and veggies (frozen and bulk are a cheap way to do this) and protein grains etc, and know you are doing the best you can for baby. Don't focus too much on the scale.

Honestly I think a lot of it is out of our hands. I'm currently 26 weeks and have gained 9 pounds so far. With DS1 I had gained 12 pounds at this point, and with DS2 I had gained 15 pounds at this point. I'm eating and exercising (really just going on walks and chasing after my 2 little ones; I don't go to the gym or do any formal exercise) the same all 3 pregnancies and had the same starting weight give or take 3 or 4 pounds. We gain for different reasons (water retention, increased blood flow, etc) and not all of it is down to food.