Managing Your Eating Habits and Weight Gain

Discovering How to Eat

People tend to focus most of their nutrition attention on what to eat or what not to eat. Not nearly enough attention goes toward how to eat. When you’re pregnant, the key is to eat small quantities frequently throughout the day.

Eating frequent, small meals

In the first trimester, the goal of eating small amounts frequently is to prevent nausea by having a little bit of food in your stomach at all times (that way, your stomach doesn’t have to go into acid overload). As your baby bump grows and you progress into your second and third trimesters, you’ll find that your body literally has less room for your stomach! As a result, the baby may press on your stomach and the area where your esophagus meets your stomach, causing heartburn. If you have small amounts of food in your stomach, you’re less likely to experience this reflux.

The key to eating small amounts frequently is to enjoy a mix of smaller meals and regular snacks throughout the day. Now, before you start envisioning bags of chips and pints of ice cream in your snacking future, remember that the majority of your snacks need to contain the nutrients you and your little one need. Otherwise, you’re just eating empty calories.

Keeping cravings in check

Another trick for keeping your eating in check is to avoid overindulging your cravings. You’ll no doubt hear other women talk about cravings they had in pregnancy, and maybe you’ve already been experiencing them yourself. Although everything in pregnancy gets blamed on hormones, cravings are truly a case of hormones gone wild! Sometimes those hormones cause food aversions, and sometimes those hormones make it impossible to imagine living through another moment without one particular food. If you give in to every craving, you may end up putting on more pounds than you planned during your pregnancy. If you’re determined to survive your cravings without experiencing excess weight gain, follow these tips:

Eat a variety of foods throughout the day. If you eat nothing but protein, you’ll probably crave carbs. If you eat only carbs, you may find yourself craving a steak. Eat some carbs, protein, and fat at every meal and get a variety of grains, meats or meat alternatives, fruits, and veggies every day. Doing so helps you (and your baby) stay healthy! (See Chapter 2 in Book 3 for the lowdown on proper pregnancy nutrition.)
Figure out how to distinguish between physical hunger and psychological hunger. Ask yourself whether you’re truly hungry or just bored, sad, happy, or stressed. If you’re truly hungry, eat a snack or meal. If you’re not, stall and distract yourself (see the next bullet).
Stall and distract yourself if you aren’t physically hungry. Instead of giving in right away to a particular craving, buy yourself some time by engaging in another activity (call a friend or go for a walk, for example) to see if the craving goes away. A lot of times it does, but if you come back still wanting the particular food, then have it for your next meal or snack to satisfy the craving.
Figure out what you really want, and choose the healthiest version of what you’re craving. If you’re craving a strawberry milkshake, for example, ask yourself what you’re really after. Are you craving the strawberries or the creamy, cold, sweet taste of the milkshake? Could you satisfy the craving with some fresh berries and whipped cream? What about a half cup of strawberry sorbet or lowfat ice cream? Would a strawberry-banana smoothie do the trick? Any of these options would be much lower in calories and/or have more nutritional value than the strawberry milkshake.
But don’t substitute if no good substitute exists. For example, if you want pickles, eating a plain cucumber won’t be very satisfying! Just eat the pickles and be done with the craving.
Be aware of your portions, eat slowly, and enjoy every bite. With foods like cake, ice cream, chocolate, cookies, chips, and other high-calorie foods, pay attention to the portions you eat. Place one serving on a plate and put the rest of the package away instead of plopping down on the couch with the entire container. Savor your food.
Avoid trigger situations. If your favorite doughnut shop is on the way home from work, take an alternate route to avoid craving doughnuts simply because you drove by the shop. Get rid of the candy jar at work. Ask your partner and those close to you to avoid tempting you unnecessarily.
Rest up and pamper yourself. When you’re tired, you may crave food for energy. If you find yourself unusually tired or you’re not getting the proper sleep at night, do everything you can to give yourself a break. Get a massage or pedicure, take a nap, or simply put your feet up with a good book or magazine. That way, you won’t find yourself craving high-sugar, high-fat foods that’ll just lead to energy crashes and excess weight gain later.

Gaining Weight Gradually

The best way to gain weight during your pregnancy is to gain it gradually. Doing so ensures your baby is getting good nutrition throughout the entire 40 weeks. The pounds you gain will distribute themselves in various tissues of your body, including fat and fluid, as well as your developing baby. (Remember: Gaining some fat deposits when you’re pregnant is normal and actually necessary!)

Gradual weight gain isn’t linear weight gain. In other words, you may gain 3 pounds in one week and none for the next few weeks. As long as you’re trending a steady weight gain, don’t worry if you find that you gain more in one week and less in others. (Some women even lose a pound or two occasionally throughout their pregnancy.) As long as the overall trend is that you’re gaining weight (slowly and steadily, of course), don’t stress out about the exact number on the scale.

The amount of weight you should gain during your pregnancy is based on your pre-pregnancy weight status, or body mass index (BMI):

Body Mass Index	Recommended Weight Gain
Less than 18.5 (underweight)	28 to 40 pounds (12.5 to 18 kilograms)
18.5 to 24.9 (normal weight)	25 to 35 pounds (11.5 to 16 kilograms)
25 to 29.9 (overweight)	15 to 25 pounds (7 to 11.5 kilograms)
30 or more (obese)	15 pounds (7 kilograms) or less

Your healthcare provider can also help you establish weight-gain goals for each week, month, and/or trimester of your pregnancy. The following sections fill you in on what to do if you have trouble hitting that number.

To prevent excess weight gain and to keep your heart, lungs, and muscles strong, exercise throughout your pregnancy. In particular, aim for a mix of aerobic exercise, strength training, and yoga (see Book 4 for details).

What to do when you’re not gaining enough

Losing weight isn’t uncommon during the first trimester, especially if you experience a lot of morning sickness. But if you get well into your second trimester without gaining much, if any, weight, your doctor will likely inquire more about your nutrition and exercise habits. He or she may even refer you to a registered dietitian (RD) for customized guidance.

If you don’t gain enough weight, your baby may not be getting the proper nutrients he needs to grow. The result can be a low-birth-weight infant or a premature delivery. Your baby may also be at risk of developmental delays if he doesn’t get enough calories and nutrients in the womb.

Some women are afraid to gain weight during pregnancy for fear of not losing it afterward. If you’re afraid of gaining weight to the point of restricting your calories to lower-than-recommended levels, seek out help from your doctor and a registered dietitian. Remember that if you’re underweight before you even get pregnant, you likely need to gain a few more pounds than women who start their pregnancies at a normal weight.

Potential complications from gaining too much

Although a handful of pregnant women have trouble gaining enough weight, most are at a higher risk of going overboard and putting on too many pounds. Typically, that extra weight comes in the form of 20 or 30 extra pounds of fat, resulting in a total weight gain of 50 or 70 pounds over the course of the pregnancy. This extra weight isn’t just a nightmare to get off after the baby is born; it can also lead to some serious health complications. Specifically, too much weight gain

May make it more difficult for your doctor to hear your baby’s heartbeat and measure your uterus to plot your baby’s growth
May lead to backaches, leg pain, and varicose veins — side effects that can persist even after you deliver your baby
Automatically puts you at a higher risk for medical conditions such as gestational diabetes, hypertension, and preeclampsia (you can find these conditions and the nutritional tactics for combating them in Book 3, Chapter 2)
Increases your risk of delivering your little one via cesarean delivery because your baby could grow too large to fit through the birth canal

Of course, the negative side effects aren’t limited to pregnancy. More and more studies are showing the long-term impact of a mother’s diet choices and weight gain during pregnancy on the weight status and health conditions of her children. Also, women who gain too much during pregnancy have a harder time getting the weight off after pregnancy, increasing their risk of many chronic diseases, specifically diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.

If you started out your pregnancy overweight or obese, your doctor may not want you to gain any weight. Check with your doctor about his or her weight-gain recommendation and visit a registered dietitian for advice on how to meet that number the healthy way.

Some recent studies have shown better pregnancy outcomes when obese women maintained or even lost some weight while pregnant. That doesn’t mean they were “dieting,” per se, but they cleaned up their act from pre-pregnancy to include less junk and more nutrition, which resulted in fewer calories than their bodies were used to before. They filled up on nutritious foods and thus provided their babies with the nutrients they needed.

Avoiding the “pregnancy 50+”

In college, first-year students try to avoid gaining the “freshman 15.” Now that you’re expecting, your goal is to avoid gaining the “pregnancy 50” (or more).

Without exercise, you need only about 300 extra calories per day to gain enough weight to feed and support your developing baby — not twice as many calories as you needed before you became pregnant. (Head to Book 3, Chapter 2 to see specific calorie requirements for each trimester and detailed nutrition advice.)

What happens to many pregnant women is that they follow the “eating for two” advice and see pregnancy as a time to eat whatever they want in whatever quantity feels good — and pregnancy can make you feel very hungry! They gain more than the weight of the baby, placenta, extra blood, and other essentials of pregnancy.

Follow these tips to get the extra calories and maintain a healthy weight:

Go crazy with vegetables. To maintain a healthy weight, eat all the vegetables you want. Eat your vegetables raw or cook them by grilling or steaming (frying adds fat and calories; boiling washes away many of the vegetable’s nutrients). Don’t add sauces, and use just a sprinkle of salt, if other herbs aren’t flavorful enough.
Don’t, however, overload on fruits. Pound for pound, fruits are much higher in calories than vegetables. Most fruits are full of vitamins and low in fat, but if you eat all the fruits you want until you’re full, you’ll probably exceed your required supply of calories for the day. Aim for four or five half-cup servings of fruit each day.
Eat complex carbs that are high in fiber. Look for high-fiber foods like lentils and beans, acorn squash, chia seeds, and steel-cut oats. Reduce your intake of foods that don’t offer much nutritional benefit for their calories, such as white rice, potatoes, and white bread. See Book 3, Chapter 2 for more information on your need for carbohydrates.
Drink plenty of water and skim milk. Avoid sugary sodas, milkshakes, and other high-calorie drinks. Fruit juice offers many vitamins and minerals, but it’s high in calories, so don’t avoid fruit juice completely, but don’t go overboard, either. Note that veggie smoothies and low-sodium vegetable juices (excess sodium can cause swelling during pregnancy) are far lower in calories than fruit juices and are full of vitamins.

Here are some other ways to avoid gaining more than your recommended weight range:

Eat small meals to keep yourself from consuming too many calories at one time (see the earlier section “Eating frequent, small meals” for details). Stop eating when you’re satisfied, not full or stuffed.
Limit “junk” calories (as in the sugary, high-fat, and fried kind) because they neither fill you up nor provide the nourishment you and your baby need.
Stock your cabinets, purse, and desk drawers with nutritious foods so that you can satisfy your hunger the healthy way.
Bridge your hunger in between meals with frequent snacks that provide lasting energy. Choose snacks with plenty of fiber and protein.
Keep track of your calories by using apps like MyFitnessPal and Fooducate so that you can easily see when you’ve gone too high.
Avoid turning to food for emotional support or stress relief. Call a friend to talk it out or go for a walk to blow off some steam instead.
Join support groups for pregnant women who want to be healthy during their pregnancies. Meet to go for walks or do prenatal yoga, not to go out for ice cream.
Stay active and aim to get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day. (Head to Book 4 for details on what exercises are safe during pregnancy.)

Thinking Ahead to Life Post-Delivery

Right now you’re probably smiling as you imagine holding your precious baby in your arms for the first time. You may also want to think about how your life is going to change after your little one arrives.

For one thing, your body is going to need to recover, and it’s going to need your help to do so. Also, eventually you’ll need to think about shedding any lingering pregnancy pounds so that your body is in good shape — particularly if you want to have more kids. The following sections clue you in to the basics of post-delivery nutrition and the tricks to getting your pre-pregnancy body back. (Book 4, Chapter 5 has more detailed information on how to get your body back post pregnancy.)

Figuring out your body’s post-pregnancy nutrition needs

Being pregnant obviously comes with specific nutrition requirements, but so does giving birth to your child and recovering from that birth. No matter how you end up delivering, your body will require energy and specific nutrients to heal itself. Eat protein foods (think meats, eggs, dairy, and beans) because they’re essential for repairing your body. Include carbohydrates (especially whole grains that are high in fiber) because they’re necessary for energy. Also incorporate some healthy fats (such as olive oil, nuts, and seeds) to provide important nutrients and additional energy for your body.

If you decide to breastfeed your baby, plan on eating pretty much the same foods you ate while pregnant throughout the length of time you choose to nurse. Of course, you may find that you need more calories while you’re nursing than you did while you were pregnant; whether you do depends on how much milk you produce. Note: Nursing moms may lose some of their lingering pregnancy pounds fairly quickly due to their bodies’ increased calorie needs and ability to use stored fat as energy to produce milk.

If you’re breastfeeding, drink plenty of fluids, get rest, and continue to take your prenatal vitamin because you can use the extra vitamins and minerals while nursing.

Getting back in shape

The key to post-pregnancy weight loss is to take it slow and steady, just as you did when gaining weight while you were pregnant. After all, you didn’t gain all those pounds overnight, and they certainly won’t come off that fast! As you get started, focus on eating smaller portions and leaving a few bites behind on your plate. Listen to your stomach when it tells your brain that it’s satisfied and stop eating before you get overfull.

Don’t give in to the temptation of starving yourself after pregnancy. You’ll very likely be tired of carrying those extra pounds, but eating too little isn’t good for you or your baby. Remember that your body is still recovering. If you’re nursing, keep in mind that you need a good deal of calories to fuel milk production.

You may be surprised to find out that your pregnancy belly stays for a little while after delivery. The truth is much of your expanded stomach is actually your uterus, and it takes several weeks to shrink back to its normal size. Ignore anyone who tells you she wore her pre-pregnancy clothes home from the hospital, and make sure you hang on to your elastic-banded pregnancy pants for a little while longer (or live in comfy dresses).

As soon as you receive clearance from your doctor, which may take eight weeks or more if you have a cesarean (C-section) delivery, start adding exercise to your routine. Put your baby in the stroller and go for a walk, take a swim, pop in a yoga DVD, or attend a postnatal exercise class. Doing so will not only help you burn calories but also provide you with some much-needed stress relief and give you a nice boost of mood-elevating hormones. Book 4 has lots of exercise advice for pregnant women and those who’ve just given birth.