Watching the weight during preg..

[2girls&1boy]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently 8wks preg and am hoping not to put on as much weight as I did with my first. I started at 60kg and finished up at 85kg. I am back down to 65kg but am really concerned about putting too much weight on as I found it really hard to shift extra kg's.(especially as I haven't got down to my original weight) My question to you all is does anyone have any kind of diet guidelines they followed or are following to ensure that you don't put on too many kilos but also make sure that bub is getting everything they need?

I have got the "What to Eat when you are Expecting" but I really do not like this book...

Any info would be really appreciated..

Thanks
Paula

[Audrey]

Hi Paula,

Your story sounds exactly the same as mine. I went from 60kg to 80kg with my first pregnancy and it took 18 months to loose the weight, with lots of tears and soup diets. I am determined not to make the same mistake this time. I had put on 7 kilos by 24 weeks, this time, so I started to panic and asked the OB to refer me to a Dietian. The Dietian gave me a low GI diet to follow. You can buy a low GI diet book to give you an idea of what foods to eat or it is similar to the CSIRO diet, but for pregnancy you need to eat more than these diets suggest as you don't want to lose weight, just not gain too much. I basically eat :-

Breakfast - 2 High Bran or All-bran with low-fat milk and/or an egg with a piece of Multi-grain toast.
Morning tea - fruit or yoghurt or a piece of fruit loaf (occassionaly I have low fat banana bread from Brumby's, but it is so nice it is hard to stop at one slice).
Lunch - salmon, cheese & tomato or a salad sandwich or vege soup with toast.
Afternoon tea - fruit or yoghurt or a couple of oatmeal biscuits.
Dinner - meat & veges
Snack - Milo or low fat ice-cream or trim-custard with fruit. (I love to have something sweet at night)

This has kept my weight stable and at 33 weeks I have gained a total of 9.5kg. I am still aiming to not gain more than 12 kg in total. But, I will be happy as long as I don't gain more than 15kg. I still have the occasional chocolate or Takeaway dinner, but as soon as I do the weight goes up, so I have to be careful.

I would highly recommend going to a Dietian, even if you only go once or twice. They really helped me get on track. If you have 'What to expect, when your expecting' there is a graph in it that helps you to monitor how much weight you have gained.

People tell me all the time, not to worry about my weight and to enjoy being pregnant, but I would rather be careful now and enjoy my new baby without being upset about how big I am.

Good luck
Let me know if you have any questions.
Audrey