Eating During Pregnancy

Hi C.!!CONGRATS to you!!You are doing the right thing by eating all day!!We tell our patients to eat 3 meals a day and snack many times threw the day,(healthy snacks)what you are feeling is normal and this will pass hopefully when you begin your 2nd trimester!!Like another post said carrots,fruit,yougurt ect..you need to keep your belly full!!I would definatly stay away from soda,fruit juices b/c they are empty calories!!Im not sure if you like the crystal light mix, but Brigham and Womans did a resent study and they are now saying that the artifical sweeteners are ok for pregnancy !!That could be an option for you too!!Well, I wish you a quick and healthy pregnancy!!Take care

I ate all the time when I was pregnant - very rarely did I feel full. But can I ask - what are you eating for these "snacks"?

I gained 60lbs for my 1st and only PG. I was eating very healthy but was always watching my sugar and fat intake.

PS. Congrats on your pregnancy!

I got lemon-ginger herbal tea (by Stash I think) that help a ton with quesiness. I drank it hot and cool. Like some of the other posters, I also ate a lot of yogurt (Trader Joes makes a similar kind of greek style yogurt that costs less than the Fage). I also kept a container of homemade trail mix (make it yourself to get what you want and control healthy fats) with sunflower seeds, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chips. I ate it on and off all day at work. I tried to eat 4-5 small meals a day and just snack REALLY healthy the rest of the time. Baby carrots, apples, oranges, grapes are all easy snacks to keep on hand. I also ate cheese and hard boiled eggs for quick protein hits. If you drink fruit juice or soda I'd give that up entirely as it's just useless calories. I had an 8lb baby and only gained about 20lbs. Some of that I attribute to being a healthy eater (not perfect - there were regular ice cream snacks too!), some to being some sort of genetic freak. Good luck with the pregnancy. You don't HAVE to gain 75 lbs, you do HAVE to find ways to healthily feed the hunger!

First, congratulations!

Second, those first weeks are terrible, huh? Hopefully only a few more weeks to go for you - I definitely started feeling better at 11.5 or 12 weeks.

I'm in my first pregnancy, so I have no idea about weight gain. But, I can tell you from very recent memory what snacks I ate to get through the first trimester.

I ate all the time - small snacks so my stomach was never empty. If it was empty, I was sick. I only gained a few pounds even with this strategy.

Here's a quick list:

Ginger "tea" - just cut up a couple pieces of raw ginger, put honey in the cup and add hot water. It tasted good and made me feel a little better.

Cheese - I ate string cheese at work and cheddar at home. Mild cheese was definitely best for me.

English muffins - I ate these a lot at work, the whole wheat kind, with butter and honey (or peanut butter). They filled me nicely, and are healthy.

Yogurt and cereal - I actually felt well in the morning, and got worse throughout the day, so I'd eat this for breakfast. But you could eat it any time during the day.

Fruit - lots of blueberries and melon.

Cereal bars from whole foods - I bought 3 packs at a time and kept in my desk drawer, purse, everywhere, for emergencies.

Good luck!

Well I too ate to curb my morning sickness. I gained 52 pounds. 45 lbs fell off very easily, and 9 1/2 months later, I have just one lb to go! (Lots of work, now). But... I don't think you can control your weight gain. I tried to. My ob said women gain what they are meant to gain. Do it heathfully (when you can). Good luck with the morning sickness. Gingerale helped me (I did the all natual stuff from whole foods).

I was the same way with my first pregnancy, so I know how you feel! It seemed ridiculous to be so hungry when my baby was probably roughly the size of a grain of rice. I did feel less hungry after the first trimester, and although I gained 7 pounds in the first trimester I only gained about 28 pounds over the entire pregnancy. Ironically, I didn't feel hungry that way with my second pregnancy but gained 40 pounds. Obviously neither of those are huge weight gains, but it's interesting that I gained less the pregnancy where I was seemingly eating constantly.

My SIL has problems gaining huge amounts of weight during pregnancies, and she says this last pregnancy (her third) she just stopped worrying about it and gained less than she had with either of her first pregnancies. I would say eat when you're hungry (you'll probably feel too sick to function otherwise) but try to eat really healthily - I remember eating a lot of frozen berries with yogurt, and trying to eat lots of vegetables. Eating frequently is healthy and it actually boosts your metabolism if you eat multiple small meals instead of a few larger ones (although having to eat in the middle of the night is a major pain, I remember doing that!) Good luck, and I hope your pregnancy goes well!

Yeah, I had that problem too. I gained 80 pounds with my first child, and only lost 60 pounds before I got pregnant again. Even though I started off heavier the second time, I only gained 40 pounds. I attribute the change to being calmer, more focused on the outcome, and riding out the nausea sometimes. I found that eating a small amount of protein every few hours helped with the nausea. Also, papaya enzymes are great for stopping the burning gnawing feeling. I had to put a lot of thought into the quality of the foods I was consuming, while simultaneously releasing myself to eat when I needed to (often). At home, I stuck mostly with organic dairy products (tons of skim milk and low fat yogurt)so that I could splurge on something like a cheese and fruit platter (I'm a Camembert and Brie addict) at a restaurant when I got a craving. There is a yogurt product called "Fage" (Greek, pronounced faya) that comes fat free and is high in protein. Low fat, hormone free protein sources are key (also try to eat spinach or broccoli every day) A small handful of nuts, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds. A hard boiled egg (even a dab of mayo if egg salad is more palatable), a can of low mercury tuna (check out the Whole Foods web site or Vitalchoice.com if you want info on mercury and fish consumption while pregnant) If you eat meat try to make as much as possible be lean and organic. If you are getting your protein, 100 calorie snacks should keep you full for a few hours. Oh, yeah, every time I wanted something fattening or otherwise unhealthy, I allowed myself one small (toddler snack bowl size) bowl of it because sometimes I had a craving for cream sauces, or Doritos. I also ate a lot of rice and beans, when I was too gassy for that I switched to rice and peas with a tablespoon of parmesan cheese on top. And fluids, lots of fluids. I drank a pitcher of decaf iced tea every day. Lemonade helps with the queezies as well, and if you water it down a bit, it really isn't too fattening. I hope some of these ideas help you. It is hard balancing wants and needs. I am 5 months post-partum and losing weight slowly...again. Good luck!