How to Eat Healthy and Not Gain Weight While Pregnant

7 Secrets to Prevent Excess Weight Gain During Pregnancy

Trying to stay healthy and fit during pregnancy? Today I'm sharing some of my secrets to prevent gaining excess weight during pregnancy so that you can stay in good shape for those 9 months and beyond!

When I first got pregnant, I received a lot of dietary recommendations and advice on what to expect during pregnancy. And I mean A LOT.

Some of the things I most commonly heard were, "Eat as much as you want…you're eating for two!" or "pregnancy ruins your body…your body will never be the same again."

It also seemed like EVERY woman I talked to felt the need to share with me exactly how much weight they gained during their pregnancy, and it usually ranged anywhere from 5-100lbs.

That's a pretty wide range.

And let's just be honest. The thought of gaining 100lbs doesn't exactly make you want to jump for joy.

Secrets to Prevent Excess Weight Gain During Pregnancy

On a day to day basis, I've always worked really hard to eat right and exercise in order to stay fit and healthy, so these comments and stories honestly TERRIFIED me. As much as I wanted a baby and knew that there would be sacrifice involved in having a child, I also didn't want to give up all the years of hard work that I had dedicated to staying in shape.

I also didn't want to view my body in a negative light for the rest of my life post baby.

We all want to feel good about ourselves, right?

This was probably one of my biggest fears when I first found out I was pregnant.

At the start of my pregnancy, I really didn't know what to expect or even how much I should change my eating habits. I had never done this pregnancy thing before! One thing I did know, however, was that I didn't want to pack on a whole bunch of additional pounds that I would have to work super hard to lose post pregnancy.

In my mind, having a baby is overwhelming enough without having to work on losing a ton of weight too.

I made a commitment to myself to eat as healthy as possible throughout my pregnancy, not only for my own benefit, but also for the health of my baby. After all, there was a little person growing inside of me, so I wanted to ensure that I was providing all of the necessary nutrients.

By the end of my pregnancy, I had gained approximately 20lbs, which was primarily baby and fluids, and I was pleasantly surprised that I hadn't gained very much additional body fat.

Now I'm certainly not saying this to brag, but more so as an encouragement to you, because I had always just assumed that gaining a bunch of body fat was a given when you're pregnant because that's what I had always read or been told. And I think a lot of women have this perception. But that totally doesn't have to be the case!

If you take care of yourself, pay attention to what you're eating and exercise on a regular basis, you definitely don't have to give up your body when you have a baby.

There are some key strategies that you can implement to minimize gaining excess body fat during pregnancy and save yourself a TON time and effort trying to lose the baby weight.

Now before I share some of my strategies, please recognize that pregnancy is a very individual journey and of course everyone will experience a different rate of weight gain. Along with following these strategies below, I recommend working closely with your doctor to ensure that you're gaining the right amount of weight for you and your baby.

Now, here are some of the strategies that I found worked for me and many of the clients that I've worked with!

1.Don't Eat for Two

This is the most common misconception and one of the most frustrating things that I heard throughout my pregnancy.

You DON'T need to down tubs of ice cream and burgers and fries every day to feed the baby.

Seriously.

The baby doesn't need that crap and neither do you. In reality, unless you're severely underweight in the first trimester, you don't need any extra calories to support the growth of the baby.

In the second trimester, you only need approximately 300 extra calories and in the third, an extra 450 calories.

That's equivalent to an apple, handful of nuts, and a yogurt. It's really not that much extra food.

Personally, I'm not a calorie counter, so I wasn't calculating my calories every day. I just listened to my body and ate when I felt hungry and made the healthiest possible choices when the hunger struck.

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ignore everyone who tells you to eat for two.

2.Pay Attention to Portions

One thing I've always been very conscious of are my portion sizes, and this didn't change when I became pregnant. Although I was often told that you become ravenous during pregnancy and down everything in sight, I didn't really find that to be the case.

That being said, I do know that some women experience a significant increase in appetite, so it's a very individual experience.

During the first trimester, I was quite nauseous so the thought of eating didn't really appeal to me all that much because I had a hard time coming up with foods that I actually felt like eating. By the third trimester, the baby was taking up so much room, that I would get full really quickly.

If you do find that you're super hungry, try throwing some extra vegetables on your plate. It will add some extra bulk and fibre and help you better control your portions to prevent overeating throughout the day.

Or another strategy is to use a smaller dessert-sized plate. The plate will appear a lot more full which will trick you into thinking that you're eating more than you actually are!

3.Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals

I found that because I didn't have a whole lot of room for food as the baby was growing, my best strategy was to eat smaller more frequent meals throughout the day.

This didn't change much from my pre-pregnancy days because I've always been the type to eat a small meal or snack every 2-3 hours. Smaller more frequent meals can help to keep those hunger levels in check, keep energy levels up, help stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent overeating at the next meal.

It's also a good strategy for managing heart burn which is something that a lot of pregnant women struggle with.

I was very fortunate because I didn't have to deal too much with heart burn and I think it was largely due to making healthier food choices, and eating smaller portions more frequently throughout the day. You might find that it works for you too!

4.Have some Fibre and Protein at Every Meal

This one is HUGE!

The combination of fibre and protein helps to regulate your blood sugar and can also control hunger levels since fibre and protein both make you feel full for longer. As an added bonus, fibre helps keep you regular and has a ton of other benefits!

Everyone knows that constipation is no fun. Especially when you're pregnant. Believe me, there's enough going on down there. So be sure to load up on that fibre, striving for 25-35 grams per day!

5.Make Sure you're Getting Enough Calcium

When increasing calories in the second and third trimester, one thing I paid attention to was making sure that I was getting some extra servings of calcium-rich foods since calcium requirements increase to 1300mg per day during pregnancy.

Now I don't tolerate dairy very well since it tends to upset my stomach and make me breakout more, so I generally don't include it much in my diet.

Instead, during pregnancy, I added a couple of servings of unsweetened almond milk at breakfast and snacks and also included other calcium-rich foods like almonds, broccoli, and salmon with bones to my diet.

It's also very important to take a prenatal supplement throughout pregnancy to ensure that you're getting those extra nutrients you might be skimping on in your diet like calcium, iron and folate.

6.Drink LOTS of Water

Another strategy I recommend to stay fit and healthy during pregnancy is to drink LOTS of water. You gotta chug that H2O!

Throughout my pregnancy, I usually drank anywhere from 12-14 cups of water per day and even more on days that I exercised. I carried around a 750 mL bottle with me throughout the day and kept refilling it, making a mental note of how much I was drinking.

Having a large bottle constantly full can make it really easy to calculate if you're getting enough fluids.

Also, one strategy I use to make drinking water a little more refreshing is to mix the plain water with Perrier water or to infuse fruit, cucumbers or fresh herbs into the water, like this recipe for Sassy Water. It just makes the water taste SO much more refreshing.

You can also drink herbal tea (just make sure it's pregnancy-safe) like my all time favourite decaf Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Green Tea. This stuff is seriously the best! Even though it's technically a Christmas tea, I actually order a stash of it in bulk from Amazon so that I can drink it all year long. Who says you can't drink candy cane tea in the summer?!

7.Keep a food journal

I know, I know. We hear this one all the time, but it works!

By writing down what you eat during the day, it helps keep you more accountable and if you are packing on the pounds a little faster than you'd like, you can always go back and review your food journal to see where you might be overdoing it and figure out what tweaks can be made.

At the end of the day, who wants to write down that they had a double whopper cheese burger, a handful of candy and a whole sleeve of cookies?? NO ONE.

Writing down what you eat can help keep you on track.

Overall, I felt like these strategies really helped me keep my weight gain in check, along with regular exercise. If you're interested, you can check out some tips for staying fit during pregnancy here.

You're going to hear a lot of stories during pregnancy and get a lot of unsolicited advice, but don't think that just because your Great Aunt Maud packed on the pounds and suffered with major heart burn or constipation that that has to be your destiny too.

If you follow these strategies, it can certainly help keep your weight in check so that you can spend more time enjoying your baby and less time worrying about how you'll lose the extra baby weight.

And if you do happen to gain more weight than you initially hoped, please give yourself grace and remember that you just grew a baby! Pregnancy is such an individual experience and every woman's body responds differently to pregnancy. Ultimately, the most important thing is that you are eating as healthy as possible, staying active and listening to your body to keep both you and the baby healthy. If you are looking for recommendations to get back in shape after pregnancy, you can check out some tips here and try out some of these recipes for healthier meal ideas!

What strategies worked for you when preventing excess weight gain during pregnancy?

Four Healthy Freezer Crockpot Meals in freezer bags

Looking for delicious and simple recipes?

Check these out:

This post may contain affiliate links which means that I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only promote products that I love and feel will benefit my readers :)

How to Eat Healthy and Not Gain Weight While Pregnant

Source: https://www.hauteandhealthyliving.com/prevent-excess-pregnancy-weight-gain/

Game Gonofferand