4 months pregnant and terrified

Hi all,
 this Dec will be my third year out from RNY. I thank God for all He has done for me. I began my journey at age 27 with over 100lbs of excess weight. I gained most of my weight in college.  I was 260 give or take a couple pounds at surgery and now I fluctuate between 160-163. After  almost 2 yrs of marriage, I am now 4 months pregnant. At my last OB visit I was up to 171. They are saying that from my last visit one month ago I have gained 6-7lbs and that it is a  too much weight gain for one month. I am very scared. I never want to go back to where I started. Now some of the clothes that I used to wear after surgery while I was loosing weight are begining to fit again and I am freaking out. I am hungry all the time now. I snack on fruit and veggies and thought I would be okay, but I guess not. I also crave beef jerky and have been eating them and an occassional candy bar once in great while. Have eaten 1or 2 since pregnancy. I am cutting them all out now. Please help. What did you do during pregnancy not to gain so much weight? How much did you gain? What did you eat? I know my OB said not to go on a diet, but now I feel like I have no choice. I am afraid that if I am not careful the weightloss surgery would have been in vain and I don't want that. I also want my baby to be healthy. I don't want to go up to more than 180lbs is this possible? AM I freaking out for nothing? Please help. Any advice or real life experience with pregnancy after weight loss will help. Thanks and God bless

The following are my opinions, supported by my doctors, and you'll get LOTS of mixed advice around here, so be prepared to sift through it.

No, you shouldn't "go on a diet," but you should revamp your CURRENT diet to be as healthy as possible. "Healthy" is, of course, a matter of opinion depending on your personal health requirements and on who you ask, which makes it tough!

For ME, healthy is NO GRAINS (no breads, no pastas, no rice, no crackers, etc.) and no starchy veggies (no potatoes, no corn, etc.). I do eat fruit, but I limit it to maybe 2 servings per day and try not to eat fruit by itself, but WITH some protein and fat (like some almonds, peanut butter, cheese, Greek yogurt, etc.). I never limit my fat intake but make sure my fat is from good sources (which is easy when you're not really eating junk food!) such as real butter, eggs, natural cheeses, meats, full-fat plain Greek yogurt, heavy whipping cream, etc. For veggies, I choose non-starchy items like salad greens, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and baby/petit brussels sprouts (though, honestly, I don't eat a lot of veggies because they don't appeal to me very much right now).

For me, "healthy" was also removing artificial sweeteners from my regular diet and avoiding soy. I know my diet is "stricter" than most pregnant women's, but about 5 minutes of researching "fetal origins" always snaps me back to the reality that my diet is SUPER important for this baby, and I will do all I can to be sure it is healthy for as long as possible.

I also continued taking a good multivitamin (2x per day), extra calcium citrate (3x per day), iron, vit D, and probiotics. I also take a "hair, nails & skin" combo tablet, extra zinc, and a vit C supplement, but those are based on my own personal preferences/labs. The only things I changed when I found out I was pregnant is that I added a DHA supplement and stopped taking my separate vitamin A supplement.

Now, I am NOT as far along as you (about a month behind), so my situation may change a bit as I progress, but when I found out I was pregnant, I was about 187 pounds (had personally never gotten below 180, and only saw even 180 on my scale maybe twice!). I'm now 12 weeks 5 days and weigh in at 175 pounds. As of Tuesday (my last ultrasound), my baby is still measuring right on target (actually measured a day ahead). To be clear, I'm NOT intentionally losing weight, but I AM intentionally eating how I feel is very healthy, and my weight is adjusting accordingly. As long as baby continues measuring appropriately and progressing, I will continue in this fashion.

My last bit of advice to you is to focus on being HEALTHY and NOT on a specific number on the scale. Thanks to all these lovely hormones jumping around, you'll see weight fluctuations from things like water retention, constipation, etc.

thank you. Your diet is quite strict, but there are things I can do. Such as returning to avoiding carbs,and uping my protein intake. I guess basically returning to the "diet' I was on that helped me loose the excess weight after surgery. Do you have any cravings? if so what do you eat. My craving has been beef jerky. thanks for your response.

For a couple weeks, I had cravings for mac n cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches. I ignored them and stayed the course. I now get pretty much no cravings at all. I find caving even to a little bit of something is, for me, a pathway to only more and stronger cravings for junk. I know some people think "everything in moderation" is key, but some of us became morbidly obese in the first place because our bodies and minds don't like moderation!

I wouldn't avoid jerky - it's protein packed and usually lower in carbs (as long as it's not like teriyaki flavor or something else sweet). If I want something sweet, I'll go for a little bit of fruit spread mixed into full-fat Greek yogurt, or just a couple squares of dark chocolate (70% or greater cocoa content). If I want bacon or hot dogs, I eat them, but I do buy the nitrate-free versions.

As we speak, I'm cooking up some food to have throughout the week (I'm tired in the evenings, so cooking when I get home from work doesn't usually happen!). I have a crock pot cooking some pork shoulder cubes in a spicy Thai garlic chile sauce (I haven't had any reflux at all, so not avoiding spicy when I want it), a casserole of broccoli, chopped spinach, diced chicken, chopped bacon, and cheese sauce, and some all natural spinach, fontina, and sun dried tomato chicken sausages defrosted that I will slice up and mix with maybe an alfredo sauce. Oh, and a tub of fresh bruschetta in the fridge to pour over some chicken and bake and top with some parmesan cheese...good stuff!

Hi there, I'm over 7 years post-op RNY and on my 2nd pregnancy post-op.  We are very close in pre and post-pregnancy weight.  My highest weight was 268 and my lowest after surgery was 155.  With the start of both my pregnancies I was around 158-163.  With my last pregnancy I gained 30-35lbs and lost all but 8lbs at my 6 week check-up.  However, I gained more weight over the next 1.5 years to put me around 175lbs.  I got myself back on track and lost the additional weight before getting pregnant with this baby.  I have already gained over 35lbs with this baby and sadly have gone over 200lbs (which I desperately didn't want to do).  But I have to admit that it's by my wrong doing and eating wrongs foods and know I will get strict with myself again after the baby is born and loose the excess weight.  I personally wouldn't cut out carbs from my diet, but would suggest you eat "good for you carbs", such as whole wheats, grains, brown rice, etc.  Keep in mind that while pregnant, you only need to add 300-400 extra calories to substain the pregnancy.  It's not uncommon at all to be able to eat and tolerate way more while pregnant than you did before getting pregnant.  Don't let it freak you out to much, as you will find your pouch will return back to normal (might take longer if your nursing and you might find you need to eat just as much nursing as you did while pregnant....this is normal).  I would highly suggest you NOT diet but be mindful of what you eat and make healthy choices whenever possible (this is easier said than done for myself).  I also feel your desire to not go above 180lbs is unreasonable (if your 171lbs right now and only 4 months pregnant).  Giving yourself only 9 more pounds to gain in 5 months of pregnancy seems unrealistic and might set you up to feel more like a failure.  You will probably find your weight gain will slow down over the next few months and then pick up again more towards the end of your pregnancy as your baby has bigger growing spurts.  I'm not saying you will gain more than the extra 9lbs, but don't set a number on the scale to not go over.  Just do your best and do what feels best for you and you will be fine!  And remember your tool will still be there and you wont go back to the size you were pre-op!  Best wishes and congrats on your pregnancy!

Kerri

thank you so much for your advice and good luck with everything. I will let you know how everything goes. take care