Comments on: The Dirty Little Secret About Pregnancy Weight Gain

By: Three weeks until I become a dad

Three weeks until I become a dad

Great article! Finding good information online can be a chore and a half. My wife is 5’9″ and has gained 40 pounds in 37 weeks, I was reading up on symptoms of preeclampsia when I found this post. I want to ask the doctors, how can the weight gain recommendations be the same for the 4’3″ lady and the 6’5″ lady?

By: Natasha

Natasha

I gain 40 every time. I hate it..I actually do excercise regularly (I was going 5xs a week over an hour a day.) and after terrible ms got back into it up until I hit 30 weeks when I got covid and now excercise triggers a cascade of contractions. I am on bed rest at night to stop them since I have a high preterm risk.. =/ Regardless the baby has iugr and I wondered if it was due to the calorie counting and vigorous excercise for most of the pregnancy as I was determined to gain the 25 to 30 recommended. I would lose then gain a chunk and repeat. I am 34 weeks and am fighting to maintain. =/ I do however lose my pregnancy weight. I truly think there is a genetic component to this that they are just avoiding. My sister gains 40 to 60 each time and gets back to her size 0 within months. I feel very stressed by the weight but I really tried my best. I eat a mass of veggies. Nearly never any desserts either as I got GD this time around as well although my BS sits in the 80s. The big baby theory does not frighten me. My son was 5lbs7oz and this baby is measuring on the smaller side too. My son is tall and skinny too so, we just do not know everything and our best guesses are just not always correct.

By: Chels

Chels

In reply to Sheena. Here are some hopeful words of encouragement: I’m currently finishing up my 23rd week also, looking at having gained probably 20-25 lbs already and horrified at the thought of how much more I might pack on in these next 17 weeks. I’m also probably now about where I was when my other two were born. I totally understand all of that and then adding on two preschoolers (ages 4 and 2). Starting off with the nausea and migraines that I did this time, hasn’t helped either. So, for starters, you are not alone. Second, I think the other ladies make some great points here: do what you can and don’t beat yourself up over what you can’t. Lastly, you could attempt a short walk here and there with the kiddos to at least maintain some muscle and stamina. This week I have opted to try to regain some of that… I only lasted 10 minutes on the first day. However, I did almost 15 minutes on the second day. For someone who went walking for nearly an hour and a half daily after my first baby, this has been very disappointing, but I figure every day that I can tack on a little more should help: both physically and emotionally. Good luck!

By: Sheena

Sheena

In reply to jhawkgal4. I’m currently 23 weeks pregnant and have a 2 year old. My first pregnancy I worked out and felt great! This time, I’m lucky if I have enough energy to bathe myself and toddler every few days ? I am now freaking out because my weight is a few pounds shy than when my toddler was born (she was a month early). I know it’s in part because of lack of exercise. But, I literally don’t know how to find another minute in the day to workout…if I do, I need a nap! If anyone has advice or words of encouragement, please share!

By: Sheena

Sheena

By: Reading Rainbow

Reading Rainbow

Thank you so much for this article! Third full term pregnancy (after four miscarriages) and I don’t even want to go to my obgyn because all I hear about is weight. I was actually told by the obgyn during my last pregnancy in 2020, “I’m seeing a lot of women gaining more weight than necessary due to their sedentary lifestyles with the lockdowns.” What mother would describe her role as a “sedentary” during the pandemic??? Every mother I know was bone-crushingly tired trying to keep their families, careers, and households together . . . all while growing a human being in the midst of mass global chaos.

By: Danielle

Danielle

Thank you so much for this! I’m 32 weeks pregnant with my 7th and have already gained 35 lbs but am perfectly healthy. I am not going to beat myself up over it anymore.

By: Arion

Arion

Thank you for this!! This is long but important for me to get off my chest so bear with me. I’m only 13 weeks pregnant with our baby bean and I’m a full time nursing student with 3 boys at home. This is our second go of IVF and almost to the year ago we lost our twin boys at 21 weeks. The entire time I had a huge sub chorionic hematoma and heavy bleeding non stop and was put on bed rest, to no avail unfortunately. So this go around I haven’t exercised but I’m still go go go… but I’ve gained almost 15 pounds with the only extra calories being lunch twice a week that I normally don’t eat.This last midwife appointment they proceeded to tell me to stop eating just to eat, to put down the screen and go for a walk, and to not eat all the junk food….. none of this is me and I was taken aback. I left confused, hurt and completely embarrassed and self conscious. Even my husband was thrown for a loop. It was an awful experience and now I’m panicking when I eat dinner and have my packed lunch in the middle of my 10 hr clinical days. I wish they’d actually listen and have an honest conversation instead of throwing out judgmental cover all statements.

By: Sara

Sara

I love this ! Thank you for sharing I have gained 38lbs and I am 35 weeks I have Low blood pressure and don’t have diabetes . I exercise at least 3 times a week but no longer run. I am told at every appointment that I have too much weight . Doctors do not have very a good way of communicating and basically assume we are eating ice cram every night I am AMA also and had few pregnancy losses too. I appreciate this article so much women are shamed for gaining weight but most of the people I know who have gained even 50’lbs lost it all. Every woman is different!!!

By: Hala

Hala

Thank you so much for this. This is my first baby after a miscarriage last year. I haven’t had spotting but I have been less hard on myself this time around because I think emotional wellbeing is just as important to the baby. And honestly calorie counting in pregnancy makes me so hangry when I am ravenous most of the time. I am 29 weeks and have gained 32 lbs so far but my breasts also grew two cup sizes in my first trimester. Like you, I don’t know where the weight is going. I fit into most of my old clothes still but have a round belly. I also have low blood pressure and had good results for the glucose tests. Baby is on track so, your article helped me breathe and say, “you’re okay”. Thank you for countering the snarky tone of many of those other articles, that just give women another reason to have self image issues. I really appreciate it and your perspective helped me a lot.

By: Rachael

Rachael

Thank you so much for this. I have gained 40, and we are at 37 weeks. Baby girl and I are very healthy. You can’t tell I’ve gained that much weight. From behind, I do not look pregnant. She is measuring right on track. I gained a lot with my son as well. In retrospect, a lot of that was in my breasts, and I feel a little uh top heavy this time too. I felt so guilty with him though because I did not exercise (similar to you, I had two miscarriages previously and was terrified of doing ANYTHING to put him at risk). This time, he gives me plenty of exercise (he is almost 2 now). I still eat a bit much at times, but on the whole I eat healthier than I did with him. Yet the same amount of weight gain! Thankfully, after my son was born, I was back to pre-baby weight in a matter of 2 months. I dropped a lot more weight pretty quickly after that with breastfeeding. I had been in the middle of a weight loss journey when I got pregnant with him and was just about to my goal weight when we became pregnant with this little girl. So I don’t feel as bad about the weight gain now having started with a healthier weight, and I’m optimistic about getting my weight back to a healthy level postpartum. It’s just hard enough being a woman and being shamed about weight constantly without also being pregnant and having people shame you for somehow harming your baby with your weight as well.

By: Lizzie

Lizzie

My pregnant and emotional butt is about to cry because I LOVE this article!!! I have always been self conscious about my weight since I was like 11! I know what the heck! But getting older and gaining weight just came naturally to me. So when I got pregnant, it started off with me gaining 2-4 lbs every monthly checkup. But at the 20 week checkup I’d gained 20 pounds!! Out of nowhere! I feel the same, with the exception of the growing belly, but the scale was alarming. I asked many women how much they’d gained their total pregnancy thinking I’d get 20-25 lbs like the first searches on Google say, BUT everyone of them were from 50-60 pounds!! It made me feel so much better but still I kept reading the 20-25 lb stuff like HOW!?!
Reading your story about spotting is the same thing that happened to me!!! I was spotting when I started working out in the first trimester. I still move around a bunch everyday so I really don’t find the need or have the excess of energy to do a workout. Oh well! I am so pleased with this article NORMALIZING women gaining healthy weight while pregnant! It’s a shame that the medical system places women in boxes, especially when we carry life, and cause us to stress out over normal things!

By: April

April

I’m a little overweight since third trimester hit. I actually have Hyperemesis graviderium so I was underweight for most of my pregnancy but suddenly during third trimester I shot above the average weight gain even though I’m not eating any different than I did prepregnancy. Is it just my body’s way of catching up? Also I’ve gotten basically no exercise. I have SPD and walking is almost impossible, I also have chronic bladder pain which is worse when I walk too. Nothing I can really do about it…

By: Jess

Jess

I love your discussion at the end. I agree, it’s so annoying to read those articles that are trying to be funny, but they are just patronizing.

By: Shanelle

Shanelle

Hi, I am 24 and I am 31 weeks pregnant I have gained about 40 pounds already. Some people ask me if I am having a twin and today someone commented that I might get a c section. I cried, it’s really embarrassing when I go shopping , people stare a lot. Sometimes I get very sad and I feel out of place and unattractive. I am however happy to get the chance to be my mom and he is my main priority.

By: Julianne

Julianne

This is the single greatest post I’ve read about pregnancy weight gain. Thank you for your real words, I feel like the weight gain thing is presented in such an unhealthy way… Makes it very difficult for people like me who are prone to body image obsession and anxiety during pregnancy. You are an absolute star, thank you for what you do!!!

By: Miranda

Miranda

I love this! Thank you for posting this. I’ve been pregnant twice. The first time I most definitely over indulged and didn’t exercise and gained 40lbs. Guess what? My baby wasn’t huge, I had no complications & I lost the weight by 6 months after. Did it take some work? Sure, but it’s doable! The second pregnancy, I ate healthy & exercised. Guess what? I STILL gained 40lbs. I feel like your body just gains what it needs to gain. My doctors have never been concerned, but the people around me are a different story. I had to constantly hear about how little weight they gained and how bad it is that I gained 40lbs so this article was amazing to read!

By: Natalie

Natalie

I love this!! There is so much pressure heaped on pregnant women from all sides it feels like and weight is no exception. I’ve had to listen to a bunch of people tell me how huge I am all pregnancy – I know this and I can’t help the way I’m carrying. I think like you say all we can do is try our best, come up with a plan hopefully with an understanding healthcare provider like you, had leave the rest to the universe! Some people just gain a lot of weight quickly with pregnancy I think and I’m one of those people possibly like you. There is far too much pressure heaped on women already!

By: Cynthia

Cynthia

So happy I opened your blog! My ob told me last week that my weight gain has been too much since the beginning of my pregnancy and am only aloud to gain 1 lbs per week now.. this made me feel terrible and to doubt myself on so many level. I have never had issues with my weight before I am petite I weigh 107 before baby and now at 25 weeks I’m at 129 .. numbers are high for me I never weighed that in my life !! I’m gaining a good 3 pounds per week.. I eat well I do exercise and nothing changes! Happy to see I’m like everyone else ! Thanks for sharing all ??

By: Kristen

Kristen

Thank you for this post! I was googling pregnancy weight gain because I’m a FTM and two different practitioners have now made me feel guilty because I’m gaining “too much” (~15 lbs at 24 weeks). However, I’m 39 years old, and people keep complimenting me on how good I look. My BP is actually LOW, and as for GD, I’ll know as soon as I have the the test next week. But I really don’t feel like I’ve been eating excessively in the least, and I can actually still see my hourglass figure, so I truly believe it’s mostly baby. Every woman is different. Thank you so much for helping alleviate the guilt I felt that I was doing something wrong!