01 Oct
Pregnancy Weight Gain Goals
I haven’t written much about how I’ve been feeling throughout my first trimester, mostly because there hasn’t been much to write about. Other than the desire to sleep an average of 12 hours/day and an insatiable desire to eat us out of house and home. Hugging the porcelain throne? The only time I even came close was during a 72 hour period somewhere around my 7th week in which I began to worry that nausea was bound to be my closest friend through the first trimester, and maybe even through my entire pregnancy. Turns out I’m likely going to be one of the lucky pregnant women who never feels the sting of bile on her tongue in relation to the baby in her baby.
This is something I had not expected. My own mother had extremely difficult pregnancies, especially in relation to nausea. I came into pregnancy expecting the worst, and instead, so far, I’ve been handed something of the best. I’m grateful not to be throwing up, but insatiable hunger without heaving = weight gain, something I find very scary. I want to avoid gestational diabetes at all costs, something I believe can be prevented through exercise, good nutrition, and limiting weight gain to healthy levels.
Although those close to me tend to react negatively when I point it out (a nice thing to do I guess, but doesn’t make any less factual), I was overweight before I become pregnant. Even if somehow I wasn’t considered socially overweight, I was certainly medically overweight. Good sources pertaining to pregnancy data can be tough to find, but all the sources, whether good or bad, seem to agree on recommended weight gain averages for underweight, normal, and overweight women.
- 25-37 pounds if you were a healthy weight before pregnancy.
- 28-40 pounds if you were underweight before pregnancy.
- 15-25 pounds if you were overweight before pregnancy.
Source (Similar data here and here)
For me, no more than 25 lbs is the goal. Because of the magical program FitDay I know that my weight around the time of conception was 153.6, and is now hovering anywhere between 160-163 lbs. That puts me at 7-10 lbs gained already with a baby that still has a lot of room to grow. Losing weight is a no-no so limiting excess weight gain is my only option. I’m focusing on putting the best food possible in my body for the sake of both my baby and me.
A good deal of my stress stems from feeling a big trapped. I’ve never gained weight and been unable to do something about it before. I’ve spent the last several years of my life restricting my calories in an attempt to reach my goal weight. My goal each day was to keep my caloric intake at 1300-1400 calories/day, or a calorie restriction of 500-600 calories/day. Now that I’m in my second trimester I’m supposed to be eating somewhere between 2100-2400 calories/day. When you’re focusing on eating fruits, vegetables, protein, whole grains and avoiding “carbage” (more on that one later), with a budget that doesn’t allow for eating out very often, filling that hunger in the right way can be really tough. It’s when I try to reach that number the lazy way that I run into trouble. It’s those times that I become lazy that I stress about, and will continue to stress about.
I’ve had a few people ask me about belly bump shots, which I will of course be taking throughout. I plan to try to take them in the same outfit, same spot, same light, same pose all the way through April and then try to morph them together into a slideshow that really shows how the bump has grown. I wish I had a better spot to do them in, but right next to the door in the office is the best lit blank slate in our apartment.
I’ll show you the 12 week shots (the first round, I didn’t think it made any sense to take any before then) but I probably won’t be showing you any more until I emerge from the “I feel like I look chubby” into the “I feel like I popped” stage. That belly you see is holding a teeny tiny little one the size of a lemon and a great big wad of lard… for the purpose of keeping baby safe I guess? Baby bump still can’t be seen or felt and I’ll let you know when it officially can be.
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
As someone who has struggled with weight loss and gain her whole life gaining weight, not being able to do anything about it AND being concerned about the baby is a big factor for me to NOT want to get pregnant. This is a great stepping off point for me, Jenna. Thank you for your candor and info!! (and those photos — TOO CUTE!!!!)
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1A friend of ours was overweight when she got pregnant; I’d guess around 70 lbs overweight. She had made some pretty big lifestyle changes right before the surprise pregnancy and kept the habits throughout. She did not gain a single pound during her pregnancy. It was kind of strange because she looked like she was losing weight during her pregnancy (which she wasn’t) - but weight that had been carried on her face and arms and legs was now being carried in her belly bump. Baby was 8lbs, no gestational diabetes, everyone is happy and healthy and mom has kept that healthy lifestyle and is in the best shape of her life. It was all pretty impressive.
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2Oh this is my number one concern. Thanks for the info! I must say, putting on no more than 25ish pounds in 9 months sounds awfully challenging to me!
Have you considered hiring a nutritionist so you stay healthy and eat things that fit within your caloric range? I think that might help a lot!
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3I totally know the anxiety you feel about gaining too much weight! From what you said, we started off at pretty much the same weight before we got pregnant. I have been extremely cautious and can proudly say I think it has paid off. I’m currently 36 weeks pregnant and have gained 17lbs. It’s pretty much all in my stomach and most of my clothes still fit ( I just can’t button or zip them… ha!) I’m not great at sticking to diets but I exercised. Lots of walking, strength training and time on the elliptical machine-I started this in the second trimester and kept it up until about two weeks ago. Now I’m just walking. I feel like this has really helped my confidence and has made my body stronger for labor. You can do it! Plus, exercising has been a great way for my husband and I to spend time together. Involve him as much as you can and it will be a lot more fun.
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4Like Erin, I also have a friend who didn’t gain any weight on the scale during her pregnancy. She was overweight to start and lost weight everywhere else while gaining a nice big belly bump. The doctor said that it was very healthy for her to do so as she ate a nutrient rich diet throughout and kept up her average exercise schedule too (walking 3 times a week, for 1 hour). She ate about 1800 calories a day (she is 5′ 1″). You should talk to your doctor about your options as far as gaining weight. Good luck!
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5Cute! I can’t wait to see the final results
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6You’re glowing
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7Your super mini bump is so cute
I am due in 7 weeks and I look back at my 19 week belly pics and wonder if I’ll ever be that skinny again! And at 19 weeks I thought I was massive. I have gained 31 lbs so far, but started off within the normal range. When you reach your last trimester you can be eating the healthiest and doing everything right and the pounds just pile on 
But don’t worry if you gain over you goal…my friend gained 80 lbs during her pregnancy and lost every single one afterwards.
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8I love that you posted these pictures! I know you’ve had serious back problems but if you are doing any kind of pregnancy or pre-natal exercise, I would love to check out a post on your experience with this.
Thanks for sharing!
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9You are too cute with your belly and your tape marks on the floor
Have I mentioned I adore you? It’s true.
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10You are absolutely adorable. I’ve never been pregnant so I don’t know anything about weight gain and loss, but I do believe that if you have a well thought out plan, you can anything. I can’t wait to see how your pregnancy progresses!
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11You are awesome and brave for posting a pic of your belly with your shirt up. I love it!! I love your honestly and openess. I think you look SUPER cute in those pics also. Very pretty make-up , I might add
haha
I am also someone who has struggled with my weight the past few years, so I really related to what you were saying about it being scary and hard to have to gain weight right now. I am not pregnant yet, but I have thought about how hard that might be, especially after I worked all year to loose those 40lbs. So I really love that you are talking about this and we can watch you are you go through all of this. I am dying to have babies…but have to wait a little bit because we just got married, so I am totally living vicariously thru you!
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12I started out overweight, but actually lost weight in the first few months. Now I’m up 11 pounds total at 32 weeks, so you really can never tell. My OB says your body gains what it needs to gain. To be honest, I also don’t keep a strict eye on my diet- but then again I’m a vegetarian so a lot is cut out already. Since the baby is about 4 pounds now, not to mention a bunch of different other things floating in there adding to the weight, my OB is super happy with how I’m doing.
Also, a quick comment re: gestational diabetes. The people who will be screened early are because of these risk factors:
* You’re obese (your body mass index is over 30).
* You have a history of gestational diabetes (you’ve had the condition in a previous pregnancy).
* You have a strong family history of diabetes.
BUT, even skinny, super athletic and fit women can get it as well. Luckily, I don’t have it.
According to http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org:
“Few providers bother to point out that thin women get gd, too, and that many fat women, even supersized ones, do not get gd. A genetic tendency towards diabetes must be present in order for a woman to get gd; being fat or gaining a great deal of weight in pregnancy may add to the tendency towards insulin resistance, but it is not the sole cause of it.”
So don’t panic! (p.s.: from my obsession with food sized babies, a 12 week fetus is the size of a plum! A 14 weeker is a lemon- coming from a woman with a baby nearing Honeydew melon size! YIKES!)
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13This is such a hot topic for me. I started with the goal to gain about 25 and no more over 30 just in case. I’m now around 45 and it’s been such a struggle. I had the same goals as you do. I didn’t touch sweets till I was about 20 weeks and that was mostly because I had no desire to eat them and when I did they didn’t taste right. I exercised up until it became too painful with my PSD pain. I’ve always been healthy and focused VERY much on staying that way through diet and exercise. It’s been such a struggle watching my body morph into something I’m so unfamiliar with (not even the big belly - it’s everything else) and not be able to do anything about it. I had gained 12 pounds at 24 weeks and then it just went berzerk. I never threw up (sometimes I wish I was one of those who lost 10-15 at the beginning, but I never lost from my starting weight) and I was very nauseous and the only thing that would help was eating. I’m “boarderline” gestational diabetic and they never had me go in to take the 3 hour test. I think I have it and when it came was the point the weight started to pile and I couldn’t do anything about it. I’ve stopped the sweets for over a month now and still have put on 10 pounds.
Wow…. I really didn’t mean to vent about this! I don’t get to, because everyone tells me “you look fine” “it will all come off” “it will all be worth it” blah blah, all of which I already know, but doesn’t help me deal right now.
I think you should be fine with your goals. Just stick to them!
But, let yourself eat what you crave, just monitor the amount. Exercise is the best thing, I think. It will have so many outstanding benefits and it makes you feel so good. It was the only thing I could do to manage what was going on and then the pain became to bad and I couldn’t anymore - that has been hard.
If you ever want to vent about the weight gain without someone sliding your feelings aside, I’m here. I plan on documenting the weight loss after wards, too. It’s all very interesting to me.
Longest comment ever? I think so. Good luck, Jenna! your pictures look great and I can’t wait to see the morphing slide show.
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14Love the tape marks on the floor! Clever idea!
I lost so much weight being sick with Grant that when I delievered at 38 weeks, I was about 10 lbs under what I was when I concieved! But I was definately overweight, so not nearly as big of a deal as someone who was of normal weight or underweight. Then with the nursing (pumping)….I got nice and skinny.
Then I ate like a stupid person - gained it all back.
Got pregnant again - lost some weight again due to sickness, but not as much thanks to the new medication I was on the entire pregnancy (Zofran) and am now as big as ever. Lovely.
Good luck with all this pregnancy/weight gain stuff - as long as you do your very best to make good food choices and stay at least mildly active, I’m sure you’ll do fine. (unlike me
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15I gained 50 lbs in my pregnancy and was at a healthy weight before i got pregnant. I also threw up the entire pregnancy minus 2 months. I would come home crying after the dr.’s appointments because I was so upset about my weight. Eating was the only thing that made me not feel nauseous though. It came to a point when I knew I just needed to worry about the weight after I had the baby. A year later I had 10 more lbs to go, but I wasn’t “working out” either. Good luck with your goals. I hope your baby and body support them
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16The part of gaining too much weight that is the real bummer are the stretch marks and extra skin. I was really depressed my first pregnancy and I ate. I gained almost 80 lbs and have lost all of it, but I have loose skin that will not go away. I think the key is to gain gradually even if you gain a lot. I had a 15 lb gain in 1 month. Not good. Make your goals, but don’t drive yourself too crazy. I was the first of my sisters to have a baby and I didn’t have a good support system. Surround yourself with positive people and you’ll be just fine.
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17You look beautiful!
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18I love these pictures! You have the pregnancy “glow” but then, actually you always glow! And I know bc I got to see you in person!! My sister in law who was about 25 pounds underweight ended up gaining only about 16 pounds during her full term pregnancy and surprise surprise her baby was born as low birth weight (about 5.5lbs)…just shy of a real danger zone…it’s impt to gain the “correct” amount of weight for you as the individual to ensure your baby is the healthiest he can be….for some that means gaining a lot of weight and for others that means gaining much less…
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19Good luck in the weight gain department! My mom and aunt both gained at least 50 lbs. throughout all of their pregnancies (13 between the two of them). My maternal grandmother claims she only gained 15 lbs. with each of her pregnancies, but I think they were even more fanatical about the whole thing back then (to the point of being unhealthy) When I got pregnant, I was somewhat overweight and was bound and determined I would not go down the same path as my mom. I ate fairly well, cheated every one and a while with an ice cream sunday, but overall did pretty well. Yeah, I gained 60 lbs. by the time it was all said and done. I was extremely depressed about it after my son was born as I had told myself I would NEVER let myself weigh this much.
Then my SIL got pregnant, ate about the same as I did, maybe a bit more cheating- she gained 20 lbs.! After the birth of her daughter, she was 5 lbs. away from her pre-pregnancy weight.
All this to say that, even if you’re not being cursed with all the pregnancy ailments that your mom had, I still believe that genes still factor in quite majorly in the weight area. Maybe that’s just me and maybe I’m just looking for an excuse for my weight gain, but just please don’t be too depressed if, after all that healthy eating, you still gain a lot more than you had intended. NOT that I don’t think you can’t stay under your target weight, but please don’t be too disappointed if that’s not the case!
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20So far (at 32 weeks) I’ve gained a net of about 25 pounds. And yes, NET, because I lost about 10-15 in the first trimester due to getting bronchitis the same weekend I conceived and just not wanting to eat anything. I didn’t do the throwing up thing, but I had nausea and “trigger foods” (oatmeal, mushrooms, bagels, meat of any kind) that I just couldn’t stand to be in the same room with. I’m really excited to see how you’ve been handling your eating (when you’re not doing it the lazy way!
) because I know I’m going to need to be more careful next time around… this time was weird for me as it was the only time in my life where I’ve ever been frustrated by NOT gaining weight.
Oh, and kudos to you for the bare belly pictures — my husband takes them of me, but I refuse to put them up anywhere. He thinks the belly is sexy but I’m too shy.
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21Jenna,
It sounds like you’re right on track (7-10lbs gained 1/3 of the way through your pregnancy) and handling it healthfully. I’ve had severe nausea (no vomiting), had a hard time eating, and gained only about 2 lbs at 10 weeks. It has concerned me, but I’ll just stick to my 1500-2000 cal/day, yoga, and should gain plenty in the next 30 weeks.
I read a study, though, that unhealthy weight gain of pregnant women has increased from 10% of women in US and Europe in 1970 to 36% of pregnant women in US and Europe in 2001. I personally think it’s due to all of the processed, convenient food that exists now which didn’t exist in the 70′s and portion sizes. I usually reach for the “easy” foods first and so I try to keep controlled portions of cut veggies, fruit, cooked turkey or chicken, string cheese, greek yogurt, bread, and granola ready and on hand.
You look great!
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22Love the pictures! I hope that you “pop” soon so that we can see more.
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23hey jenna- i love reading your blog, but i don’t think i’ve ever posted. bu since i’m in medical school now, i’d thought i’d share the medical perspective. they teach us that the whole weight gain in pregnancy should always be prefaced with trimester goals. basically you have to gain min 15-20 lbs (even if overweight) in the last two trimesters. you aren’t “supposed” to gain any weight in the first trimester and so any weight you do gain, you have to add to the total gain. annoying, eh?! good luck with your gaosl!
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24I love the idea of taking a picture in the same spot. Cute preggo belly!
I totally understand I am a control freak about weight. I don’t know how I am going to handle being pregnant. I am so short and the weight has only one place to go: out.
My friends that are preggers in LA doctors say no more than 25 and then if you at all overweight then no weight gain is allowed. The doctors have been really strict/somewhat mean with my friends who gained weight, and they started so tiny. My sister lives in Portland and she was a little overweight and they didn’t give her any grief about putting on 30 pounds. I wonder if doctors feel differently about this based on your geographic location? I don’t know, I could be totally making this up.
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25Adorable, I love baby bumps!
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26u look so happy and radiant Mrs. Avo!!!
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27If anyone can do it, you can. The girls I know who kept in shape just kept moving. Walking, yoga, anything they could do to stay active. I look forward to seeing all your healthy food advice!
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28Your hair is beautiful….as are you.
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29You are so stinkin’ cute!
Sounds like you’re on the right track with your pregnancy
I am so excited for you!
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30I think you’re approaching this in entirely the right way (don’t worry about the nasty comment in your lemony loaf post).
I too know a number of women who were overweight prior to conceiving who ‘lost’ weight in that their bumps got bigger and the rest of them got smaller. The scale overall didn’t change much.
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31Even though I’ve never been overweight (When I was younger I was underweight and now I’m on the low end of healthy), the thought of pregnancy weight gain kinda scares me. I don’t know how I’ll deal with my expanding body and losing weight afterward because I’ve never had to think about that before. So, I’m glad you’re writing about this, and you look so cute!
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32Yay! Side shots! It’s official now:)
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33Letting go was one of the hardest parts for me, giving in to the physical changes and weight gain after a lifetime of being in control of my body.
Three weeks postpartum, I am in absolute awe of my body. It has literally sprung back to its former shape and I am already just 7lb over my pre-pregnancy weight (which was slim, how I looked in my wedding photos) and my waist is just 2 inches bigger than it was then.
People told me at the time that I would get my body back, and I didn’t find it much comfort because I had to go all the way up before I could go back down again, but still I can see it should be easier next time, now I know how temporary it really is.
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schmei Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 10:29 am
This is one of the most reassuring things I’ve read about postpartum weight. Thanks, Cate.
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You look gorgeous and really look like you’re glowing!
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35Thanks for sharing - I’ve been wanting to hear about your weight goals and diet during your pregnancy - I’d love to hear more about what you eat too. I’m currently overweight and have decided with my husband to lose a certain amount of weight before we start trying to get pregnant next year. I’ve got crazy baby fever so this is a huge motivation for me and is working really well! Hopefully all will go as planned and I’ll lose the bulk of the weight I need to before pregnancy - but I’m sure I’ll be wanting to not gain much either if at all possible, so I’m taking notes! Congrats on everything and it’s great to hear that you are feeling so well and having a good pregnancy so far!
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36I was just wondering since I remember you talked a lot about being dressed in a modest way and everything how it works to show yourself with an undressed belly. I personnaly don’t find it offenisve but I’m not a member of your church either. Is it something that some could frown upon or not really since it’s related to pregnancy and therefore something women aim for. I’m just curious.
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Jenna Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Interesting question, and I think this is where the difference between obeying a principle and obeying a rule comes into play. I look for principles and decide if I want to incorporate them into my life based on my belief system.
The rule is to be modest, and we have certain guidelines set forth to help us understand what that means. The principle, however, runs much deeper than that. The principle of modesty asks us to maintain a sense of self-respect, keep our appearance on par with our morals, and set an example for the world. Even if some might say I have broken the rule of modesty by showing my naked belly to the internet, I don’t believe I disregarded the principle.
As far as Church leaders, I probably wouldn’t mail this in to force them to see it, but if they stumbled across it or asked me about it I wouldn’t be ashamed and I don’t believe they would disapprove. I think that some in the Church might not believe in interpreting things the way I do, but I feel content that my actions have not offended God or the Spirit, and thus I see no harm in them!
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Cécy Reply:
October 5th, 2009 at 8:32 am
I think it makes sense. If I understand correctly here is a base principle but it doesn’t dictate you exactly how to live it, it gives your to interpret it and make it work with your life. It’s more about how you do things and the reason behind it than what you actually do. Is that right?
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