Weight gain during pregnancy

Ok, well most of ya know that I'm pregnant again. But this time I REALLY need to watch my weight! I gained roughly 60 pounds with Leane, going from 140 to 200. I lost 30 pounds a month after she was born while I was breastfeeding, and after I gave up with all the probelms, I plateaued after that.
Well, when I went to go get my test yesterday, I found out that I weighed 179 (I'm 5'2 BTW)...already gaining 9 pounds!!!!!!!! The max an overweight person should gain is 15! I'm already over half way there! I mean, I'm assuming that I haven't gained any weight in the last few months, so I could be way off and haven't gained any. But still....that puts me higher than I thought!
I seriously need to watch what I eat this time around and stay active (last time, I sat on the couch most of the pregnancy). Does anyone have any good suggestions on what I should do to maintain a healthy weight gain? I am taking regular walks and when the snow melts, I'll be going outside a lot more. But I want to try to stay under that 200 mark. I know I'm going to gain more than the recommended amount, but I really want to keep it a safe amount.
Any help is GREATLY appreciated!

 

Do you have an indoor swimming facility that you can go to? That would be great excercise.

 

I was thinking about that, actually. We do have one, I just have to wait a couple months until we get our car back (it was stolen in October, and we finally found it). But yeah, I read that swimming is an awesome form of exercise while you're pregnant. I'm going to call the rec center and see if there are still prenatal swimming classes there.

 

Momma, you already know what you gotta do. It's just doing it!

hahaha

But with Leanne to keep you running around, maybe some momma/baby swim classes and such, and keeping a good diet (and the occasional splurge) you should be a-okay!

 

prenatal yoga is good

 

i second the prenatal yoga... keeps you centered plus some of the exercises help tone the birthing muscles. Oh, and the yoga breathing helped me go the 30+ hours of labour without meds!

 

I'm going to cut and paste what I wrote in a similar thread a couple weeks ago

 

thanks everyone!
Brighid, I remember reading that in another post somewhere, thankyou for posting it again.
I have been drinking lots of water and have been eating smaller portioned meals more times throughout the day of healthy foods.
The only thing that i need to cut out of my diet is the white rice. I was a big pop drinker, too, but I have weaned myself off of it over the last couple days (if I do it all at once, I get unbelievable cravings for it). I just really wanna stay healthy this time.
After having Leane, I never really regained my engergy....I can't even walk up the stairs to our apartment without getting dizzy and so short of breath my chest is aching. I hate it. I'm definately joining some classes!

 

I walked daily for one hour throughout my pregnancy. This was no easy task because she was so big and breech and up in my ribs, so I'd be getting a ton of contractions. I think that the walks did me good though. I only gained 29 pounds, and I've lost almost all of it in 4 months. With my son, I did not walk and ate out every lunch. I gained 37 pounds with him. I have started walking daily again, but now I wear her in a Baby Bjorn....talk about a workout LOL!

I should also add that I probably gained the 29 pounds because I was drinking a Banana Mocha Frappucino from Starbucks (over 500 calories) almost every day of my pregnancy. I just couldn't beat that craving, I had to have it. Now that my pregnancy is over, I find them the most disgusting thing LOL!

Good luck!

 

yeah, those cravings can be murder to any eating plan you have. Mine was coke sluprees with Leane. Nothing but coke. I drank those like I should have been drinking water. It was horrible, lol. I knew that almost all my weight had been because of that, since basically everything else I ate was fruit and veggies.
I was actually just talking to a friend of mine a few minutes ago who had her baby at the same birthing center I will be, and she said that there's a nutrition group. yey!
The one thing that worried me, though, was that she said if your baby is over a certian weight, they won't deliver it there I'm going to have to talk to the midwives about that on the 14th.

 

WHAT? How can they possibly know how much your baby weighs before s/he gets here? Ultrasounds are notorious for being +/- 2lbs off! BOOOOOO!

 

I KNOW!!! That really upset me!

 

What a stinker! I gained 35 pounds with Leo, lost twenty straight away with breastfeeding, and have fought the last 15 punds ever since. Having babies changes a woman's chemistry, and I only think it's fair to take that into account. I think that it's safe to assume that those nine extra pounds where there before you got pregnant, it's only been five weeks... I'd start your baby gain tally at 179, not 170. I understand how hard it is to keep the gain under control... And health practitoners, no matter their good intentions, don't make it any easier when they breathe down our necks about. My OB gave me hell last time about that "extra" five pounds I wasn't supposed to have gained. *grrrr*

First, don't stress! Cake looks extra good and comforting when you are stressed. Brighid had some really good advice, and I did lots of those things when I was pregnant with Leo and have kept them up since. Having a baby was huge motivation for me to change my lifestyle... Having baby number two is motivation to revamp my efforts. You'd be surprised what a few little changes can make... Replacing whites with browns, cutting out calorie laden drinks, passing on processed foods. Those ones aren't so hard and you'll feel better.

As for exercise... Yoga yoga yoga! I have to admit, I've slacked off on my exercise these first few months(so tired!), but I'm gearing up for getting back into yoga. I started yoga a few months before I found out I was pregnant, but stopped because I was so tired, and doing lots of traveling. But when I was doing yoga, I felt amazing! I was doing Kundalini yoga, which is really easy to do... I had a beginners DVD, and it didn't require anything crazy like standing on your head or putting your feet behind your shoulders. It's more like aerobic(spelling?) stretching... Nothing crazier than you might do having some really intense sex. It was fun. The DVD I had wasn't appropriate for pregancy, as it had some abdominal and breathing things that were too intense for a momma, but it inspired me to look for more Kundalini yoga sources. I found a website that has some really good illustrated sets that you can do for prenatal kundalini yoga, put together by a good instructor, but I would recommend getting a DVD or Video... It makes a big difference being able to see someone do it for real. I'd recommend the videos on the link I am posting for that website... I haven't purchased one yet, but I had her beginners Kundalini DVD and it was incredible. She's very good!

If you start this stuff kind of out of shape(like I did) you'll feel a change quickly... I lost weight and gained muscle at incredible rates... I swear by Kundalini yoga!

http://www.socalbirth.org/shelly/yoga.htm

 

Thanks Ivory.
I wish I would have gotten into better shape after I had Leane. Funny enough, I was going to buy a gym membership with a girl at school so we could get our butts in gear with loosing our baby weight.
There's a yoga place right across the street from my college, and I'm gunna check out what kinda classes there are there. Hopefully there's something!
Yesterday I was looking for prenatal exercise classes at the rec center here, and they got rid of them!!!!!!!! There's nothing around here! I am sooooooooo mad!
I don't know what this hospital is going to deam "too heavy." Right now, I am only roughly 20-30 pounds overweight. It could be worse. I just want to keep it lower. As long as I stay under the 200 pound mark, I think I'm going to be alright.
I'll check out that web site. I'll have to talk to someone about helping me out with buying the video, as we don't have credit cards. You said that it really really helped?!

 

Oh yeah! Yoga is amazing stuff. My boyfriend(and baby's daddy*smile*) turned me on to it when we met. He was really sweet and sent me a copy of the DVD that he used... This was a few weeks before we met. Anyway, I want to be looking good when I finally got to met him, so got right into it. And it was so easy to do! It had challenges, but it was nothing that can't be done with a little perseverence. It's the form of yoga that made all the difference for me sticking with it while I did... Kundalini yoga is different, because it doesn't require you to hold a perfect form for long periods of time. It's more like repeating movements and stretches that open up things that you didn't know were closed.


It's really awesome... I love it, and I'm inclined to be a couch potato. I did it about two or three times a week for 4 weeks... If you think about it, thats only doing the session about 8 to 12 times, and I dropped flubber and gained some serious muscle... I was amazed. At first I couldn't even complete some of the sets(they aren't too hard, but after two minutes of it... Whew!) and still got good results. And I got better the more I did it. It's great for us ladies that aren't in perfect shape... If you can get jiggy with your man, you can do Kundalini yoga. *haha*

I know that there are all kinds of different yoga forms out there that are really good for you, but I know that Kundalini yoga worked for me and was easy to stick to because it wasn't overly demanding. I never felt like I wanted to give up because there was nothing involved that I COULDN'T DO. Finding those DVD's for Prenatal Kundalini Yoga was really inspiring... Although I have slacked off for awhile I know I'll be able to pick up where I left off, and really exercise in a good way while I am pregnant. I'm achy and tired right now, and I know once I get a few sessions under my belt, I'll be feeling much better.

I think it will help me stay in within my limits on baby-gain... I ate less and drank more water when I was doing yoga... Not only is it physical exercise, but it calms your mind and body. I wasn't as hungry, and after a good yoga workout you are thirsty thirsty thirsty. I'm sure it would help you too... This stuff is really fun, and a breeze(it seems to me anyway) compared to other forms of exercising. Maybe you could send a money order to get your DVD if you want one... On that site there's a link to her "official" website... They might have better ordering options... Maybe you could print out a form and send it in with a money order?

 

WOW, i just looked over that website! I'm going to print off those pages at school tomorrow and get working on them right away.
Question: do I alternate between the routines each day? like do one the one day and the second one the next day?

 

Well, considering the little bit of this kind of yoga that I have done in the past, I think you can do whatever feels good for you, or whatever you have time for. With the DVD I had, I did sessions that lasted about one hour, but there were rests and breaks in between. She has approximate times for each exercise, like 1 to 3 minutes, which amounts to about ten to thirty minutes a set. It seems to me like they increase in difficulty from set one to set four, but I've not tried them yet and some exercises are probably easier for some than others(I've got no upper body strength... Those arm exercises turn me to jello! *haha*). I think you can do them however you want. Set one followed right away by set two, with three and four the next day. Set one in the morning, set two in the afternoon, set three in the evening. A different set each day. When I was doing yoga, I always tried really hard to make it through the whole hour, even if I could only do one minute of a certain thing that they did for three minutes. It really built up my stamina quick. BUT I wasn't preggers then... I'd definitely recommend that you do what feels right for you, and challenge yourself slowly. Maybe doing each exercise one minute... That could get you through two sets in one session and then you could build up time as you go. Oh... And a big Big BIGGY... Remember to BREATHE! I got lucky enough to have a video to start me out with and it helped me keep breathing right, it makes a big difference on being able to get through the exercise. Now don't let that turn you off... It's not hard to learn. I'll explain it to you...

These exercises are repeated two-step movements... Most of them going up and down or right and left. Take deep breathes through your nose, expanding your tummy(project that basketball belly you'll have soon enough*smile*) and exhale through your nose, bringing your tummy back in... Now to apply this to the exercise: Inhale deeply on the upstroke through your nose, exhale completely on the downstroke through your nose. Same thing for right and left(turns and twists) inhale right, exhale left. For circular movements it's a little different(easier I think, it feels more natural to me)... For instance rotating you hips in large circles, you would inhale as your hips thrust forward, and exhale as you circle around to the back. It took me a few days to really get the hang of the breathing, but once you get it you don't lose it and it feels so good!
The breathing is awesome... You'll notice that this form of breathing, from the belly, when combined with the repeated movements of the exercise is VERY strengthening for your tummy muscles. It's the equivilent of crunchers or situps, but with NO CRUNCHERS OR SITUPS! I adore it.
I've been wanting to start on these too... Now I have some good motivation! We can check up on each other every now and again, and complain to each other when our arms are sore from all those arm flailing ones. *haha* I like those though... My arms toned/buffed up so fast! Good luck... I'm sure you'll like this stuff.

 

thank you soooooooooo much ivory! you are so sweet to be helping me with all this!
I just printed off the pages. I'm going to get started on this tonight! Thankfully hubby is at work so he won't be home to laugh at me, lol. And Leane can watch me look like a goof ball and join in some of the fun, lol
I'm looking forward to this, though! Thanks so much!

 

Hey, you're totally welcome. I'm glad to have been able to share the info... Now if I can only get off my achy duff and do it myself! You've been an inspiration for me to get back to it, making me remind myself how great it is. Tomorrow, I say! *haha* I just ate a big mug of home-made-from-scratch vanilla pudding(mmmm, still warm...how's that for a craving, making me cook pudding!) I think if I tried to do yoga tonight, I'd fall over and spill the pudding straight outta me.

It definitely helps not to do it in front of anyone the first few times... Hell, I never did it in front of anybody but Leo. LOL One of the reasons I slacked off was I was too embarrassed to do it in front of my boyfriend when I was staying with him... Well, I'm having his baby now, so I had best get used to him seeing me in embarrassing positions. *chuckle*
It's so cute... Everytime Leo sees someone do something a little atypical of daily movement(like me crawl under his crib for a toy, or someone on TV doing something odd) he says "Mommy doing oga" or even worse "Mommy needs to do oga" *haha* It definitely sets a good example... Leo just started getting into it when I stopped... I would like for him to get into it again. Good job Kirstyn!

 

Ok, I tried it tonight. I can hardly type....I feel like jello. lol
I just hope I'm doing it right.
I'm calling the yoga place here in town to check out some classes and am going to look into buying the dvds.
It's so hard to believe that doing those exercises will actually help you loose weight and tone up. really, I sweat my ass off at the gym and nada...this would be awesome if it actually worked for me! lol
I would love it if Leane would try to get into this with me. I think she's alittle young yet, but there's a few poses that I think she could do. She's smarter than she leads most people to believe, lol...(today there was a face painting party at her dayhome and when she got home, she grabbed my insence burner (which is in the shape of a bowl) and one of my paint brushes and pretended to paint my face. She would dip the brush, paint, dip the brush, paint, lol). If she can do that, I think she can handel a few of these poses.
I couldn't do them until after she was in bed tonight, but tomorrow I'll try them with her!

One question, quickly, though....the muscles around my pelvic area are hurtin now....is that a bad sign?
Oh, and that one exercise where you have your legs spread out in a "v" and you have to bend side to side reaching for your toes.....is your back supposed to be completely straight? I had a hell of a time doing that one! Oh yeah, and also the one here you have to be on all fours and rotate your hips...are your legs supposed to be kept straight?
So many questions, lol!