The dreaded scale

nekedfeet

Is anyone else losing it a bit watching the scale creep up?  Cause I am.  Brutal honesty: I have hated my actual weight number forever- doesn't matter how hard I work out (5-6x a week + 3 marathons in 5 hrs) or how well I eat  the scale barely budges- steady at 160-165lbs.  And I'm only 5'5.  It's just sounds terrible.  I didn't think I looked terrible before getting pregnant (see below for a 14w shot) but 165 always sounded like a lot.  Now I'm 184 and starting to freak out a bit.  It's only going to go higher- I'm 33w now, so I've got a ways to go. I'm trying hard not to obsess-- this is not a time to diet, I know that.  But man.  I hate this part.  There has to be one or two of you that feel the same here... Curvy girls, where you at??

nekedfeet

splsmama2016

You look FABULOUS, lil mama!! Don't put so much stress on yourself over what the scale says. Is your dr concerned? I was stressed with my weight gain up until about a month ago. UNTIL my dr reassured me that I'm on target as far as what they want me to gain. They told me to just keep myself active, make healthy choices but to not dwell on the number. You look awesome, so unless the dr is concerned, try to take it easy on the stressing

AmberLiz99

Don't even look at the numbers. If you're eating well, staying active, and your doctors aren't concerned, your body will gain what it needs. I have a very small frame, but I always gain more than the "average" during my pregnancies. That's just my body. I also Loose it pretty quickly after, and never have had any trouble. I'm 33 weeks too and have gained more than you. Everyone is different, and you look great! 

MsBeachNJ

Don't stress yourself out... I'm in the same boat, having put on more weight at 32 weeks than I ever thought I would all of my pregnancy (over 40 pounds already) but truthfully, this is just how my body grows a baby. My chest got huge, I'm retaining water weight in a lot of places.. I haven't gone off the deep end with foods or sweets or anything... I've maintained a healthy diet & moderate exercise... I just keep telling myself that it will come off quickly after the baby is born but right now what's most important is a healthy baby. You look great, try to forget the # on the scale!!! 

artlea2013

I am terrified every time I go in. I know I'm supposed to gain weight obviously, but my brain does weird things. I mean, this kid only weights 4 pounds at this point, so why have I gained 25?! How did I gain 4 pounds in 2 weeks?! Not to mention that H stands next to me at every weigh in and watches the scale. How much more self conscious can I get when I've got a 6', 145 pound specimen on my right and then me, 6'' shorter and at this point weighing quite a bit more than him.

@nekedfeet You look wonderful, at 14 weeks and 26, and I'm sure now too. I always had to remind myself before pregnancy that weight is just a number, especially if you're exercising with any sort of muscle strengthening included. When I started going to the gym 2 years ago, I gained 5 pounds over a summer, but didn't feel like I looked any different, I just started lifting more and running less. I know it doesn't feel good, I'm right there with you, but just a couple of months and we get to watch the scale naturally fall back down (especially if you're breast feeding). Look forward to that!

gauge1234

Get rid of your scale!
seriously. 

I did quite a few years ago and really on tape measurements. 

It will take a weight off your mind (pun intended)

we're all putting on weight  

annaf2011

I agree with PPs, you look great. I know what you mean though, watching the scale go up every couple of weeks has gotten old in the third tri. Just remember, baby still has some growing to do so this is not the time to stop gaining. It sounds like you are active and healthy, so you have nothing to worry about. 

goldie987

Don't forget that a lot of pregnancy weight isn't actually weight ON YOU.  

https://www.thebump.com/a/pregnancy-weight-gain-breakdown

BabyboyS2016

Agreed! As long as your doc is happy, you should be too! 

nekedfeet

Thank you for the commiseration, ladies-  so nice to hear I'm not alone.  This really is hard.  My midwife is not concerned- but then again they don't check weight at this office!  Baby's measuring on schedule (not larger) with the tape measure thing they do, so maybe that's the midwife's indicator as to how I'm doing weight wise?  There's been no mention of it, probably because there's people like me, who might freaking out about the gaining.  But the possibility of hitting on 190-200lbs before all this is over will certainly make a girl nervous.  Again, mostly the numbers- I don't feel like a hideous beast-- except when I remember that my husband is 6' and weighs 155lbs   Please let breast feeding work (had a reduction many years ago, so that one's a crap shoot) and let the weight come off naturally.....  

Sydvicious08

Your husband may weigh less, but you have butt and boobs...at least that's what i tell myself

HighFive16

I feel the same a lot of the time and as the pregnancy has gone further along my insecurities seem to be getting worse. I spoke to my doctor and she said its time to stop worrying about it and think of the number as a whole. Like if say 35lbs is the goal for the whole pregnancy if I come in around that I'm fine. Some weeks we gain more than others and as PPs have said it also isn't just you gaining weight mindlessly. You look amazing and as long as you're healthy that's the main thing 

HeartLikeMine3

It's so hard to watch the scale creep up so just quit weighing yourself!!  By the way you look thin/curvy at your 14 week picture some people just weigh more and muscle weighs more than fat. My best friend has the same build as you and I would never guess she weighed 160 she just carries it well like you. 

Knottie44691675

First off I think you look great! I haven't been too concerned about weight so far this pregnancy until my doctor started shaming me about it a couple days ago. I've gained 33 pounds so far at 32 weeks which I don't think is too horrible since I eat decently well but he told me if I want to "bounce back" I need to stop gaining so much. When I'm not pregnant I do obsess over my weight more than I should but as long as it's not a health concern I see no reason to not try to eat decently well but eat whenever you're hungry and indulge when pregnant. You'll be so busy and active with taking care of baby that I bet weight will start flying off and you won't even notice! 

CourtJack

You look fabulous. And I've always said this-If you're eating well and working out (as you indicate) then the weight will come off without much work. 19lbs at 33 weeks is AMAZING. That's not remotely too much. And you actually don't have that far to go. If you've gained 20lbs so far there's a very good chance you'll be at or under 30-35 which is right within the recommended weight gain  

and seriously-you aren't curvy. Sorry to break it to you  

adiaz132003

Looks to me that your pre baby weight was good ol healthy muscle. That's why I don't tend to trust my scale. My hubby was "watching his weight" and even though he was looking smaller the scale stayed high. Don't obsess on the number.  I've tried to not worry about it too cause I've gained a lot of weight this pregnancy but other than my belly and boobs, nothing on me looks any different. Trust the midwives, ignore the scale, and after the baby arrives stuff the scale in the back of a closet and focus on feeling better. 

RMLandy

I used to freak out about the numbers on the scale until I started lifting weights! The number kept creeping up
but I looked and felt better than ever going into this pregnancy! It's JUST a number! That being said, even though I totally know better, I dread the weigh in every appointment and had a mini breakdown yesterday when I saw the number. It's totally normal but we have to remember the facts and not let it get us down!!

Alanna999

You look fantastic!! I also dread weighing myself at every appointment I bought a scale about a month ago, because I was worried I was gaining too much too fast, but I've decided to just keep eating well and exercising, and I'll trust my body to gain what it needs to!

xc1148

It's hard. It really is. No matter how much people tell you it's normal, it's still difficult.

1- I think you look fabulous!
2- I gained over 50lbs with my first, and I was comfortable with my body before getting pregnant, but still, that was a lot of weight. My parents' constant comments didn't help. Thinking about how you're awesome for growing a human does help though!

annaf2011

@Knottie44691675 I can't believe a doctor said that to you! Unless there were some medical concern, it doesn't really seem like any of their business how quickly you "bounce back".

I just had a consult with a potential pediatrician who commented how big I was. She seemed like a decent doctor, but I don't think we'll be going there. That definitely made me the most self conscious I've been during pregnancy.

BlueJuice

I get it, I totally get it. I have a mental 'upper limit' weight point where, if I approach that number ordinarily, I go, 'whoa, put on the brakes girl,' so it's extremely disconcerting to be past that point now. Even though I know rationally that I need to be gaining pregnancy weight and even that a normal healthy weight gain will put me over my mental limit, it's still a weird cognitive thing. It makes me feel better to realize that my previous pregnancy I went quite a bit higher (my pre-pregnancy weight was higher last time around than it was this time), but I actually can't remember the number I topped out at. So I try to just not stress about it too much, and know that it will come down again afterward and I probably won't remember this number either.

jmohio

I agree with these ladies. Also you have to remember muscle weighs more than fat. If you are active and run marathons you have more muscle than someone who isn't as active. I am 5' 10" and played sports through high school I obsessed about it because I always weighed more than my friends, my doctor broke it down for me and gave me the actual numbers (which I am sure you can look up) about how muscle can truly effect the scale. 

kaitielynnrichardson

@nekedfeet you look AMAZING!!!!!!

purplefan1

(3 marathons in 5 hrs)

I want to know more about this part! You ran 78 miles in 5 hours?!?! If I could run that far that fast I wouldn't give two shits about what the number on the scale says.

Athletes can't base their worth on the scale. The scale is not a good measurement for highly active and fit people. You can Google pictures where women post pictures of themselves before working out and their weight and after working out and their weight and often times women look better fit and at a slightly higher weight than they did unfit and "skinny". Muscle and fit looks hella sexier than unfit.

nekedfeet

@June2016BabyW hahaha-- that was a serious typo!!!  And who am I kidding- prego brain... I've nearly put the milk back in the cabinet (as opposed to the fridge) 3x this week.  I meant 3 marathons in 5 years!!

You guys are awesome.  So, so nice to hear that so many of you are equally hating the weigh ins.  I only keep doing it to keep myself on track in some way-- I know 19lbs so far is not too bad, but I'd certainly want to know if was wildly out of range (then it would be on me, and my occasional ice cream splurge-habit).  Hence why I keep torturing myself.

I'm going to have to get back into the exercising afterward-- aside from walking(lots of it- living in a city/no car), and my generally active job I've kind of given up on my usual stuff- it's too bloody hard!  Honestly, it's been a lovely break- after 10 yrs of steady 5-6x week workouts, this has been kind of glorious   I know I'll get back into it quickly- I like being comfortable in my skin and like feeling strong, even if it's at a weight I dislike. 

Thanks again for the commiseration.  xx

nekedfeet

@CourtJack you are an angel.

egirl1025

You look fantastic and your overall weight gain is so on target.  I weighed myself early on, but now I just wait to see the damage at the doctor's office.

I told my boss a couple weeks back that I was starting to feel like I looked like a square and she said oh...you mean like a cube?  I said no, but thank you for bringing in the 3rd dimension.  I have now fully embraced that I am a cube until the end of June and then I will give a crap. My coworker calls me Rubix. YAY!

ahernandez16

Agree with pp. I had a bit of a full fledged meltdown the other day because I weighed in at 197 (160ish pre pregnancy I rarely every weighed myself). So I very well knew I'd likely hit 200lbs but nothing prepared me for actually seeing that number on the scale at my appointment last week and to know that it will just continue to creep up these next 7 weeks is scary to me. I grew up with a mother with an ED and she always harped on us about weight so being overweight is something I'm literally terrified of.

You're definitely not alone, but if your doctor isn't worried try not to be either!

BlueJuice

@nekedfeet - you really do look fabulous. I thought I'd make sure I said it too, in case you were in any doubt!

Another amusing weigh-in-related tidbit: I have a self-recording syncing scale (the Aria by Fitbit), and I've been self-weighing first thing in the morning daily like I was in the habit of doing prior to pregnancy. (This is literally the only fitness-related habit I've managed to maintain, probably because it's the only easy one. Woe!) But since I've been doing this, and it's still syncing automatically to my Fitbit and MyFitnessPal accounts, I've noticed a MyFitnessPal silliness. You see, that app will notify your in-app friends when you lose weight, so they can cheer you on, but it keeps total silence when you gain (probably because it doesn't want to be discouraging). Since I'm weighing in daily, I don't pay much attention to the natural fluctuations up and down, but MFP throws a mini-party whenever my weight dips a half-pound. From my friends' perspective it probably looks like I'm constantly whittling my weight down, even though I'm actually 22 (stealthy) pounds up. It cracks me up. I wish there were a way to tell MFP that I'm trying to gain, not lose!

On the other hand, I'm hoping to have some super dramatic 15-lb loss register the morning after I give birth. My charts are going to be hilarious.

PhoebeJune1984

jmohio said:

I agree with these ladies. Also you have to remember muscle weighs more than fat. If you are active and run marathons you have more muscle than someone who isn't as active. I am 5' 10" and played sports through high school I obsessed about it because I always weighed more than my friends, my doctor broke it down for me and gave me the actual numbers (which I am sure you can look up) about how muscle can truly effect the scale. 

::lurker::

No it doesn't. A pound of fat and a pound of muscle, are still just a pound. The difference is that muscle is more dense, so your measurements will change, even if the scale doesn't. You could weight 160 pounds, work out for several months and lose ten pounds of fat, only to gain ten pounds of muscle.....get on that scale, and it will still say 160 pounds. But I can pretty much guarantee that if you took measurements, you would notice the change, and also notice the change in the way your clothing fits. When I run fitness groups, it is amazing how many women are obsessed with the number on the scale, and let that determine their happiness with their body. There were even ladies that would come in raving about how amazing they were feeling, how they got a workout in almost every day, how they were eating right, their clothing was fitting better, and we would take their measurements and they were always down in inches......but then they went home, stepped on the scale, and their entire mood/motivation/etc came crashing down.

That being said, @nekedfeet I tried eating clean and making sure that I was active my first pregnancy, but I still gained 75 pounds (I was 5'6'' and 150 when I got pregnant). It was an extremely hard pill to swallow, but I had to keep reminding myself that I was doing everything right, my body just didn't get the memo apparently....and liked to retain water. You could push on my skin, and draw with your finger, and the indent would stay for awhile. It was horrible! That being said in the few weeks after my DD was born, I lost 60 pounds of the weight, just by peeing like crazy and sweating out all of that water that I retained, in my sleep. I literally would wake up in the middle of the night, completely drenched in sweat and would have to get up and change my clothes....it was like I climbed into the shower fully clothed, and then climbed back into bed. The remaining 15 pounds didn't come off until I stopped BF-ing. Don't be so hard on yourself, I think that you look great! My OB said something to me about the fact that I gained 6 pounds in two weeks, but I just brushed it off because I knew that I ate 80% healthy, I was active a lot, and that I was doing my best. I also know how my body handles pregnancy, and that I am drinking 100-120oz of water a day, and only going to the bathroom 6-7 times a day (and not even waking at night to pee)...so I know at this point, my body is starting to retain fluids. 

Remember, that scale is just telling you the overall weight. It isn't breaking down your muscle mass, how much of it is baby/placenta/amniotic fluid, how much of it is retained water, etc. 

HBamama2B

OP, you're hawt. Like smoking. My advice: Throw the scale away. It isn't necessary and adds nothing to your care. The stress of it will impact your health if you let it. I haven't been weighed since 25 wks and couldn't be happier. Now whenever some jerk face asks how much I've gained I can legitimately say 'don't know, don't care!.' Your doctors/midwives will watch for issues and unless you have a sudden significant jump with swelling or GD, measuring your weight won't improve your outcome. Sounds like you like the way you look (justified!), you just need to toss the number crunching.

nekedfeet

@HBamama2B You're hilarious, and I'm blushing.     Thank you.

I like the "don't know, don't care" method.  That sounds pretty sensible!!  Maybe I should give myself a break these last few weeks and skip looking at the scale.  If I can prevent myself from diving head first into every pint of ice cream I meet between now and then, I should be ok!!!