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June 2011 Moms
Calorie Intake
So I started thinking about this, this morning and wondered if I was eating enough. Lately, I've been feeling slighty sick a few hours after eating breakfast and was curious if it was because I don't eat a lot in the mornings. So I googled how many calories I need during pregnancy and this is what it one site said.
1st Trimester: about 1600
2nd Trimester: about 1800
3rd Trimester: about 2000
This just seems like A LOT to me but I know that its probably not far off. As of now I know I don't get anywhere near that amount. I probably barely get 1000-1200 a day.
Guess this will be a goal of mine... try to eat more but keep it healthy, lol.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Calorie Intake
I think that looks about right. I would say that I probably get 1500-1700 a day, depending on what we have for dinner. I like to eat small-ish meals and snack between meals though so eating 6 times a day adds up. You could try to do that to add more calories.
An example day for me is:
WG Spaghetti with Turkey Meat Sauce and a side Salad
B: Fiber One cereal with extra Skim MIlk to drink (I love milk!)
S: Apple slices with some PB and honey to dip in
L: Chicken Noodle Soup and a piece of WG toast
S: A clementine
S: Graham Cracker and milk
I drink water throughout the day, but a CF soda with lunch and then once I get home I drink lemonade diluted with water, OJ diluted with Diet 7-Up (love this) or flavored water. I can only do so much plain water - I've always been this way!
What you're eating in a day is less than the average person should eat if they're on a diet. the minimum a non-pregnant woman should eat to keep her organs healthy and functioning is 1200 calories a day.
I am like you I usually eat 1200 calories a day if that so since that is my normal and 1600 is technically normal I just add 200 cal for 2nd tri and 400 for 3rd tri making it 1400 for second and 1600 for third tri.
I am really not really focusing on trying to eat as much as possible to meet my cal needs, I just try to make sure I eat healthy.
Where did you get that information? Just curious.
I always thought this was fairly common knowledge.
i just found this quickly by googling it: https://www.livestrong.com/article/320811-diets-based-on-a-set-amount-of-calories/
it reference recommendations by the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute and says 1200 for a woman (1600 for a man).
I ate at least 1200 calories a day when I was on weight watchers and rapidly losing weight. 1000 seems really low.
I couldn't eat that little without being starving all the time, especially now that I'm pregnant.
I've done my share of dieting/lifestyle changes/watching what I eat cycles, LOL. This is an exerpt from Sparkpeople's website
Starvation Mode. There is a common misperception that to lose weight, the lower the calories, the better. Ironically, the key may be eating more calories. You can actually hurt your body's ability to lose weight by going too low. Here's why. The body has a protective mechanism. When calories drop too low (we recommend a minimum of 1,200 for women and 1,500 for men) the body reacts as if it is starving and tries to conserve energy. It will lower your metabolism, conserve calories and fat, and you will not burn calories as quickly. This results in a slower weight loss or even no weight loss. This is what's know as "Starvation Mode."
Article: https://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/reference_calorie.asp
Your calorie intake, without pregnancy, depends on: age, height, weight and your activity levels.
Example for me, pre-pregnancy: I'm 5'2", 115 lbs, and I'm 24... at a Moderate activity level (working out 3-4 days a week), and I'm supposed to intake roughly about 1700 calories a day.
Earlier over the summer, I was up to 137 lbs, and to LOOSE weight, I went down to 1200-1300 calories a day, and upped my excercise level to 6 days a week, and I went down to 115 in 3-4 months. (15 pounds of that, I ended up losing in about 3 weeks.)
If you're considered "average" in your age/height/weight, it's usually never safe to dip below 1200, because you're not keeping up enough calories to let your body run properly. If you're naturally really really small... it can vary. Talking to a dietitian or even just your regular doctor, they can help you find a good calorie range for you, for pregnancy or without it. (Or pick up a book. I highly recommend, in the instance of NOT being pregnant: Jillian Michaels' book "Manage your Metabolism." It really varies person to person, though.
Your basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories you burn "just existing". This means if you were to lay in bed without moving all day, your body would still burn calories by beating your heart, breathing, thinking, etc. For the average woman, this is 1000-1200 calories a day. When you factor in the fact that no one is completely sedentary you need to add more calories to that.
Pregnant women obviously need more calories because our bodies are working harder to grow the baby, thus increasing our basal metabolic rate. If you don't get enough calories (pregnant or not) your metabolism will actually slow down in an attempt to conserve calories for what it deems necesary functions, like breathing!
If you exercise, you need to add even more calories to your diet since none of us should be trying to lose weight right now. When I'm marathon training, I eat ~2000 calories per day so that I don't lose weight. Now that I'm pregnant and not training, I exercise to keep in shape and because I love to run but I make sure to eat extra when I do to replace those calories that I burned.
Bottom line is, if your baby is growing fine and you are putting on some weight, then you are probably eating enough
June Bugs Blog
If you're very small like me, 1000 a day would be your recommended intake assuming you live a sedentary life and to maintain my current weight prepregnancy.
Have you tried logging your calories? Sometimes people actually get more calories than they think.
I use dailyburn.com if you're interested.
Make a pregnancy ticker
I do have to say, it is so nice to see I am not the only oen having trouble "eating enough". I used to eat 1000 cal a day or less. Thenj when I got pregnant a nutritionist told me I am suposed to eat 2000-2300! There is just no way.
So I have been doing my best to eat more. (Though I only manage maybe 1500 a day). While I have lost some weight during pregnancy, I feel that it's due to increased metablaism and I am getting enough nutrition....So post this takes a laod of stress off me!