Update: low weight gain

HopingforChange · October 2013

I started this pregnancy at about 118 lbs. I was gaining weight very slowly the whole time due to both genetics and my anxiety disorder, which makes it difficult to eat at times. When you're freaking out, you don't notice you're hungry. Anyway, I was at a hard-won 126.5 at 30 weeks. Then, I got this GD diagnosis and it all went to heck. I stayed at 126 for two weeks then dropped to 125 at my last appt. I am positive I've lost more weight since then, but my scale broke so I cannot be sure. It's bad enough that my pants no longer fit (and I have the smallest size). You can seriously see my bump sticking out over my hip. I get tired so easily. And, on this stupid diet, I cannot seem to gain weight, no matter how much I eat. Is anyone else struggling to gain enough weight? I am just so worried that Belle (my LO) is not getting what she needs. I know that I am not getting in enough calories for us both. Anyone know of some high calorie low carb snacks that are egg and nut free (I have allergies)? Anyone else been through this and have some words of wisdom?

Update: I wanted to let everyone who was so awesome and supportive know how this worked out.

I went back to the nutritionist, who increased my calories and my carbs quite drastically. I am doing my best, and my sugars have bumped up from around 70-90 to around 90-115, higher but still in range. I feel SO much better. The nutritionist told me at my appt this time that "your sugars were never that bad. You just need to avoid big glucose dumps, like white bread and candy and stuff ." Then, why did you ever limit me to 150 carbs per day? Seriously?! I am sure she meant well, but it was frustrating to get a talking to (and I did) about losing weight when I was not the one making the choices that got me there. Maybe she thought I was dieting? I have no clue. Anyway, butter chicken with rice is back on the menu and we will see how it goes!

BootsOrHearts · October 2013

From what I understand, baby will always get what they need, at the expense of your nutrition. Your body gives them priority. Don't worry too much about it, I'm sure LO is fine!

Can you do greek yogurt (plain) or cheeses (string cheese, cottage cheese, etc.) those are all high protein and if you do the full fat version, there's some calories to them too. Maybe try the yogurt with fresh fruit?

Serenla · October 2013

@eme525 suggested avocado and olive oil as high calorie healthy foods when my MW wasn't happy with my weight gain. ((Hugs))

ellajune2012 · October 2013

BootsOrHearts said:

From what I understand, baby will always get what they need, at the expense of your nutrition. Your body gives them priority. Don't worry too much about it, I'm sure LO is fine!

This is what my ob says too.

If you feel like you need to eat more, have you tried protein shakes? This is what I've been doing for when I just don't feel like eating but need some calories.

I think you'd have to be careful of too much fruit because of the GD, but you could make your own to cut down on the sugar. The simplest would be to get some whey or soy protein in a flavor you like and mix it with some kind of milk or milk substitute (or maybe even yogurt to get it thicker) in a blender.

HopingforChange · October 2013

Thanks, ladies! Avocados and oils are a great idea. I do eat a stunning amount of Greek yogurt. Unfortunately, I am moderately sensitive to lactose and full fat yogurt is not my friend. I can and do use 2 percent stuff. I had not thought of making my own protein shake. Ellajune, you're right--the store-bought ones are too sugary, but it wouldn't be hard to do it myself. My nutritionist just called so I'll be going in tomorrow for advice.

I appreciate the reassurance that LO is doing well. It helps to hear that.

springbeduk2 · October 2013

Do you like hummus or curries (channa masala, for example)? They're not as high-calorie as some of the other really good suggestions like avocadoes (because lower fat) but garbanzo beans/chick peas are a good protein and fiber source and I believe also good for balancing out blood sugar so might be good with the GD. Channa masala can be pretty good without rice or with brown rice if that is OK for you to have - more so than a lot of other lentil dishes or curries. If you like that kind of food, that is ...

also - and again, if you like indian food - many of the really yummy indian appetizer fried foods like pakora usually use chick pea flour (may be listed/discussed as besan) in the batter rather than wheat flour and deep fried stuff packs in the calories. They would be very unlikely to use egg (as is used in many american batter-fried things) and if you have an indian vegetarian restaurant in the area it would almost definitely not have egg since the general definition of 'vegetarian' cuisine there excludes egg. But even from a regular indian restaurant probably wouldn't have egg. You'd have to ask about avoiding nut cross-contamination in the kitchen if your nut allergy is very serious/sensitive but I can't think of any fried things that have nuts in them so there shouldn't be a problem of cross-contamination in the frying oil. Things made with a chick-pea/besan based batter should have a much friendlier glycemic index than stuff made with regular wheat or corn based batters, too. They're also not too hard to make at home if you or DH doesn't mind deep-frying stuff. (my mom is allergic to gluten, dairy, and about 15 other foodstuffs which has really led us to learn how wonderfully versatile chick peas and chick pea flour are!)

Good luck!

JenL12345 · October 2013

I got GD at 11 weeks this pregnancy. I gained very little weight bc of it. I would say as long as your doctor isn't concerned you are ok. If your sugars have been low you could try increasing what u r eating- more protein and fat. Make sure you are eating your snacks. Have you been to a nutrionist yet? I found them to be extremely helpful. Good luck!

HopingforChange · October 2013

@Springbeduck2: I do like Indian food, but it would never have occurred to me as a solution. Thank you! I love garbanzo beans particularly, and garbanzo flour would be an amazing thing to include in my diet.
@JenL12345: My sugars are (thank God) fine. I normally use my carbs on fruits (yum!) but I tried to choose higher fat alternatives today. I do sometimes miss my AM snack, but I usually move it to night time instead. I have completely missed a few, though, so I'll have to do better.
@Sunshine6888: It's hard, right? We're trained to avoid fat, but with low weight gain and GD, there aren't too many other options for packing in calories. Bacon is an excellent idea. I am sure I'm not gaining as much as I could because, to be honest, I don't have ANY idea how to cook meat. Interestingly, the only meats I've ever cooked outside of home ec class are bacon and boiled chicken for a dip. I may have once thrown a hamburger on the electric grill. DH does everything else. Unless he cooks, I am pretty much vegetarian by default. I just find raw meat intimidating and icky. So, I know I could eat more meat because it's mostly once a day right now. The other meals, I eat vegan patties, etc... because I enjoy them and can handle them in terms of prep and carbs. I might have to get brave and learn to actually cook meat. I am sure this sounds stupid to most readers, but it's just how it is with my anxiety.

Thank you, ladies!!!!!

springbeduk2 · October 2013

HopingforChange said:

I just find raw meat intimidating and icky. So, I know I could eat more meat because it's mostly once a day right now. The other meals, I eat vegan patties, etc... because I enjoy them and can handle them in terms of prep and carbs. I might have to get brave and learn to actually cook meat. I am sure this sounds stupid to most readers, but it's just how it is with my anxiety.

You're not alone in not cooking meat! I very rarely do either (another reason I love chick peas and other beans and lentils - and trader joes for having really good and cheap canned chick peas, black beans, etc. and the pressure cooker that makes cooking lentils easy and quick...). I think you are very logical for not doing it much! If you want some more reasons to back up your choice: Raw meat is, as you said, icky and the clean-up etc. to avoid possible germ problems from it is a pain. Plus it makes the cats go nuts. Plus we don't have trash pick-up from home and the transfer station is half an hour away in the opposite direction from work so anything that can't go in the compost, recycling, and will get smelly if it sits around for a long time is a problem. [yes, I know diapers will fit into that category. That's way down the road, though ... not thinking about it yet....] So having more than a few meat scraps (which can just go in the freezer until we have enough trash to be worth a trip to the transfer station) is not good. Plus it's harder than vegetarian cooking since undercooking and overcooking have worse results. Oh and lots of meat stuff smells good while cooking but the lingering smell later is not so good.

Is that enough rationalization for you?

on second thought though, i guess i should be encouraging you to eat more meat - the fattier stuff at least ... at the moment. I just didn't like to see you insulting yourself for not cooking meat (or any other reason!).

having someone else deal with all these issues makes it very worth it to me to pay for restaurant food for a once in a while meat meal! speaking of that if you're splurging on restaurant food and have an indian restaurant you trust in terms of your nut allergy then chicken tikka masala (or lamb - more calories!) and butter chicken both would pack in the calories since the sauces are so rich. If there isn't too much dairy in them for you. They'd just be a little weirder than channa masala might be without rice if you have to minimize carbs. but still tasty.

If you have a cast-iron skillet steak can be pretty easy esp. if you get a good piece that can just go in the pan right out of the package. Heat the skillet dry - no oil - very very hot. Pat the steak dry with paper towels and salt it unless you're on low sodium and shouldn't. Don't add pepper yet it will just burn. Coarse salt (from a salt grinder) is good if you have it. Put it on the skillet for i think 1 minute 30 seconds for a 1 inch thick steak (maybe 2 minutes if thicker) on the first side. Don't touch it, try to move it, etc - it will stick at first but then sear to be not stuck. Then flip it over and do 30 seconds less on the 2nd side. Then reduce heat to cook it to be enough done through (since unfortunately we're not supposed to eat things rare or med. rare now) or move it onto a piece of foil or foil-lined tray and finish in oven or toaster oven until done enough. Though this works best with lower-fat steaks it's still got some fat so might be good. It's one of the few ways we sometimes do cook meat at home, though haven't in ages.

HopingforChange · November 2013

@springbeduk2: Thank you for the support on the meat issue. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who finds the whole process annoying. Your cats are smarter than my dog, who doesn't seem to know what is cooking--it's all just food to him!

I loooove butter chicken and tikka masala and I could eat it with a cup or so of cooked rice.

Thank you for the steak instructions. We do have a cast iron skillet, and that sounds like something I could handle. No battering or other processes that lead to major clean up. Plus, it's hard to say no to steak, right?!

Also, you sound like an excellent candidate for a diaper genie! Do you mind me asking where you live? That garbage transport system sounds like a definite challenge.

springbeduk2 · November 2013

@HopingforChange - I live in a small town on the coast of Maine. The town just doesn't happen to have trash pickup as a municipal service. Recycling is nearby but even that piles up as it's only open a few hours each day. recyclables (when paper or rinsed) doesn't smell, though, so that's OK. For trash the town contracts with the transfer station 25-30 minutes away (which really isn't much around here) (on an island, though, which is a bit hilarious. An island with a bridge but still bringing trash onto an island is silly. It doesn't leave it by boat, either - the transfer station is not on the coast.) Or we can bring it to the transfer station in the town in the other direction which is on my way to work and where the stores and all are, for 2$ a bag, but I rarely go through there when the transfer station is open. We can contract with a private service for trash pickup at home (usually people do that by getting a small dumpster); so far we haven't needed to but it may be time soon. Not sure the septic system can handle cloth diapers or that I could find a day care provider who will deal with them. Can you do cloth at home and plastic diapers for day care? I guess probably ... just haven't been thinking much about stuff like that, yet - still just getting to the realization that despite PGAL brain there is actually now a very good chance that we'll actually have a baby in about 6 months! And that those months will sneak by pretty fast.

The diaper genie does look promising - thank you for the suggestion! though the extra plastic will make me a little sad. And we'll definitely still need to have a way to get rid of the trash more often!

HopingforChange · November 2013

@soringbeduk2: that taking trash to the island thing is definitely odd! But, I guess they have their system. I don't see why you couldn't do cloth at home and plastic at daycare. A little baby won't notice the difference. I have heard that some older children who are cloth diapered hate the relatively scratchy plastic ones, but that's down the road. We are also on septic, and I hear you, it's a constant trial and error thing. We're also on a well, which is a PITA for sure!!! Anyway, I've never been to the coast of Maine, but I hear it's beautiful. I'm in Illinois farmland outside Chicago. I think it's lovely but it's mostly corn and strip malls, really. Home is home, though, even if it's a home on septic and well water!

Update: low weight gain

Re: Update: low weight gain

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