Food/Healthy Eating Rant

nienot · May 2014

I was doing really really great eating up until the last few weeks when it feels like my stomach is just a bottomless pit. My doctor told me only 200 extra calories per day compared to what I was eating before pregnancy, but there is no way in the world that I could be getting by on that right now. I'm about 22 weeks, and it is getting so hard not to eat everything in sight.

For example, I have been eating 4 eggs scrambled for breakfast every morning with a handful of blackberries or blueberries since about week 14. This was plenty for me to get through the morning until lunch with only a small snack mid-morning. Now, my stomach is literally growling an hour after eating breakfast. Lunch is the same way, and I'm hungry for dinner by 4:30/5pm.

So, if my body really only needs 200 more calories per day, why am I so hungry all the time? Anyone else going through this and have any tips on tricking your body into being full?

About how many calories are ya'll consuming per day?

Thank you!

wrightpalomo · May 2014

I'm not counting calories but I am kind of sticking to Weight Watchers, kind of. I try to eat a lot of "zero point" foods that are filling (fruits and veggies) when I'm feeling like a bottomless pit. Like a giant pile of baby carrots and a whole cucumber chopped up at my desk to munch on in the afternoon. In the evenings, if I'm super hungry I'll make popcorn with black pepper because you can eat a ton of that for very few WW points.

Is there a reason you're not eating any carbs with your breakfast? Adding a corn tortilla or a piece of whole grain toast to those scrambled eggs may help you feel fuller for longer. I do two eggs and 2 corn tortillas or 1 slice of toast and that seems to get me by until lunch without a morning snack.

sapphires-and-diamonds · May 2014

I vary a lot. It depends on if I give in to multiple urges or not. I would say on a very good day I am eating 200 above my normal intake. On a bad ... probably 1000 above. Yikes.

nienot · May 2014

@criscbish Good point on the fat...I'm not really getting a lot of fat in. I was heavy on avocados at first, but for some reason they stopped sounding good, and I just stopped buying them.

As far as carbs go, I guess I could add in some in the morning with a tortilla like @wrightpaloma suggested.

My lunch has been gf spaghetti with an all natural tomato sauce and strips of grilled chicken every day for the past few weeks.

Dinner is some protein with a side of pasta, or my SO has been on a taco kick lately, just ground beef and a tortilla with lettuce and cheese...I usually have 2 or sometimes 3.

For snacks at work I have been trying to do 1 Kind healthy grain bar a day (it's full of oats, brown rice, millet, oat flower, quinoa, etc), and then in the afternoon I usually bring some strawberries to snack on.

At home I snack a lot on grilled plantains and occasionally have another Kind bar at night. String cheese is something else I occasionally snack on. I'm always grazing fruit and baby carrots.

I was not underweight to begin with. I'm about 5'9 and some change and was at 180 to begin with, and I'm at 183 now. I had some weight to lose for sure, but I feel like a lot of it was holiday weight gain.

I was definitely eating a lot more nuts/fats earlier in the pregnancy and I'm really not sure why I stopped. I guess I didn't even think that could be contributing to my hunger. I will have to ramp that back up and see what happens.

Thanks

GlitterMuffin914 · May 2014

Maybe you could try eating smaller meals more often throughout the day, that way the energy your food provides doesn't burn out and make you completely hungry.

Right now I am doing something like this:

-Breakfast (varies, but usually some kind of egg sandwich with ham or turkey, or a burrito with egg, veggies, etc.) small side of fruit

- About 2 hours later a fruit smoothie

- Light lunch- (usually small sandwich or salad or light pasta dish, each with some kind of protein)

- Afternoon snack (things like hummus & pita chips and/or veggies are great!)

- Dinner (again, usually on the smaller side so I'm not making myself sick)

- Pre-bed snack (usually some kind of fruit or something)

Granted, I was told I needed to catch up in weight by my next appointment, but this method has me feeling great throughout the day. I'm never really feeling hungry and if I am for some reason, I'll munch on a granola bar.

wrightpalomo · May 2014

@wpatx Also, consider your water intake- being thirsty can make me feel snacky. Sounds like you're not skipping meals but I do like @glittermuffin914 's suggestion to break your meals down and eat more frequently. Hubbs has been suggesting I do this to help with my heartburn but it's so inconvenient to eat every 2-3 hours!

nienot · May 2014

@wrightpalomo I wish it were the water, but I'm already drinking quite a bit. I have a 34 ounce bottle I fill about 8-12 times a day. I agree that maybe breaking things down will help...but like you said, it's the inconvenience of it

But at least I won't be overindulging.

Thanks again!

anewadventure · May 2014

i think pp's have hit on some good points. i also want to point out that maybe your body is trying to tell you to put on a few more pounds - you didn't start out significantly "overweight" by that old gold standard, bmi (oof), and you've only put on three pounds.
also, fwiw, our midwife practice says weeks 20-26 should be a time of significant growth spurt for the baby, and significant weight gain for the mom (they don't stand by the idea of the same exact weight gain every week for months on end, but that it varies by the month with the developmental stage)

anewadventure · May 2014

and may i add, i wish i had only gained three pounds thus far

nienot · May 2014

@anewadventure Your explanation of uneven gains throughout the pregnancy actually makes me feel a lot better. It makes a lot of sense, and I feel like baby must have just gone through a huge growth spurt recently, because I went through 3 or 4 days of tons of inactivity from baby and then all the sudden tons of activity the past two days and baby just feels so much bigger and in so many more places than before. Thanks for the advice

GlitterMuffin914 · May 2014

wrightpalomo said:

@wpatx Also, consider your water intake- being thirsty can make me feel snacky. Sounds like you're not skipping meals but I do like @glittermuffin914 's suggestion to break your meals down and eat more frequently. Hubbs has been suggesting I do this to help with my heartburn but it's so inconvenient to eat every 2-3 hours!

Yeah, it can be inconvenient to eat more often, but it has helped me so much. I tried just doing 3 standard meals plus an extra snack in there somewhere like a lot of people recommend, but I found I was just feeling burnt out and hungry all day anyway, no matter how much I ate at each meal. The consistent small meals and snacks helps a ton. Luckily I work from home, so I'm able to take time to eat when I need to and have everything I need here, but if I have to be out for meetings and errands, I'll make sure to pack up my snack stuff into small tupperware containers the night before and just toss it in my purse when I leave the house.

nienot · May 2014

@MaggieG82 I hadn't thought of adding in tea. I was drinking a lot of tea at first for nausea, and I forgot how much that held over my hunger as well.

What kind of tea are you drinking/do you recommend?

conradraging · May 2014

How on gods green earth have you only gained 3 pounds? I've gained so much

nienot · May 2014

@Conradgallagher Honestly, that number is a little deceiving because the year before getting pregnant I had put on some weight and was not able to eat very healthy or work out at all. I normally sit around 165/170, so the 180 I was at before getting pregnant was very high for me. Up until December 2013 I was working for an NBA team and working 15+ hour days and commuting 3.5 hours a day (complete madness, I know)...and when you work in an arena and have no free time, the food you are eating is probably not very good for you. Add on top of that travel, eating poorly on the road, having no time to workout, not getting any sleep and endless amounts of stress, and you end up gaining a lot of weight

Now, I'm in a completely normal 9-5 job and eat well and exercise and I think that has a ton to do with it.

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