Struggling With Coming To Terms With Weight Gain In Pregnancy

This morning I stepped on the scales and urgh. The number looking back at me had definitely jumped up. I know it’s normal for women to gain weight in pregnancy, we’re carrying around a load of extra fluids and a little person after all, but does that make it easy to accept?

A view looking down at the scales while standing on them and the scales are showing an error message


As someone who has spent my life watching my weight I don’t find it easy seeing the numbers on the scales getting bigger. I love food too much to diet and I struggle to fit in the time for much exercise so for me the key is to keep my weight in a manageable window. A weight loss coach could be helpful to help change my thoughts around eating. If my weight gets to my upper limit I can spend a week or two making an effort to get back to normal. Pregnancy weight gain is different though because the weight goes up despite following my normal habits.

Funnily enough I am more body confident with a bump and you are more likely to find pregnant me in figure fitting dresses than normal me, but that doesn’t stop me feeling like a whale at times. I am happy to have a big bump, but not to get bigger in other places.

According to the NHS “Most pregnant women gain between 10kg and 12.5kg” mostly in the second half of the pregnancy. Within 2 weeks of giving birth of both my girls I had lost 10kg and 8kg so I know much of the expected gain is purely baby related. On the other hand I’ve also heard horror stories from older ladies who claim they have never managed to lose that extra pregnancy weight.

Of course some people use the “eating for two” excuse to indulge, when else can you get away with elasticated waistbands on all your clothing? As much as I might have wanted to eat lots in the past I have struggled to gain much weight in my previous pregnancies. In the first trimester I am normally “off” food unless it’s toast or chips and not long after my appetite returns in the 2nd trimester I develop awful heartburn which changes what I eat (chocolate and fatty foods are awful for heartburn) and how I eat (smaller meals and less snacking) and then near the end there is so little space for my stomach anyway. So the sudden jump in weight I have experienced at 18 weeks in this pregnancy is pretty unusual for me.

The response to my laments from both G and my friends was unanimously that I should chill, that my weight gain is small and that I’m pregnant. Yes ok, I hear you, but with 25 years of standing on scales and harshly assessing myself it will take time to accept my bulging body. I probably need to put the crisps and sweets down and go for a swim, but maybe I’ll have a little nap first?



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