Many pregnant women are concerned about extra weight gain during pregnancy and how hard it might be to lose it later. But what if you’re pregnant and you already feel overweight`? Can you diet? What sort of foods should you be eating?
Quality not Quantity
During pregnancy, you don’t want to restrict calories as such, but you should be thinking more carefully about the quality of those calories. This is the time to shift your focus away from weight loss or your dress size and onto eating, exercising (and resting!) for health, vitality, strength and energy. For you and your baby!
If you have been taking good care of yourself by eating healthily and keeping active, but still feel that you've gained more than you need to - relax! The extra weight gain might just be what your body needs to support your pregnancy. Remember – those weight gain charts are just guidelines!. I will soon be writing an article "How Much Weight Should You Gain During Pregnancy". Look out for it....
If you know you were carrying excess weight before pregnancy, start paying attention now to the food you eat, and don’t kid yourself! The foods that made you fat before you were pregnant will do exactly the same now!
If you are eating lots of sugar, processed foods, fizzy / soft drinks or takeaways – you will gain more fat than you need, as well as provide inferior nourishment for yourself and your growing baby. Don’t wait until your baby arrives to make changes! Those extra calories will result in you storing extra fat (not ‘baby fat’… ‘fat fat’!) and it won’t disappear when you have your baby!
Even more importantly, your body is trying to grow a human being in there… so give it the nourishment it needs – not empty calories!