It’s normal to gain weight during a pregnancy. If you’re average weight before pregnancy, you should gain 25-35 lbs (11-16 kg) during your pregnancy. If you started the pregnancy underweight, you should gain a little more, and if you started the pregnancy overweight, you should gain a little less. It’s easy to see pregnancy as a time to relax the diet, but you really only need an extra 100-300 calories each day during a pregnancy. That’s less than a cup of premium ice cream. More than that, during pregnancy, it’s important not to neglect your body’s nutritional needs. Here are some tips for meeting your body’s nutritional needs without counting calories, being hungry, or gaining too much weight.
- Make sure to get enough protein, preferably lean protein. Go for lean beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, or legumes at least once a day. Milk in your morning coffee doesn’t count. Be sure to only eat well-cooked meats and fish, and avoid fish that are high in mercury. (Avoid smoked meats and fish, as they can carry Listeria.)
- Avoid dairy products with a fat percentage of over 5%. Yogurts, cottage cheese, and milk are great. Hard cheeses pack a lot of calories in a small amount. Don’t cut them out entirely, but don’t eat more than a couple of slices a day either.
- Some research suggests that non-fat dairy isn’t any better for you than low-fat dairy, so don’t restrict yourself to skim milk. During pregnancy, your body (and your baby) can use a little extra dairy fat, particularly if you’re eating a relatively low fat diet.
- Eat vegetables at every meal, even breakfast. Keep cherry tomatoes and baby carrots around for easy-to-grab snacks. In Europe, a lot of people eat salad for breakfast. Try it. You might like it.
- Snack on fruits, vegetables, and nuts as much as possible. Fruits and vegetables are low in calories and high in vitamins. Nuts are high in calories, but they’re high in protein and good fats too. Plus, they help you stay full.
- Go easy on fried foods. They’re very high in fat, and are likely to make you nauseas too.
- Keep the junk food indulgence to a minimum. Read the labels on junk foods and limit yourself to a maximum of 300-400 calories of things like potato chips, chocolate, cookies, and candy a day. You’ll find it’s not a lot of potato chips, but it makes for a reasonable serving of popcorn.
- Snack. If you’re hungry, eat something before you’re so hungry you can’t control yourself.
- Avoid sweetened drinks. Try water, club soda, or herbal teas. A cup of cola has about 7 teaspoons of sugar in it, so don’t feel bad if you need a teaspoon or two of sugar in your tea to make it yummy. Presweetened teas, though, pack about 6 teaspoons of sugar in a cup, so they’re not much better than a cola. Be sure to drink enough that you never feel thirsty, as thirst is often mistaken for hunger.
- Buy smaller packages. For many people, if they buy a pint of ice cream, they eat a pint of ice cream. Go to an ice cream shop and order a cone with a scoop of ice cream, and you’ll be able to walk away. Don’t worry about the ‘value.’ You may pay less per ounce, but you can’t save money by eating food your body doesn’t need. Don’t buy ‘family size’ or ‘party size’ potato chips if you’re not sharing them with a family or a party. And if you must eat out, don’t super-size your fries.
