Pregnancy Is Not The Time To Diet!
October 8, 2009 by Wendy Powell
Filed under Just Blogging..., Pregnancy Nutrition
Actually I don’t believe there is ever a right time to diet, but that’s a different post…!
Eating for pregnancy, you should not be restricting calories, but rather 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 & onto eating, exercising (& resting!) for health, vitality, strength & energy.
For both of you!
If you have been taking good care of yourself (eating right & exercising), but still feel that you’ve gained more than you need to – relax & keep up the good work! The extra weight gain might just be what your body needs to support your pregnancy (remember – the weight gain charts are just guidelines!).
If you focus on staying active & eating healthily & you don’t take your pregnancy for granted (i.e. don’t use pregnancy as a ticket to eat everything) -your weight gain during pregnancy & your weight loss afterwards will not be an issue.
Don’t kid yourself! The foods that make you fat when you’re not pregnant are the same foods that will cause unnecessary fat gain when you are pregnant!
There is no magic clause that says that the foods you eat whilst pregnant somehow don’t count! In fact they’re more important than ever, so make sure they’re good foods…
Extra EMPTY calories don’t produce “baby fat”, they produce “fat fat” & that fat won’t magically disappear when you have your baby, because your baby wasn’t the cause of that fat in the first place.
Realistically we all do (I did!) eat a bit more, treat ourselves a bit more & pat our belly with an ‘well I am eating for two’ whilst tucking into something we shouldn’t, more than once during pregnancy. This is completely normal & helps get us through those months when we’re feeling enormous & indulgent & happy… So give yourself a break, & find a healthy balance – you don’t have to eat mung beans every day, but you shouldn’t eat chips every day either.
Don’t use pregnancy as an excuse to slump on the sofa & eat junk food for nine months – you’ll just make yourself miserable & won’t be doing the best for your baby. You’re also likely to suffer from a whole list of pregnancy-related discomforts such as back ache, nausea, constipation, varicose veins, fatigue & head aches (not withstanding of course massive weight gain!).
Exercise & good food may not guarantee you none of these unpleasantries, but it sure as heck minimises the likelihood of you getting all of them!
