Weight loss?

[MsMarie89]

I tend to gain a lot of weight while pregnant, as soon as I got pregnant with dd2 I became a freak about eating extremely healthy hoping to not gain what I did with dd1 but I still did. Right now I am 160 pounds, 20 pounds more then my average weight of 140(I was around 130 when I conceived my first dd and 140 when I conceived dd2)... and I really don't want to enter a pregnancy overweight. So I'm wondering if I should focus my next few months on losing some weight in a healthy way and then when I start my full on he diet and gain a few back would that be good for a blue sway? Or is my best bet to try and keep steady at the weight I am now? I have been basically eating HE for the last couple years, I would just need to up my calories when I actually start swaying. I also started weight training recently(doing 3-4 days a week, 30 min at a time). And I walk around 10k steps a day, but have given up my occasional runs(I was running a lot and doing ridiculous low carb, low fat diets when I conceived both girls). Anyone have any insight? Thank you!

[atomic sagebrush]

We honestly don't know. I generally have people who are less than a year out just try to hold steady where they're at. Do keep exercising and what will happen is you may lose a small amount anyway and then we'll see where you're at when the dust settles. I would not have you diet, just add in the exercise and see what happens.

[MiaMelb]

MsMarie, whenever I read anything you've posted makes me feel like I'm looking in a mirror. I put on weight just looking at food and put on between 20-25kg with each pregnancy. It's a struggle not to fall back into the LE lifestyle to loose weight but I know it will undermine a future blue sway.
Thanks for your thoughts Atomic.

[MsMarie89]

Atomic,
Ok! Thank you so much! So I should stick my "normal calorie" he diet for now and add 45 min of cardio 4-5 times a weeks on top of weights? And then up the calories on he when I start full on swaying?

Mia- Too funny! And we have girls that are basically the same age gap :)!! That is about what I have put on each pregnancy also :(. With dd1 I was eating crap and using the "I'm pregnant" excuse for eating whatever I wanted. Then with dd2 I ate super healthy and watch my portion sizes and so on and gained almost the same exact amount! I couldn't believe it.

[atomic sagebrush]

If you don't lose weight you may not even NEED to up calories. If you're already a little heavier than you would like, there is no law saying you have to gain on HE.

But yes that's what I want you to do. Try to eat HE kinda in terms of more meat, animal fats, and healthy fruit and veg, but watch the grains and potatoes, and do both cardio and weights (not at same time of day if at all possible) This is what I have people who need to hold steady on HE Diet do and people do get boys this way.

Then some weight may sneak off. That's fine, then once you get nearer to time of TTC you can reevaluate, the weight loss may have stopped or it may still be going on, and then you can decide at that point if you even need to increase calories or not.

[Throwaway_panther]

Re: pregnancy weight gain. I read a lot of things on that when I was pregnant and talked a lot with my midwife. There's a lot of nonscience around it -- it's largely controlled by hormones and genetics.

I ate minimally and exercised a ton and fit a large portion of my clothes until the end, with smaller fundal measurements. But my scale weight was VERY at odds with this. It was all blood! I even scared my midwife with how quickly the weight was gone at my 6 week follow up but I was eating like a horse while nursing. Preggo weight is very deceptive and often more out of our hands than we think (I'm sure we've all been or known the poor mom with HG who STILL gains weight).

Re: atomic's comment about holding steady. I'm essentially doing this since we probably won't actively TTC until my DD's around a year at this point due to hormonal issues on my end. If you're concerned about weight and old LE habits, look into the concept of body recomposition. It's essentially a slow means of losing body fat while retaining (and sometimes even slightly gaining) lean body mass/muscle, and is accomplished by eating at or slightly above maintenance calories while strength training and eating a good diet... so essentially the HE program ;) Personally, I think bre_cooper is a great example of this -- she swayed for a boy and got one and shared photos while she was swaying.

So if you can find the sweet spot where you don't really gain or lose (1-5 lb fluctuations are normal due to water and hormones), but continue to eat adequate protein and incorporate resistance exercises, you WON'T gain but might still end up leaner than if you'd actively lost... and all while contributing to getting your boy! ;)

[atomic sagebrush]

:agree: thanks Panther, great post.

[MsMarie89]

Awesome! Thank you both so much! I think I will go that exact route that you described throwaway! I've never done any kind of weight training in my life until now and I am totally loving it and already feeling stronger just with day to day stuff, such as carrying in a million bags of groceries haha!