Thursday, March 27, 2008

How to do Weight Watchers while pregnant..

I have been all over the internet researching how many points a pregnant woman should eat daily while pregnant. Weight Watcher's used to have a pregnancy plan but don't anymore. Really the whole thing is silly. Everyone is over concerned about the baby not getting enough. In reality- anyone on WW's surely struggles with eating too much. And if that's the case, the most healthy thing to do in a pregnancy is to gain appropriately. You put your baby to more risk of Diabetes or Pre-eclampisa if you gain too much.

Anyway, I'm setting a goal weight for the end of my pregnancy. 165lbs! I was 165 lbs when I got pregnant with Amelia!! Oy! I'm 140 lbs now. That gives me a nice 25 lb gain. That might seem too little to some, but seeing that I gained 60 lbs with both my pregnancies, I think I can stand to hold back a little. :) Plus, I was miserable at the end of my pregnancies from all the gain. And I developed high blood pressure at the end of Amelia's. If I get up to 170 lbs I won't cry. :)

So, after scanning multiple blogs and message boards, I've come to the conclusion that I need to eat about 30 pts per day (plus Flex, plus APs) to gain wisely. In order to maintain my weight I'd need to eat roughly 24 points. When you're pregnant you only need an extra 300 calories per day. Each WW point is roughly 50 calories. So that's 6 pts. 24+6=30 pts! And there you have it!

Now, in the first trimester I've read that you don't necessarily need those extra 300 calories yet. Which lines up with what my midwife recommends- only a 5 lb gain by 20 weeks. Mainly because your body packs it on the second half of pregnancy. So my goal for the next 7 weeks (I'm roughly 5 weeks) is to eat 24 pts per day+Flex+APs. If I feel hungry, I'll eat more. Then from 12 weeks on-30 pts per day!

How's that sound?

Morning scale read 141. I ate some mexican food last night which involves chips, which involves bloating for me. So I expect the scale to read 140 tomorrow morning.

Daily Tracker:

Breakfast:
1/2 banan: 1 pt
Mocha (decaf): 3 pts

Lunch:
1 avacado: 5 pts
Chips: 3 pts
Left over Chicken Ranch Pasta: 4 pts

Snack:
Clementines: 1 pt

Dinner:
Honely Glazed Pork Chops with non fat garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus: 7 pts

Total: 24 pts!

Amelia and I have a nasty cold today. :(

8 comments:

M said...

Jen - Congrats on your pregnancy! I regularly read your blog and am inspired by your success - but have never posted. I don't know about WW and pregnancy...although my OB had recommended it in my first pregnancy. But...I'm nursing now and OP with 10 extra points per day and am losing nicely. So you may keep looking and consider more than six points ( I know you won't burn cals during preg like you do during nursing). But just a suggestion...but then again my OB had said the baby will take from you first rather than your food...ie. how healthy babies are born to those who are food deprived. Anyway - rambling - best wishes!

Jen Gordon said...

Thanks so much for your comment M! Man I miss those nursing points... :)

I've seen different views on points for pregnancy. One girl said she weighed 147 lbs when she got pregnant and is now eating 35 pts a day to gain wisely. That just seemed like a lot to me!

But, like I said, I'm going to eat if I'm hungry. Ya know? I just don't want to put myself where I was with my last pregnancy. Not just because of my weight, but also because I was putting my child at risk by allowing my weight to affect my blood pressure. I think I gained 5 lbs per week at the end. OY!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hello I'm Laura, and I am still after 14 months tryong to loose my baby weight...I just started WW form home, and I was trying fto figure out if I can continue WW if pregnant...Thanks for the answer!!! I have been looking forever!!!
Anyways, you look wonderful, and congratulations, you are such an inspiration!!!!

Jen Gordon said...

Hi Laura!

I should say that I am doing weight watchers to GAIN weight while pregnant. Not lose. I worked really hard before getting pregnant to get down and be fit. That alone I think will make the biggest difference in my pregnancy.

Anyway, good luck!

Natalie Kennedy Schuck said...

Hi, Congratulations on all your success and I'm so happy that you have this blog!

I just started WW a few weeks ago at 205 pounds. I am expecting to get pregnant in the next couple of months so I wanted to lose some weight first and have the healthiest pregnancy possible.

I know that gaining weight uncontrollably and just eating any and everything you crave does not make a healthy pregnancy so honestly I think that staying on WW while pregnant is the BEST thing that I can do, and it sounds like it was best for you as well.

I've lost 5 pounds in the three weeks I've been on the plan, I hope to lose 15 more before I get pregnant, which will bring me to 10% of my starting weight. After that if I go on a modified plan like you've outlined I will likely gain the 10% back over the course of my pregnancy that, and that will be just fine.

Thank you so much! If you have any other tips or anything I'd love to have them! I'm really bummed that WW doesn't offer this as a formal option, but oh well, thank goodness for blogs and e-tools!

Anonymous said...

Wow you did a good job! totally inspired by your story. I too have done weight watchers and suceeded in the past...just need to get back on teh wagon once and for all....but Im trying to LOOSE weight before I become pregnant...I suppose anything can happen after birth even if I did loose weight..nothing to say I wouldnt be just as heavey even if I didnt loose it before conceiving.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the blog! I am 5 weeks pregnant with my second child. I was 213 lbs. when I went into labor with my first child (17 mos). I had started WW about 2 months ago and was down to 177 lbs. still far from my ideal weight of 140 lbs. I approached the WW leader and was disappointed when she told me I couldn't participate anymore. So, for the past week I haven't been tracking my food intake and feel horrible. I'm afraid I will gain too much weight and have to hear the doctor tell me to "watch the weight gain". I will try to start with the 30 points. Any ideas for controlling the nausea? I feel that I eat too many grains because it feels better in my stomach.

bigfeetgirl said...

I just signed up again and blogged about Weight Watchers! Keep at it!

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