Good story re: weight gain and body during pregnancy

I see a ton of posts in this group about women being concerned that their bump is “too big” or that they are gaining too much weight when they are well within the guidelines for this gestational age. And also women trying to “control” their weight gain by “making sure” they only gain 1lb a week.

I hope this can help allay your fears:

With my first baby, I gained 70lbs. From 135 to 200+! I am very health-conscious and did not eat super unhealthy. I ate probably more healthfully than I do when I’m not pregnant to be honest, though I was slightly less active because I had no energy. My OB was not concerned at all as I did not have high blood sugar or high blood pressure or any signs of hypothyroid or anything unusual, but just was big. (I went from a small B cup to a DDD!) My older sisters had both only gained 25-35 lbs with all pregnancies so I felt even more awful that I was so huge.

I was obviously very concerned and could not control the weight gain no matter what I did or how I monitored my caloric intake. It was nightmarish for me as I have been roughly the same weight since high school and am in my thirties. (Not underweight or anything like that, just right in the middle of the charts for my height.) I was sooo nervous about it and felt awful my entire pregnancy. Before my due date I had well surpassed my husband’s weight and it got to the point where my weight gain was actually comical every time we would go to the doctor.

There is a picture of me the night before I gave birth, and my bump looks exactly like Octomom’s! We literally could have been twins!

Needless to say, I gave birth to an extremely healthy 22 3/4 inch, 8lb 8oz baby boy. When my OB delivered the placenta, she said it was huge and weighed about 8lbs on its own. Leaving the hospital I still hadn’t lost much weight, but over the coming weeks it began to drop off very rapidly. I lost the first 45lbs by 4 months post-partum without much effort. By 7 months pp I had lost another 20! By 9 months it was all gone and I was just a smidge below my prepregnancy weight! I have actually never felt better in my own skin, and loved the way my body looked and felt. The first 45lbs was simply breastfeeding, starting to exercise again and watching what I ate. With the remaining 30, I had gotten very busy and no longer watched what I ate so it was simply breastfeeding.

Some of my other mom friends gained very little weight and then had trouble losing it all long term. We often talk about how weird it is that each person’s body handles pregnancy so differently. I know this isn’t the same story for everyone, but I was so deeply upset by my dramatic weight gain and didn’t trust my body when I was pregnant. pregnancy just is different for everyone and you can’t agonize over things by comparing yourself to others. As long as your doctor isn’t concerned and there is no underlying health issue, please just try to relax and remember that your body is simply doing what it needs to do to nourish your baby and be able to produce milk later on (whether you end up breastfeeding or not). It will go back to normal eventually after you have the baby if you care enough about it and you just could be “easy come, easy go” pregnancy weight-wise, like me.