"You Getting So Fat La!"

[TheQuasimother]

Worst time in the world to diet!

Locals are funny like that. I've worked with them for 4 years now and I know that I can't change them! They feel the need to comment on everything. If you don't gain enough weight, 'You're too skinny!'. If you're gaining what your body needs, 'You're too fat!' Saying simply, 'You're doing well/fine.', doesn't seem to be part of this culture. So ignore them! Nothing seems to be ever good enough for them. But I do know that they don't say it maliciously. That is just how they are. If they said something bad, I usually reply with a wide smile 'It's horrible isn't it but that's just how the cookie crumble eh' If I disagreed with them or I start looking like I feel terrible about it, I find that I'm opening doors for unwarranted advice/more comments!

As long as it isn't affecting your health e.g. gestational diabetes, I'd say simply go on as you normally would. Being pregnant with all the hormones going crazy is hard enough. Don't drop all the feel good food that makes you feel better - oils and all! Baby needs lots of essential oils/fat to grow healthily. Everything in moderation. As long as you're happy, keep at it!

You manage to drop so much weight after so never mind them!

 

[Frenchy]

I know I'm not the person you need real advice from, as I didn't put much weight on during my 2 pregnancies, but I weight now less than before my first pregnancy ! I'm just doing a light diet, as I'm breastfeeding.
If you feel like waiting after the birth to get your body back, so just stop thinking about it and enjoy your pregnancy. Pregnancy is just the only time in life when you can put weight on without any regrets !
Also, you could check that you don't have any diabete or thyroide troubles, that could explain your heavy weight gain, if you know you are having a proper diet.

 

[Gataloca]

I didn't gain lot of weight either during my pregnancy, mainly because I didn't have much appetite or craving. As I really didn't have appetite, I could choose to eat healthy snacks instead of whatever the craving would make me eat. I would have snacks like nuts, yogurt, muesli, fruit, prunes, baby carrots, etc. I really couldn't stand greasy or sweet stuff, so I was probably lucky. In occasions I would have an ice cream after lunch... Funny that my coworkers would see me and say things like "you are pregnant and eating cold stuff??", I would just laugh and say "it is the baby who wants to eat it!"

Anyway, I agree with other that this is not the time for diet. But I guess, if your craving is not too much, probably you can choose snacks that are high in fiber and low in calories?

 

[ssheng]

When they said 'diet', did they mean to literally decrease your intake of food to the point where your body needs to burn fat to function properly and you will therefore lose weight (which I think is what everyone means when they are horrified at the idea of going on a diet now), or just to adjust from your current diet? I also gained way too much weight my first pregnancy, and it was an effort to get it down afterward - never really got completely back to where I was. For this pregnancy I realized from reading the books that you really only need a little bit more calorically than you required before you were pregnant - the equivalent of something like a piece of toast and a banana extra a day. So even though I agree that you shouldn't worry too much and focus on your baby, I think YOU might feel better if you take control of things and make sure you are being as healthy as you can for you and the baby. If you feel confident that you are doing that, then any mean comments will probably not bother you so much. (For example, when I gained too much weight the first time, I was eating McDonalds, pesto and cheese pasta at 3am (as an extra snack), desserts after every meal, etc and not exercising. Any comments I got made me feel worse because I knew I was putting on unhealthy weight).

Maybe you can take some of the tips from above and just adjust it so you are making healthier choices generally, (cut out some of the desserts that aren't fruit, fried foods, choose the salad to start, choose the chicken burger no cheese, that type of thing) plus add in some light walking each day beyond what you were doing - just say 15 minutes or something in the afternoon and work up to 30-45 within a couple weeks. Then, even if you are the exact same size or proportionally so given how far along you will be in pregnancy, you will know that you are being healthy, so those people can just #@$*#$ off.

 

[thanka2]

The reason why I feel bad is because I think I have tried really hard this time around to be careful about what I eat. I am exercising regularly (even more regularly than I was before I found out I was pregnant). I walk a couple of miles every day (I walk to and from work). I'm running around and keeping up with my 3-year-old after work in the evenings.

I'm not consuming more food than I was before I was pregnant (maybe at some times less because my work schedule is busier now) and because of my experience with my first pregnancy I am acutely aware of what I'm eating. But, what I'm doing must not be enough and that's the frustrating part.

As for whatever the nurses and doctors mean by diet--well, it's the HK public system so it's a bit hard to decipher what they mean sometimes.

 

[yonge]

Have you been tested for gestational diabetes yet? I ask because I had gestational diabetes with my second and was probably borderline diabetic with my first. Like you, I wasn't eating any more or differently, but I think the hormones were playing havoc with my insulin levels. The doctor who caught the gestational diabetes put me on a diabetic diet. The amazing thing about it was after gaining nearly 20kg for my first and being on track to exceed that during the 7th month with my second, my weight gain responded to the diet and actually stopped. However, the baby continued to gain weight. With my third, I just went straight on the diabetic diet even though I tested negative twice for gestational diabetes. With occasional "cheating", I gained 13kg.

If you suspect your may have gestational diabetes, please ask them for a glucose test. I just delivered in the public system and they administered the test for me because of my previous history. If you are confirmed not to have gestational diabetes, then it's up to you whether you want to do anything about it. Like someone wrote, it'll all come off when you're breastfeeding anyway.

 

[thanka2]

Have you been tested for gestational diabetes yet? I ask because I had gestational diabetes with my second and was probably borderline diabetic with my first. Like you, I wasn't eating any more or differently, but I think the hormones were playing havoc with my insulin levels. The doctor who caught the gestational diabetes put me on a diabetic diet. The amazing thing about it was after gaining nearly 20kg for my first and being on track to exceed that during the 7th month with my second, my weight gain responded to the diet and actually stopped. However, the baby continued to gain weight. With my third, I just went straight on the diabetic diet even though I tested negative twice for gestational diabetes. With occasional "cheating", I gained 13kg.

If you suspect your may have gestational diabetes, please ask them for a glucose test. I just delivered in the public system and they administered the test for me because of my previous history. If you are confirmed not to have gestational diabetes, then it's up to you whether you want to do anything about it. Like someone wrote, it'll all come off when you're breastfeeding anyway.

Good tips, yonge. I will have my blood glucose test in a few weeks actually. As far as the weight coming off with breastfeeding--with my son, I breastfed for 6 months and didn't lose any weight because of it...go figure. Would love to believe that BF would be the answer but in my case that's probably wishful thinking. Again, thanks for the tips.

 

[Shenzhennifer]

Hey Thanka2,
Are you getting this test at the MCHC? I'm 5 wks ahead of you and no one's mentioned it. I'll have my next appt at 32 weeks. I just thought that one of those 2 urine test strips at each visit were monitoring our sugar levels. Geez, waaaay more apathetic for this 2nd pregnancy, haha!

 

[Gataloca]

Hi Shenzhennifer. I had my at the public hospital. It is called oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Don't remember when I had it though... Probably at around week 30.
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[thanka2]

Hey Thanka2,
Are you getting this test at the MCHC? I'm 5 wks ahead of you and no one's mentioned it. I'll have my next appt at 32 weeks. I just thought that one of those 2 urine test strips at each visit were monitoring our sugar levels. Geez, waaaay more apathetic for this 2nd pregnancy, haha!

My blood glucose test is booked for January 3rd which will put me right about 30 weeks. I had my blood glucose test done around that time when I was pregnant with my son too. I'm thinking that maybe I should ask the doctor at the next appointment I have on Wednesday if they can move the test up and test me now because I'm thinking that maybe I do need to go on a diabetic diet--it certainly wouldn't hurt me.