Eating to feel full; Eating to gain weight

It’s not a secret that I have struggled over the last 18 weeks to eat in general, and eat good things for that matter.  I didn’t really have the healthiest eating habits before I got pregnant to begin with.  I am one of those lucky broads who despite being overweight, has perfect cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar and blood pressure, and I generally eat more junk than I should.  I was also in a pretty good exercise regime before pregnancy (God, I miss Zumba), and put on quite a bit of muscle while losing almost 20 pounds over the course of about a year.

This all being said, I have never had a problem gaining weight in my adult life.  I gained 60lbs in the course of a year in my early 20’s while my thyroid issues went undiagnosed, and even once treated, I had to work my buns off just not to gain weight, much less lose it.  The first trimester of this pregnancy was a lot different than any I’d previously experienced though.  My nausea was out of control.  Even when I started taking Unisom, and it gradually got better, food just didn’t taste good to me.  I was completely uninterested in eating much of anything.  I did force myself to eat for the sake of the babies, but by the time my first trimester ended, I had lost 8lbs–and this was after consisting of mostly Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls for at least 2 weeks.

Second trimester hunger hit with a vengeance, but I’ve still struggled with food tasting good.  By now in all of my other pregnancies I was completely overcome with cravings.  Twinkies and root beer, strawberry frappucinos, and onions, for the record. This time though, aside from a few inklings for french fries and vinegar, I have nothing.  I guess I’m lucky that I don’t really have any aversions this time though too.  With Eddie, I could not eat anything that had tomatoes in it, and with the girls I couldn’t handle meat of any kind.  I’ve noticed that bacon tastes like ass recently, and while this is disappointing, it’s not a major disruption in my diet.  What I’m saying is that I can basically eat anything, it’s just that I don’t want to.

When I went in for my 16 week checkup, I had put 3lbs back on, so at least I am making some progress.  Since then, I’ve really been paying attention to what I’m eating.  I don’t think that I will have as much trouble with growing decent sized babies as other twin moms do because I’ve had 3 larger than average babies and my inner lady bits have been stretched beyond oblivion before.  I’m confident they will have room to grow; however, I don’t want to take too many chances, and I’d really like to put some more weight on sooner rather than later.

Of course, I don’t drink milk because I had a childhood allergy and never developed a taste for it, and I can’t eat eggs because they make me sick (unless they are baked in to things), so 2 easy ways to get dairy and protein are out the window. What has been working is some yogurt with fruit and granola in between breakfast and lunch, and drinking a carnation instant breakfast before bed.  Even though I am more of a lunch snacker, I’ve been making sure to eat an actual midday meal. I still need to do more, but these little extras are making me feel a lot better about getting some of the extra nutrients I need.  I’m also taking my prenatal vitamin, a vitamin D supplement, a calcium/zinc/magnesium supplement, extra folic acid, and fish oil, and trying to drink a crap ton of water.

I think I am on the right track here, even though it’s slow going.  I’m the type of person who lacks diligence when it comes to following a food plan, so keeping these babies in mind at all times is the only thing that is getting me through.  I’m used to 9 and 10 pound babies, but I am realistic that these 2 will be smaller.  I’m just hoping for the 7lb variety as opposed to the 4 and 5lb variety of small.  I guess we will see.

Snacks, ahoy!