Anyone Gain A Ton Of Weight & Constantly Be Hungry?

[Guest cassidy]

I am 14 weeks pregnant and I have already gained 18 pounds, 10 of it in the last 5 weeks. I am constantly hungry. I wake up in the middle of the night to pee and I have to eat to be able to go back to sleep. I just left the doctor and he asked if I was eating bags of m&ms or if I was being smart. I told him that I know a lot about nutrition because of celiac and that I am eating healthy. I don't eat out and I haven't found many good gluten-free processed foods, so I'm certainly not eating poorly.

I know before I went gluten-free I was hungry all the time but I don't feel like I'm being glutened. The hunger also started right when I got pregnant so I really don't think it is hidden gluten or anything like that because I don't have my normal glutening symptoms. I also am not eating the same foods as I did in the beginning so it isn't like I have been getting a little gluten the whole time. I was glutened last week and I did get D like usual, so I can see a difference between that and how I have been feeling for the last 3 months. I was borderline underweight so really I'm only 7 pounds over a normal non-pregnant weight for my height, but still I hate this.

Has anyone been this starving when pregnant? I am afraid I'm going to be huge. My mom and all of her sisters gained 50 pounds with their kids and I can't imagine gaining that much. I have always been very weight conscious so this has been very hard for me.

[CarlaB]

I gained 60 pounds with my first one, then only 25-35 with the next four. It was almost like my body learned what it was supposed to do. After the first one, at the six week checkup, I was only 10 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. Make your calories count, your body is probably just starving for nutrition, so it's registering that you're hungry all the time.

[dionnek]

Well, I just found out that I'm pregnant again (with my second), and that might explain why I've been so hungry this last month or so. Like you, i wake up in the middle of the night hungy (although so far I haven't let myself eat). I recently (past month) gained 16 pounds, but I had lost 8 pounds the month prior to that (just found out i have a goiter so I was fluctuating between hypo and hyper and back to hypo thyroid, so that probably accounts for my weight gain). I only gained 24 pounds with my first child (pre celiac dx), so I am trying to keep this one the same. Hopefully my thyroid will get under control and I can keep my weight the same for the next several months! You might want to have your thyroid checked (that's something they usually do when you are pregnant I think - at least that's when they discovered my thyroid problem was in my first pregnancy).

[Guest cassidy]

I had full blood tests and everything came back fine. I even had my thyroid checked about 6 months ago and it was fine.

Well, it is 5am again and I'm up because I'm hungry. I've been up since 2:30.

If I don't eat I get a headache. If I still don't eat then I get shaky and my heart races and it takes a whole lot of food to get me feeling normal again. I just don't think it is healthy for me to let myself get that hungry right now. I really hate this, but I don't know what else to do.

[twtums]

Have you told your doctor about the headache, shakiness, etc? It sounds to me like you might be hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) or have something with your blood sugar going on. Maybe they checked this with your blood tests though? If not, I would call them and request to be tested and see what is going on. I have friends who are just constantly hungry pregnant but this really sounds like something more is going on, IMO.

Here's a Open Original Shared Link, if you were underweight which it sounded like then it's recommended you gain 28-40 lbs.

[mommida]

I was that hungry when I was pregnant. Set aside good healthy snacks and have them ready for the hunger pains. You may actually be thirsty, so you might start drinking a caffeine free herbal tea.

L.

[AndreaB]

With my first I had my appetite under control and only gained 18 pounds. I was overweight though.

My next I gained 40 pounds, and my last I gained 40 pounds. It comes off pretty easily. My youngest turns a year old tomorrow and I'm only 5 pounds over my pre pregnancy weight, but I'm not excercising so that would probably have been off by now if I had been.

As far as hunger....I don't know how long you've known about your celiac, but that could be playing a part depending on your damage. Also for my last one I found I got shaky. I think I had only been on 2 meals a day then but moved up to three and if I got that way I'd grab some protein and it made me feel better. That was gluten since I didn't know about gluten intolerance/celiac then. I was a vegan. Make sure you get your protein too.

Also keep in mind this is a big growth trimester and most of your weight will come on during this trimester. If you are eating healthy I wouldn't worry too much about your weight gain. With my second people would comment of whether I was having twins. Nope, he was just a big baby.

[DingoGirl]

If I don't eat I get a headache. If I still don't eat then I get shaky and my heart races and it takes a whole lot of food to get me feeling normal again. I just don't think it is healthy for me to let myself get that hungry right now. I really hate this, but I don't know what else to do.

Well I've never been pregnant but my best friend had gestational diabetes, and that is what I'm wondering about for you, due to the above paragraph. Has your doctor considered this?

[Guest cassidy]

Actually, as of Saturday, I am no longer hungry. I just woke up and didn't need to eat pounds and pounds of food anymore. I also am no longer nauseas and I don't have to pee all the time. So, I just think this is how my body was adjusting to being pregnant. I checked my scale and according to it I have gained 19lbs and it 17 weeks I don't think that is too bad. My doctor said you can gain 4-6lbs a month.

[missy'smom]

Glad to hear that things seem to be balancing out now. I'll echo what was said earlier. I had gestational diabetes and the things you mentioned could fall into that category. While I don't have diabetes right now, I still feel that I occasionallly have blood sugar issues. Especially when I don't get enough protein or end up eating too may products based on rice and other white flours. I'm finding myself eating white too often on the gluten free diet insted of the whole grains that I used to, which are better for your blood sugar.

[Guest cassidy]

It was weird, I went to a chiropractor the day before I started feeling better. My back was killing me. I wonder if it is a coincidence that I started feeling better the day after I saw him. A couple days after that I started feeling nauseas again and I had another appointment with him earlier this week and I haven't been nauseas since. He said he couldn't have directly fixed that problem but that if your body is out of alignment, there can be all sorts of symptoms.

I only gained 3lbs this month so my doctor said I'm doing fine now as far as weight is concerned.

[AndreaB]

Good to hear Cassidy. Please keep us posted.

[aorona]

I am 15 weeks pregnant and have gained 10 lbs. With my first two pregnancies, I had undiagnosed celiac and only gained 25 lbs with each of them. I am very small, pre-pregnancy weight of 108 and have never had any problems with my weight, so this is very traumatic for me. Now that my celiac is under control, I hope I don't blow up like a balloon. I am busting out of my clothes and seem to get bigger each day. I too feel I have to constanly eat. I do eat very healthy, fruit, yogurt, meat, eggs, rice noodles, occassionaly I will make bread. I have cut out the chips, but nothing seems to fill me up for very long. If I don't eat every 1.5-2 hours, I feel horrible and faint. Then it takes me forever to recover. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate them. My doctor only told me to eat smaller meals more often.

[Guest cassidy]

I am 15 weeks pregnant and have gained 10 lbs. With my first two pregnancies, I had undiagnosed celiac and only gained 25 lbs with each of them. I am very small, pre-pregnancy weight of 108 and have never had any problems with my weight, so this is very traumatic for me. Now that my celiac is under control, I hope I don't blow up like a balloon. I am busting out of my clothes and seem to get bigger each day. I too feel I have to constanly eat. I do eat very healthy, fruit, yogurt, meat, eggs, rice noodles, occassionaly I will make bread. I have cut out the chips, but nothing seems to fill me up for very long. If I don't eat every 1.5-2 hours, I feel horrible and faint. Then it takes me forever to recover. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate them. My doctor only told me to eat smaller meals more often.

This last month I only gained 3lbs. So, I think my body needed extra weight in the beginning and now it has leveled off. My doctor was happy with my weight gain now.

I had a hard time with gaining all the weight because my husband has been very critical of my body. I lost 10lbs a year ago and was underweight and that is when he liked me best. This weight gain has been tough on my self-esteem, even though he hasn't said a word. I think once everyone kept commenting on how little I had gotten he felt bad and realized it wasn't a good idea to ask me to stay so skinny. I have never been overweight and I know I will loose this weight afterwards.

I don't know what to tell you other than you might wake up one morning and feel better. I'm doing great now and it was around 16 weeks that I got better. Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be.