Eating For Two 101

O wearing her fruity onesie (a hand-me-down from our good friend Jill) in support of our lofty goal!

We were extremely blessed to be able to birth at a natural birth center.  I cannot say enough about the incredible experience we had at Charleston Birth Place.  Their model of care is mainly preventative, with a heavy emphasis on diet.  They can only take on and maintain patients who are low risk, so I was full-on motivated to remain as such.  A major part of that is a healthy BMI, and I was already on the border before I even got pregnant.  At 20 weeks I had already gained 9 lbs, so the midwife told me I had to get serious.  

This is what she suggested: LOW CARB.

1.  Heavy heavy protein.  Chicken, fish, red meat for iron.  Nuts, beans, yogurt, eggs, you know the drill.

2.  Any carbs I ate needed to come in the form of fruits or whole grains.  No juices.  So, I basically ate salad for two meals a day.  Breakfast was granola cereal loaded with fruit.  I found low carb snacks like string cheese, natural cheese puffs, yogurt, carrots and peanut butter, etc.  

I literally gagged every time I had to eat salad.  But I knew if I gained more than 20 lbs I would be considered high risk, and I desperately wanted to labor at the birth center.  

3.  No dessert or sweets.  Which was probably the hardest part.  All I thought about was bread and donuts.  And the feel and smell of dough and baking.  Looking back I really don't know how I did it---it was definitely the strength of Jesus!!!  It almost became a form of fasting---I just prayed for and focused on the baby whenever I had a craving. Which was basically all the time.  

4.  Also, they warned me to avoid starchy veggies like potatoes (sweet potatoes instead) and corn, etc.  The more color the better.  

I didn't gain any more weight until 33 weeks---even through Christmas and New Years! 

So the main rule of thumb was no more than 50 carbs per meal.  Which, an 8 oz serving of orange juice is 28 carbs, so that's the main reason you steer very clear of that junk.  Even the naked juices are full of carbs and sugar.

They do say that you can subtract the grams of fiber from the grams of carbs; for instance a granola bar that was 19 carbs and 3 grams of fiber would only count for 16 grams, but I didn't count on that. 

In short, eat like a diabetic.  And if you have an occasion for dessert, pick the cheesecake :)

All in all, I only gained 19 lbs, and walked out of the birth with only 6 pounds to lose.  Before this vacation I was already three pounds below my pre-baby weight;  I need to lose between 40-50 more.  


In short, my goal is no more than 50 carbs per meal, only derived from whole grains, fruits, and veggies.  I recognize there will always be special occasions and the like, but if I maintain this way of life most of the time, splurging every once in a while will be quite alright.


Prepare to #witnessthefitness!!!