Pregnancy Pounds

I was a chubby kid.  Or soft. Or maybe you can call it baby fat that lasted until I was about 20.  I was told by well meaning people that I could work out more. I always found that interesting because between dancing at a private studio and school, I logged in about 20 hours of dance each week.  However, I ate a lot of sugar and processed foods. A lot. I always dieted. Always. But I could be reverse psychology's case example. Every time I dieted and tried to focus on melting away those pounds, I would add more. Because I am a perfectionist and so when I could not be a perfect (every day) then I just threw the day away and ate (every day).

When I got to college, I continued with the diets. Some worked for awhile like Weight Watchers but I always manage to get off of it and go on a happy binge. After enough diets to qualify me for a nutrition degree, I finally realized a scary thought. Diets don't work. It was a horrifying thought. I was so scared because if I stayed about 15 to 20 pounds overweight while I was so called dieting then what would happen if I don't diet?

After a few attempts of walking away from diets, I found out. I lost all the weight. All of a sudden I realized I can control what I eat for my health.  My health and energy became my focus. I ate less because I focused on what made me full and healthy. Following Dr. Oz's sensible guideline, I avoided sugar and processed foods because diet or not, those foods are just not good for you. In the last year, I gave up gluten because of stomach issues and more weight came off. While some may call this a diet, I don't. I am not obsessed with counting calories or denying myself food. I just focus on what is healthy and portion sizes. Until now.

Enter the world of pregnancy and back comes my perfectionist side. Early in my pregnancy, I read the guidelines of how much weight I should gain which is around 25 pounds. I took it a step further and read how much weight I should gain in the first trimester which is about 1 to 5 pounds. I went a little obsessive and read those online boards where all these skinny mama-to-be's complained about not gaining enough weight or even losing in the first trimester. Then of course they would post some ridiculously low weight that is considered underweight for even a non-pregnant woman. I compared myself. Wrong but I wanted to have the perfect pregnancy. I wanted to gain the perfect amount of weight and be the perfect little pregnant patient for my doctor. Perfectionism sucks.  So what did I do? I ate more than ever.  I started watching that scale every day and getting more anxious. And what happened? I packed more pounds than the recommendation. I was not happy with myself.

Then my mom reminded me that watching a scale and trying to be perfect has always worked the opposite for me. I needed to focus on health. That is all I can control and as long as I am eating healthy then the weight gain will be a healthy weight gain. My advice to all those new mama-to-be's is to do the same. Stay away from the scale. Those numbers only matter to the doctor. If the doctor is concerned, he or she will say something. In the meantime, eat healthy and work out. What a relief it has been for me to come to this realization. Now where is that apple?