At 34 weeks my baby should be a bit under 20 inches long and about 5 pounds!! It feels like she has dropped but I still feel her up high so I really dont know just yet! Right now baby is needing a lot of calcium for their bones so I am being ver careful to drink lots of skim milk, eat yogurt and take my prenatals. I also felt like I was feeling low on iron. My muscles felt really fatigued and I was very tired. So I have been really conscious of getting enough iron. One easy way is iron fortified cereal but through this whole pregnancy eating cereal with milk has made me sick so I started mixing my cereal with yogurt. Grape Nuts has 90% daily recommended intake of iron in 3/4ths of a cup and Raisen Bran has 100% in one cup so those are my two cereals of choice. I kept up with my prenatal vitamins and ate at least one serving of cereal a day and upped my red meat with a vitamin C source and within a week or so I was feeling MUCH better. I tried to make sure I got iron not only from my prenatal vitamins but from a meat source and a grain source. The meat source is most readily absorbable followed by the grain source and then lastly the least efficiently absorbed source is from the supplement. Many pregnant women who are low on iron are prescribed a huge iron pill but unfortunatly most of that goes through the body unabsorbed, so that is why I didnt just pop a few extra pills a day. Eating the right foods are not only more efficient in increasing my iron levels but is far more tastey!
What I ate today
oatmeal
brown sugar
12oz milk
whole wheat bread
peanut butter
whole wheat bread
half can of tuna
fat free mayonnaise
cucumbers
loose leaf lettuce
1tsp of light dressing
10oz v8 juice
cheese string
taco shells-2 (this was such an indulgence, I haven’t had them since I was 17 and living at home! I didn’t need the second one and I felt guilty over it so I didn’t finish it)
taco seasoned meat
black beans
tomatoes
lettuce
fat free cheese
low fat sour cream
celery
My total calories for the day is around 1500 and about 50 grams of fat. That means about 30% of my calories came from fat today. It was those taco shells, they each had about 10 grams of fat. Yikes! I wont be eating those again for a long time!
This morning I weighed in at 161.8lbs at 16 weeks 6 days pregnant.
My midwife gave me a really great diet plan. Im trying to follow it, Ive made a conscious change to add eggs into my diet more often, she suggests two eggs daily and before pregnancy I doubt I ate two eggs weekly! She also suggests one quart of milk a day, which really isn’t that tough for me to do. I love dairy products and I tend to crave them while pregnant. Skim milk, ice cream, cottage cheese, string cheese and yogurt all sound so yummy! I don’t have much issue with getting my ‘quart’ worth of dairy.
Im supposed to get two servings of protein like 3oz of cheese or 3 oz of meat. I like meat so I don’t have much of a problem fulfilling that category.
The green leafy vegetable guideline is a little harder for me to get. Im not a huge lettuce eater, but really I need to just make a commitment to have a small salad or lots of dark greens on a sandwich each day. Two servings is only about a cup! That is definitely one area that I need to work on and its a really simple addition to my diet!
Also daily Im supposed to consume four servings of whole grains. One serving is one slice of wheat bread, or a cup of oatmeal. I think Im usually a smidgen low on my four servings because refined grains sneak into my diet often in the form of fat free saltine crackers. I love them with peanut butter (source of protein!)
Also one source of vitamin C is recommended daily. Like an orange, tomato etc. I love V8 juice and usually have a glass a day. Otherwise I think I tend to skimp on the vitamin C. But my prenatal vitamin does have 100% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin c
My midwife also recommends three fat servings a day 3 teaspoons of oil, butter, sour cream, mayonnaise. Reduced fat versions can bump that up to 3 tablespoons. I don’t use any of those foods- unless its fat free. But I do eat a lot of peanut butter. I think I get enough fat in my diet without adding any in purposefully. But Ill keep a close eye on this.
And finally each day Im supposed to have one serving of any other fruit and one of any other veggie. A banana and a few baby carrots (dipped in ranch dressing- there would be my fat servings!) would cover that!
On top of these daily recommendations weekly she also recommends three whole baked potatoes-Im really bad with this. I don’t eat baked potatoes very often, I don’t eat potato products often at all. She also recommends 5 servings of yellow or orange fruits of vegetables. Ill have to ask her about V8 and if that can be included in that. Im not GREAT at getting those last 5 servings a week in. I need to pick up some sweet potatoes, my boys and I love them and that will definitely help me get those 5 servings in!
The final weekly recommendation is a bit controversial because its an organ meat and can store harmful substances- Liver. One serving of liver weekly. I don’t think I can eat liver once a week. Maybe once a month. I don’t MIND it, but its not something I would eat because I enjoy it. But I will make an effort to make it once a month!
And on top of all of this Im to salt my food and drink plenty of water!
What I ate today-16 and a half weeks pregnant
12oz of skim milk
two pieces of whole wheat bread
reduced fat peanut butter
1/4 mango
1 90 calorie granola bar
8oz skim milk
1 red baron french bread ‘pizza’
I removed the pepperoni though- at 15g of fat and 350 some calories that was a bit hefty on the fat for me!
half a tomato
about 2 cups of loose leaf lettuce
a 1tsp of light raspberry vinaigrette
1 Hershey chocolate bar (my bad my bad!!!)
Half a chicken breast
half a cup of apple sauce
3/4s cup peas
iced tea (no sugar)
1 cup earl grey tea
splash of skim milk
splenda
1/2 small container of light yogurt
Along with fitday.com my estimate for calories for the day is about 1675 and about 45 grams of fat.
I know my eating today wasnt stellar. That chocolate bar definitely could have been something much healthier, but I really enjoyed that little indulgence. My husband bought a bunch of them when they were on sale. I hate having chocolate in the house! Its so tempting.
What I ate today
12oz of skim milk
1 piece whole wheat bread
reduced fat peanut butter
1 medium sized pancake with light syrup
reduced fat cheese string
Sandwich and soup:
Two slices whole wheat bread
fat free mayonnaise
lettuce
tomato
lean chicken breast
cucumbers
130 cal 1g of fat cup of soup- ate half.
watermelon
baked potato
light sour cream
chives
a very small slice of red baron deep dish supreme pizza
McDonald’s hot fudge sundae (yeah my bad I know)
1750 cals 50 grams of fat
Today 25% of my calories came from fat. I didnt eat super healthy but not too bad. I really didnt need that hot fudge sundae- and I didnt finish it. Tomorrow Im going to try and eat even better!