Hi ladies,
I have recently found out I am pregnant . Elsah(Jenn) has helped me out a bit and I was wondering if some of you could answer some questions for me.

Are you still LCing?
How many carbs were you at and what are they at now?
If you added carbs, when did you start adding them?
What type of carbs did you add?
What about Splenda and sugar alcohols?

I'm sure I'll think of more! Any advice is welcome and I'd love to see some menus if any of you have time.

Thanks,
Alli

I was gestational diabetic with my last child (he's 5 months now) anyway, I had to eat low carb, NO sugar what-so ever. I was TOLD to use splenda, I was put on a special diet. I would eat for breakfast 3carbs, 2protien (just in case you don't know one carb is equal to 15g) for lunch 4carbs 3protien, and 4 carbs 3protien for dinner. I only gained 8lbs that pg, and my baby weighed 7lbs 7 1/2 oz. I'm now 22lbs less than I was before becoming pg. I don't see why following a gestational diabetic diet could hurt you. My baby is very healthy
Tammy

OH congrats by the way!
Tammy

Congratulations! You'll see me in Jenn's journal and you can pop into mine anytime you want. I am currently 13 1/2 weeks along. My journal lists my food for every day if you want to check out the menus.

Yes, I am still low-carbing, although Maintenance sucks when you haven't had a chance to finish OWL and do Pre-Maintenance. I was losing slowly at 30-35 net carbs a day, and when I found out I was pregnant I immediately jumped up to about 70-100 a day. Most of the carbs I added were in the form of fruits, dairy, and low-carb whole grains. I pretty much eat any food I am hungry for except the big no-nos: Sugar, white flour, white potatoes, white rice, etc. I do not limit my vegetables or fruits at all and I'm having a blast enjoying oranges, apples, watermelon and cherries again. Some would say these are no-nos due to their rating on the GI scale, but I am having no problem with them.

I do avoid all sugar alcohols, but once in a while (less than once a week) I might sneak a single bite of my husband's LC chocolate bar. I did buy some no-sugar-added popsicles that contain 1 gram of sugar alcohols each, so I let that slide. I am not limiting Splenda at all, but my doctor told me to limit aspartame and saccharin, so I keep the Diet Dr. Peppers to about one or two a week. Otherwise it's Diet Rite, Kool-Aid or lemonade made with Splenda, and lots of water.

I will warn you that Maintenance is not easy — you'll no longer be in ketosis, which means you won't get the appetite- and craving-suppression benefits that you've had for a while on Atkins. This was tough for me and I seem to buckle in the face of french fries and Krispy Kremes. I do cheat about once a week (usually when I go out to eat) and so far my weight gain has been very reasonable. I've only put on 8 pounds since I started, and 5 of that I gained overnight when I switched to Maintenance (water weight).

Edited to add: If this is your first baby, and maybe even if it isn't, buy the book The Girlfriend's Guide To Pregnancy. It is so funny and tells you all the weird pregnancy things that you won't read in the other books.

Wow congrats! I knew you were trying but didn't know you got the results back. I used the Atkins official site suggestions. My doctor was happy with that although she suggested I cut back on the protein she said the amount they had listed was higher than I needed. The atkins site recommended 1800ish calories and 70 to 90 net carbs. I started off by adding almonds (way high in calcium, vitamin e and some other vitamins), walnuts, cottage cheese, yogurt, LC bread, LC tortillas, total protein cereal and quite a bit more fruit. For a while I was up to 120ish carbs a day and did fine but mentally I like to see the carbs stay under 100 net so I have cut back to the atkins suggested amount.

I eat splenda but sparingly and I try to avoid sugar alcohols. I make my own ice cream and treats to avoid those. I have done pretty good sticking to plan but sometimes I do slip. If I want a slice of pizza on Friday with my family, I will have it, but I always have a big salad first so I won't fill up on the wrong thing. I try to have one meal a week that is a treat meal. On that meal I typically will try to stay low carb but have one or two small things that are not low carb (like a small serving of fried rice at the chinese buffet although the rest of my plate will be protein and veggies and I try to avoid any sweet sauce or breaded items or sometimes I'll have a tiny bit of a dessert). I figure I probably have no chance of ketosis with my once a week small indulgence.

It's really weird adding back carbs so fast, especially if you haven't raised them much during OWL. I was lucky that I had raised mine quite a bit before finding out I was pregnant but it was still a hard adjustment. It's weird trying to raise the carbs after months and months of trying so hard to keep them low. In the beginning I would find my carbs too low and would eat something bad just to try and stay out of ketosis. I think that was the hardest part of the fast move to maint. I have since figured out how to adjust my carbs (on most days) with the proper foods. Cottage cheese with fruit, walnuts and a splash of divinci syrup are one of my favorite ways to add extra carbs if I am a little low. My best advice is ... toss your scale now or only look at it on days you have a doctors appt. It's so easy to stress over seeing the scale move upwards!

Hope you have a wonderful pregnancy and congrats again.

Jenn

http://atkins.com/Archive/2002/10/25-756904.html

I thought this might help with some questions.

Thanks for your posts ladies . I haven't increased my carbs yet and am trying to figure out the best way to go about it. I am SO happy with my meals now and how I've been eating, I can't imagine adding anything more. The cottage cheese, nut, fruit thing sounds like it could replace my evening snack though . I look forward to visiting your journals too .

Alli