Hey everyone, It's the frog here. I found out I am PREGO on Christmas night and I would like to hear from all of you out there who have been prego and your experiences with low carbing while prego. I don't want to lose, only to maintain weight and to have a healthy baby (and a healthy mommy). I've been low carbing for 6 months with a 50 lb loss and I have sworn to never go back to my carbolicious ways of eating again. I have done some research on the subject and they say to up my carbs and to stay out of ketosis. And to take my vitamins and extra calcium. Please give my your stories and/or opinions. THANKS, Val

Congratulations on your pregnancy! With my last one, I used Somersizing--where you eat proteins/fats/veggies together or high quality carbs/no fat/veggies. I gained less weight than with any of my other 5 eat-whatever-you-want pregnancies.

I found that I gained at least 2 lbs. whenever I cheated and ate sugar (and that happened more and more often toward the end). :-( But if you keep it legal, you could make it through the pregnancy without gaining or being in ketosis. I didn't bother to count carbs at all. Just ate whole grains whenever I felt like it.

First, congratulations!

You can do Atkins Maintenance during your pregnancy. Remember...this is not the time to lose weight but a time to continue the healthy LC lifestyle.

Hope you have an easy pregnancy as I did (2x)!

Congradulations The most important thing to remember is to relax and have fun with it. It only lasts 10 months and at the end you actually miss some parts of it.

There are a few women on this bored that are currently pregnant and LC, or recently had thier baby and are LC. You don't hear from them much, something to do with alone time or computer time vrs sleep. Sheesh like who wouldn't choose online over a nap

There is a book out there "A Mother-To-Be Does Atkins". It is written by a doctor at one of the Atkins clinics who was pregnant with twins. It gives some of her typical menus.

You might also want to get Atkins for Life as it is geared more tword maintanance.

Remember while pregnant you only need about 300 more caloires a day, but tons and tons of nutrition. LC is good for that because instead of a large piece of cake, you are getting your calories from nutrient dense foods such as veggies, fruits, and protiens.

Each day be sure to have alot of veggies. Start including a serving or two of fresh fruit each day as well. I know it's winter so look for frozen unsweetned berries as well. Just be wary of those that add sugar. It has no benifits to you or baby. Eat dairy if you can tolerate it in the forms of cheese, plain unsweetned yogurt, or maybe some LC milk. Have whole graines, not overly processed white bread. Choose brown rice instead of white and monitor portion sizes. And above all, be sure to take your prenatal vitamin.

Like I said earlier the Atkins for life would be good. It seperates things into easy tables. What foods to eat often, in moderation and rarely. It also discusses what the portion sizes of each food really are.

Hi there!

I am afellow pregnant low-carber. I am 13 weeks along and doing a maintenance level of Atkins. I have only gained 2 pounds since I found out I was pregnant and my doctor is VERY supportive.

I have 1/4 of a honeydew melon or cantaloupe each morning and usually a cup of blueberries or strawberries with whipped cream for dessert each night. I also try to eat at least 3 servings of veggies each day. Definitely try to mix up the colors, that helps get a good variety of vitanutrients into your body (and the baby's growing little body!!)

I will echo what others have said by mentioning that I have had NO morning sickness at all and really feel great! Both my mom and sister had major sickness with their pregnancies and can't believe I haven't had anything, so I definitely think it is thanks to the low-carb woe.

Anyway, I WANT TO START A PREGNANT THREAD in the buddies section. Would you be interested in posting there on a semi-daily basis to compare notes, offer moral support, etc??

BTW, congratulations

Thank you ladies, for all the replies and the helpful information. I can't wait to talk to my doctor, I hope he is also supportive of this way of life. Nat, I would be very interested in a pregnant thread, I have wondered why there isn't one already! I would also like to say that I am so glad to find support here. Just eating the atkins way in general has been criticized so badly in general by everyone around me (even as the 50lbs melted off before their eyes) that I have taken to lying about whether I'm lowcarbing during pregnancy .

When you talk to your doctor you may want to avoid the word Atkins. Just tell him you are not going to havre refined sugar or junk food and that you want to stay away from processed white flour. Instead you want to eat mostly fresh veggies, protien and fruits with some dairy.

Basicaly discribe Atkins without using the word. There are alot of people who will tell you that's a healthy way to eat, but as soon as they hear the word Atkins they go off on a tangent about how unhealthy it is. It's like a trigger word. My mom is on a no sugar no flour plan, but if she hears the word Atkins she goes into fits :P