Weight loss and pregnancy: what should supportive spouses do to shed weight in the offseason?

Nutrition
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My wife is pregnant with our third and she is craving calorie-dense foods. Her weight and weight gain is perfect, so I don’t mind if she is craving pork belly or ice cream. However, this screws with my weight management plan that I have adhered to in the last years where I’d lose 2–3 kg early on. My weight is flat with a tiny upwards trend. Do you have any advice?

It goes without saying that my wife’s (and by extension, our baby’s) health comes first by a kilometer.

2

I’m not sure if I clearly understand your question. I think you’re asking how you can lose weight while supporting that your wife can eat whatever she needs for her and the baby. If that’s the case, the simple answer is that you don’t have to eat what she eats, or you can just eat less. My wife is smaller than me, so she eats smaller portions than me, skips the heaping plates of pasta, etc. When she was pregnant, she would eat all kinds of foods I didn’t crave or didn’t even like, so I just ate something different.

Is your question something else?

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3

It will suck but maybe cooking a few options may be helpful. Pork belly and ice cream for the missus with a side salad or less calorie dense option that you can indulge in. The hardest part is not also taking part in the calorie dense options.

I had a similar conundrum in which the missus was trying to actively gain weight and I was trying to lose it. Spoiler alert: I got fat. It’s hard to balance.

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4

Nailed it.

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It is mostly about self-control. Outside of pregnancies, I had just relied on our interest in fitness and generally healthier-than-before lifestyle. If the others are having ice cream, I want some, too …

So far my experience mirrors yours :sweat_smile:

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My wife’s pregnancy diet didn’t mess with me too much, but when she was nursing it was one of the most mind bending things I’ve ever seen a human body do.

She’d eat 6 strips of bacon, a bowl of cheesy grits and a chocolate croissant for breakfast and would lose 3 lbs. by noon :joy:

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7

Substitutions may help.
On the ice cream front halo top works wonders. I’m also a big fan of “protein ice cream” which has heaps of volume and is low cal, although it isn’t exactly ice cream.

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