I’ve had a lot of fun sharing my second pregnancy journey. I know there are a lot of bloggers that happily share the details of their weight gain throughout pregnancy. I also know that a lot of people are curious about the topic. Despite this, I’ve decided not to share my personal numbers when it comes to my weight, and I have a few reasons why. As per usual, I also have some *thoughts* on the topic that I’m happy to share as well.
Why I Haven’t Shared
I’m generally a pretty open book, sometimes to the point of making people uncomfortable. There aren’t a whole lot of things I’m not willing to share. So why is my weight gain one of the few things I won’t be sharing on the blog? Well…..
Weight Gain Can Be a Trigger
Having been a part of the fitness industry for a while, I’m well aware that a lot of women start running with the intention of losing weight. Which is fine. But the unfortunate reality is that a lot runners find themselves struggling with fueling and body image. And I know that the topic of weight is often triggering for a lot of people in this space. I don’t really see any benefit to sharing my weight, and knowing it could be a hard topic makes me feel uninterested.
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It’s Not Really Important
Outside of really terrible morning sickness (in the form of hyperemisis), I have had a relatively uncomplicated pregnancy. I’m a generally healthy woman, who gets in a lot of physical activity. Because I don’t have any complications or red flags, my weight change just really isn’t important. Does my doctor still monitor? Yup. Is it something I need to monitor myself? Nope. Currently, my weight gain has been in the “healthy range” and I’m fairly confident that as long as I keep taking care of myself, things will be just fine.
Humans Have a Tendency to Compare
Every person is different, every pregnancy is different, but we all know that humans have a tendency to compare. And honestly, I’m not interested in being compared to. There are lots of women who will gain less weight than me, and lots of women who will gain more. Just like I don’t want my weight to be something that is triggering for any of my readers, I also don’t want anyone to hold themselves up to me and feel some sort of way about it.
My Thoughts on Pregnancy Weight Gain
So now that I’ve shared why I’ve decided not to share my personal weight gain numbers, here’s a few thoughts on pregnancy weight gain in general. Because if there’s something I usually have, it’s an opinion!
It’s Unavoidable
With very few exceptions, pregnant women will gain weight. It’s something that is required for mammals to create tiny versions of themselves. And there’s a wide range of what is considered a healthy amount, depending on a woman’s starting point. Let’s also not discount the fact that plenty of women gain more than “recommended range” and have uncomplicated pregnancies. So, if we know that we’re going to gain weight, and we know there’s a huge range of what is considered healthy, is there any good reason to stress about it? No. There’s plenty of other things to stress about during pregnancy, instead.
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It Might Be Temporary….Or Not
There’s a prevailing camp of marketing jerks that have decided that pregnant women should gain as little weight as possible, and should embark of the goal of losing that weight as quickly as possible. But the reality is that pregnancy and child birth changes a woman’s body; sometimes permanently. Hips may widen, ab muscles may only partially recover, hormones change. All of these things mean that some women will wake up ready for pre-pregnancy jeans three weeks after delivery, and some women may never get back into those leg prisons. So let’s not start out our postpartum journey focused on a goal that might not be attainable. Because just like pregnancy, there are plenty of other things to stress about postpartum.
Health Is The Priority
At the end of the day, a healthy pregnancy, a healthy delivery, and a healthy mom is what needs to take priority. Above all. And part of physical health is mental and emotional health. Pregnancy and motherhood are hard seasons for most of us. Even when we’re beyond thrilled to become a mom or add new members to our families. Perpetually focusing on something as trivial and necessary as weight gain is an easy way to suck out all the fleeting joy that comes with pregnancy. Let’s not take a hard thing and make it harder by expecting these bodies that are doing amazing work to suddenly not show any signs of the life we sacrificed so much to make.
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