Yesterday in my 19 week pregnancy update post, I told you I was going to give you a peek into my daily eats as a pregnant woman. This was prompted by an article I read in the recent issue of FitPregnancy that gave a detailed list of exactly how much of each nutrient pregnant women need on a daily basis.
I’m not one to keep track of everything I eat, but the article piqued my curiosity. I wondered if I was meeting the standard–getting all the nutrients I was supposed to. So I thought it would be fun to track what I ate in a typical day and see how my eats stack up.
Here’s what I should be getting, according to FitPregnancy:
calories: 300 more than normal amount
calcium: 1,000 mg
DHA: 200 mg
fiber: 25-35 g
folic acid: 600 mcg
iodine: 220 mcg
iron: 27 mg
protein: 70 g
vitamin B12: 2.6 mcg
vitamin D: 200 IU
Since that’s a lot of nutrients to track, I decided to narrow the list. I calculated my daily intake of: calories, protein, fiber, fat, and iron. Even though fat wasn’t even on the list, I was curious to see how much fat I consume, so I kept track of that one, too.
I took pictures of everything I ate on one particular day and wrote down every morsel that entered my mouth. It was a daunting task, but it was fun to calculate the results.
Breakfast 8:30 am
2/3 cup rolled oats (yes, they’re under there!)
2/3 cup almond milk
2/3 cup water
1 banana (2/3 whipped into the oats and 1/3 sliced on top)
5 strawberries
1 Tablespoon almond butter
Calories: 386
Protein: 6.9
Fiber: 9.8
Fat: 12.7
Iron: 2.0
Snack 10:30 am
3/4 cup organic whole milk yogurt
1/2 apple (Meghan had the other half with her lunch)
1 teaspoon raw honey
Calories: 192
Protein: 9 g
Fiber: 2.2 g
Fat: 12 g
Iron: 2 mg
Lunch 12:30 pm
1/2 leftover pizza
1 tomato, sliced with salt
salad with spinach, arugula, carrot, cucumber, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, and 1 1/2 Tablespoons homemade dressing
Calories: 687
Protein: 13.5 g
Fiber: 12 g
Fat: 26 g
Iron: 6 mg
Snack 2:30
tortilla chips
black bean salsa
Calories: 217
Protein: 5.6 g
Fiber: 6.8 g
Fat: 9 g
Iron: 1.5 mg
Dinner 6:00 (Tim got home late–I was starving!)
1/2 spinach and sun-dried tomato frittata (3 eggs, 3/4 Tablespoon butter, 1 cup spinach, 1/8 cup sun-dried tomatoes, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese)
fingerling potatoes and carrots roasted in coconut oil
Calories: 741
Protein: 31 g
Fiber: 11.7 g
Fat: 45.9 g
Iron: 7.5 mg
Dessert (immediately after dinner)
smoothie (banana, almond milk, cocoa powder, peanut butter, and stevia)
Calories: 141
Protein: 3 g
Fiber: 1 g
Fat: 4.2 g
Iron: 0.8
Snack 9:30 pm
4 strawberries
1 Tablespoon almond butter
sandwich thin
Calories: 217
Protein: 5.6 g
Fiber: 6.8 g
Fat: 9 g
Iron: 1.5 mg
Here’s a look at my totals for the day:
Calories: 2,610 (300 more than normal amount recommended)
Protein: 74 g (70 grams recommended)
Fiber: 47 g (25-35 grams recommended)
Fat: 116 g (35% of total calories should come from fat)
Iron: 19.4 mg (27 mg recommended)
I also take a prenatal vitamin and fish oil pill (for DHA). The prenatals add an additional 18 mg iron to my total iron intake.
My Thoughts and Analysis
Calories: At first I was surprised at how many calories I consumed as I really didn’t feel like I ate all that much. I was never “stuffed”. I ate when I was hungry, which happened to be just about every 2 hours. I don’t think I overate. I can’t say if I’m getting 300 more than my usual amount because I don’t count my calories, so I don’t know what I consume regularly. I think it is probably pretty close, though.
I remember one time, a long time ago, when I wanted to lose a few pounds I looked up how many calories I should eat to maintain my weight and how much I should eat to lose weight. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I know they were both under 2,000 calories. I kept track of my calories for a few days, trying to keep the number wherever it was supposed to be to lose weight (1,500?) for my height/weight. It was nearly impossible. Those calculations may be accurate for some women, but for me it was no where close. When I am active, I can easily eat more than 2,0o0 calories and maintain my weight.
Protein: I got just over the recommended amount of protein and this was on a day when I ate eggs. I don’t eat eggs or meat everyday, so this helped me see that I need to be aware of how much protein I’m getting on days when I don’t eat meat or eggs at all.
Fiber: Just as I suspected, I am getting more than enough fiber. 🙂
Fat: Wowzers. When I realized I had eaten over 100 grams of fat, I was taken aback. I have nothing against fat, but that seemed like a big number. Then I remembered that approximately 35% of our calories should come from fat. When I did the calculations, I found out that meant I’d only gotten about 12 grams more than the recommended amount. Most of my fat came from healthy plant sources, like almonds and almond butter, peanut butter, and seeds. I do love my nut butters.
Iron: I fell short on this one without the help of my prenatal vitamin. I think that it probably balances out on other days when I’m getting more from red meat or other iron-rich food sources I eat like beans and lentils.
One thing that bothered me as I looked back on my day of eating was that most of my whole grain intake came in the form of bread. I don’t think whole wheat flour is where the majority of my “whole grains” should come from. Other days I know I eat more grains, but that stood out to me on this day. Overall, however, I think I had a decent day of eating in terms of nutrition.
Please keep in mind that I’m not a dietitian. I am not posting this as a means to give advice to pregnant women. I simply wanted to give you an honest look at what my daily eating looks like and try to get an idea of what it takes to meet the nutrition recommendations for pregnant women.
Question: Does anything here surprise you? What do you think of my daily eats?
Hi Maryea! Great post (yum) and I am thrilled you are having a boy! I am 2 days overdue with our boy, we have a 2.5 yo girl. The waiting is the hardest part! I wanted to ask you if you ever use or know about palm sugar? Met a woman in Bali from the US that told me the wonders of it…. Macronutrients, low GI, sustainable. I know you like sugar alternatives ypu can get it @ Whole Foods. Sweet Tree I think is the name. Just made some delish banana flax muffins. I can share this easy recipe with you that Lily loves! Have a great Summer!
I have heard of palm sugar but haven’t tried it yet. I’d love your recipe! I will have to look for it next time I’m at the grocery store. Thanks for the recommendation.
http://www.food.com/recipe/banana-flax-muffins-332699
These are the muffins, I sub whole wheat flour for the flour and palm sugar for the sugar….. I usually make a tray of mini muffins and 6 reg sized, even my hubby can’t get enough! (Try a little smear of a nut butter in the middle too!)
Sweet trees palm sugar in blonde is what I get @ Whole Foods. Here’s some good info about it:
http://www.bigtreefarms.com/big/
Good luck to you and keep enjoying your pregnancy! I’m now 4 days overdue…aye!
Thank you! I hope you’re going into labor as I type this! 🙂
The only thing that surprises me is how healthy you are eating as a pregnant lady! (No wonder you are the cutest pregnant person there ever was!) If I had it to do over again, things would be much different, but when I was pregnant my appetite was seriously out of control. Good work, Maryea!
Sometimes I feel like my appetite is out of control, too! I just hope my weight gain stays reasonable. 🙂
Hi Maryea! Thanks for posting this. I am hoping to become pregnant soon and already worry about how I will add additional calories while still eating healthy. It helps me to see what other “healthy mamas” eat!
I do have one question though. I see that you had stevia in your smoothie. I do like to sweeten foods and drinks with stevia but assumed I wouldn’t be able to do that when pregnant. Has your doctor given the ok for this?
Stevia is a natural sweetener, from the stevia plant. I haven’t specifically asked my doctor about it, but I think because it’s a natural sweetener it’s okay. Good luck with trying to conceive! 🙂
I was curious what info. there was on stevia and pregnancy so I looked it up. The American Pregnancy Association said, “The FDA deems Stevia as safe during pregnancy; it has been give the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) rating by the FDA.” (http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/artificialsweetner.htm) I have no idea why they have it listed on the artificial sweetener page, as it is not an artificial sweetener, but rather a natural sugar substitute.
From my last reply I also don’t want to imply that everything that’s natural is safe during pregnancy. There are plenty of natural herbs and foods that are not safe during pregnancy. I regarded stevia as safe as I’d never seen it on an “unsafe” list and it wasn’t on the list of unsafe foods my doctor gave me. You should check with your own doctor, though! Good luck again! 🙂
Oh great, thank you for the info and link! I had just heard it was one of the “unsafe” herbs, but honestly I think people are just scared of stevia because in the U.S. it has been put under that artificial sweetener umbrella. I’ll double check with my doc too if (when!) I actually need to know for sure. 🙂
I think it’s great that you did this! I remember there were days where I would have 3 meals 3 snacks, dessert..and still go to bed with my stomach growling. My thought is, if your hungry, satisfy your hunger..because the baby is most likely wanting it too. You now pounding a double pounder or friend chicken, you are eating whole natural fresh meals 🙂 I think your doing a great job! And your active too! So it all works out!
Thank you, Ari. I appreciate your kind words. 🙂
That dinner is 700+ calories? That surprises me. Everything looks really good though.
Hi Maryea – I think your day of eats looks perfectly reasonable. I never keep track of calories because 1) I know it would be a lot more than I “should” be consuming (according to charts), and 2) it’s too much work. To lose weight, I need to consume around 1700 calories a day and that really isn’t that much, especially when you workout almost every single day. I figure it all balances out in the end – some days you eat more, others less.
I loved this post! And I love that you recognize wanting to eat enough even if it seems more than the average recommendation. You know I relate to that one. 🙂
Everything looks healthy to me. And like you said, I’m sure the iron levels balance out.
Very interesting post! I loved seeing how you eat and I love that it’s so similar to how I eat, although most days I have a bunch of smaller snacks and not big meals. Which can be good and bad, haha. I think you’re doing great. You can’t be perfect with every aspect of your diet every day, and like you mentioned with iron, at least a multi helps, and your intake changes every day.
And I know exactly what you mean about calories. I can eat so many more calories than I see is recommended for my age/height/weight. After my daughter I tried to restrict my diet down to as many calories as a calculator said I should eat to lose weight and there was no way that was happening!
I can’t figure out who those recommendations are made for! I would be starving all the time if I ate that little (pregnant or not!).
I agree! If I only eat the recommended amount I’m starving the entire day which is a horrible feeling. It zaps all my energy. I think that might be related to why some people are constantly tired.
You are so educated on what will make you and this baby BOY healthy! … Looks like a very balanced day and I appreciate all the work you put into this post, the pictures, the nutritional info, and breakdown. It would be a lot of work! ….If the dr ever asks you what you’ve been eating you need to reply ‘Check out my blog!’ HA! 🙂
Getting in a 70 g of protein seems challenging but I think as long as it was a conscious effort, it could be done easily.
Again, thanks and great work! 🙂
It was a lot of work. So glad I don’t have to do that everyday! 🙂
I think you are doing a great job on eating. Everything you are eating is unprocessed & natural. When you are hungry you are making good choices and that makes all the difference in the world 🙂 Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing. All those food pics are making me hungry. Except I’m not preggo and trying to loose those pesky preggo pounds 🙂
I’ll be in your shoes soon enough! 🙂
Hi! new reader here. 🙂
I think you are doing a great job with your eats and bet your baby will be as healthy as ever. Congrats and good luck on your pregnancy!! xoxo
Welcome and thanks, Kristi! 🙂