Morning sickness - diet and exercise

So finding myself suprisingly pregnant with No 3, I have the dreaded morning sickness again. Normally, I am quite strict about what I eat (no sugar, no carbs Mon to Friday (mostly) and I exercise 3-4 times a week. No before you start thinking that I am some kind of superwoman, you should know that I am at present 30kg over my goal weight (which is actually above what my ideal BMI would be).

So, I'm feeling pretty bummed that I have lost virtually none of the weight I put on with DS2 and now am pregnant with No 3 and I already look like a whale.

Anyway, the point of my post is: do you push through the morning sickness or do you give in?

Firstly, exercise: getting vertical makes me feel sicker, anything involving movement makes me feel sicker. I COULD do a light workout at the gym but I would feel really really sick for the rest of the day. Would/did/do you still exercise?

Secondly, food: I pretty much only feel normal if I am putting something in my mouth, preferably carbs with fat (so no carrot sticks aren't going to cut it). Cheese and crackers, butter on toast, hot chips, cheeseburger. I am trying to be somewhat restrained but really my diet is terrible at the moment. Should I make more of an effort to eat less and more healthily? Again, it is something that I COULD do but the trade off would be much worse morning sickness. What did/do/would you do?

I do what I can do and don't push myself beyond that. The few days I've had where I've just HAD to have a physical day have resulted in me spending the next two days in bed. I've simply not been able to exercise and have struggled from day 1 to have any energy to do anything at all.

As for food, all three of my long term pregnancies have been based on a diet of Red Rooster chips. I usually love chocolate but can't stomach it when pregnant so that's a bonus, but otherwise my diet is extremely hit and miss. I've tried healthier food but if I'm not actually craving it, then I usually either can't physically swallow it or if I do get it down then I lose it anyway. I've started making lots of vegetable based soups so that throughout the day if I feel a little better I can try to eat half a cup or so in the hope that I'll at least get a decent amount of vegies.

I really believe you need to listen to your body. If lots of carbs help you feel a bit better and give you a bit of energy to deal with your pregnancy and your little men, then eat them. I'm not sure how far along you are, but with any luck you'll start feeling better soon(ish) anyway, and then you can reassess what you can do.

Hi Bloom, Im in the throws of some pretty nasty m/s at the moment so I think I can answer this. If it were me, I would skip the exercise because you said it will make you feel sick for the rest of the day. I feel sick (vomiting and nausea all day) and there is NO WAY I would choose to feel this way if I had a choice. Im hardly able to look after my boys as it is, if I were you Id rather keep as well as I could because then you may be able to make better food choices and still be active during the day (rather than laid up in bed like me).

Secondly, if you are feeling ok, then try to eat healthily, but if your m/s is pretty bad (or worsening) then out of necessity you may need to simply give in to what your body wants to eat.

At the end of the day its all about how you are feeling. I would love to eat healthily and exercise but that would be simply impossible atm, but if you can do it, and you want to do it, and your m/s is bearable, then go for it.

Hi Bloom,

I agree with the girls as well... Your body is telling what it is wanting when you have 'cravings' so I would say eat healthy when you can and eat what your body is telling you it needs. As for exercise in the beginning before ms hit really bad id walk with DD for about 40mins, that lasted 3 weeks! Now I barely have enough energy to last the day, working 5 days a week in CHILD CARE (my gosh I must be crazy right now) plus DH and DD to look after, no way could I do it... If I were you with your little darlings I dont know how I could do it... When you are feeling better than you can start again, slowly of course.

Best of luck, really hope the morning sickness starts to ease for you!! :D

Blimey, congrats!

Exercise - I don't. I worked out [late] last pregnancy that exercise made me far far worse, so this time I have totally given it up. It's not worth it. (BUT I eat a lot less in the first tri)

Diet - can you can the fat and try for carbs and protein instead? Just to steady it out a little? Also, I have definitely found that getting vegies in, by hook or by crook, makes a big difference.

Fingers crossed that you make it through - without too big a blowout.