They say during pregnancy, you only need to eat an additional 150-300 calories per day. That’s it!

To which I say, 150 MY ASS! Obviously, the same goes for 300. I want to know who “THEY” are, anyway? More importantly, have “they” been pregnant?

Now I know every pregnancy and woman is different — my sister in law, who is a lean mean fat burning machine {seriously, People, her abs … oh, her abs … and her Zumba class? Could hardly make it ten minutes.} gained almost 50 pounds with both The Littles.

She was downright ravenous the entire time. As she said, she felt her body needed those extra calories. Hers were probably on the higher end, than say, one of my dear friends, who had a hard time eating an additional cracker a day, let alone 150-300 of any calories.

I’m willing to bet, taking the average preggo, that more than 300 calories {after the first trimester} are being consumed. Clearly I’m using me as you’re average preggo so I’m hoping I represent a good “average”.

Yes, I had a hard time eating the first four months. My appetite did not increase and I was pretty much at my same level of caloric consumption. Fast forward to this last trimester and wow — I have needed the extra intake and I know it’s more than 300 calories a day. If you think about it, 300 calories is hardly much to eat! Or is this my preggo self saying that?

The more this kid grows, the more I feel the need to eat. It’s a hunger that cannot be denied.

So there. That’s my rant on the claim that us knocked up gals only need an extra 150-300 a day. That’s ridiculous. I mean, yes, it’s not good to go out and stuff your face with McDonald’s every day, but we shouldn’t feel bad for eating more. Which was the point I was trying to get at — there’s so much out there that I’ve been bombarded with about not eating too much while pregnant.

This dances a thin line of communicating to women to not get fat. Of course it’s important to stay and be healthy during pregnancy, but I see this more as the whole body image thing that portrayed in the media of slim pregnant women. Not everyone who gains a considerable amount of baby weight is unhealthy and it’s just not all that positive of a message.

Especially during such a delicate time that pregnancy is for us gals.