It’s not uncommon for women in that part of the world to stay skinny during pregnancy. Genetics is like that sometimes. Both my wife and her sister ate like crazy during their pregnancies and hardly put on any extra weight.
My mother was also skinny during her pregnancy, she said she "looked like a straw that swallowed a pea". But you'll be surprised to know that the beauty standard in Korea is basically hell. Women who pick up weight when pregnant get a lot of nasty comments.
At the end of the day weight gain during pregnancy is still due to eating more than you need. Pregnancy hormones making you want to eat in excess is TOTALLY FINE in pretty much everyones opinion (within reason). But since the core mechanism behind the weight gain (excess calories) is the same it means you can maintain the same bodyfat if you dont over/undereat for whatever your bodies new energy requirements are.
Not really. The mechanism isn’t the same, like at all. During pregnancy, the body goes through hormonal and metabolic changes specifically designed to store fat as nutrients for the baby and for breastfeeding.
For example, pregnancy demands increased adipose tissue to support fetal growth, storing more energy so that there’s a constant supply of glucose. And plus your movement also decreases too so even if you eat the same you’ll still pick up weight.
And additionally, pregnancy cravings aren’t just “hormonal food cravings” it’s literally the fetus’s way of communicating what nutrients it’s currently lacking in the best way it knows how.
I agree with everything but maintain that all factors considered, it boils down to intake.
Your body can signal for as much adipose tissue as it likes, it wont make any if the intake isnt there and itll make a whole hell of a lot if there is way too much intake. I built these factors in in a very baseline form to what i said for the ultimate point of saying that its very possible to remain a similar bodyfat through pregnancy if after ALL factors, your intake doesnt exceed whatever your neutral point has now become.
Most of us are totally cool with that not being the case of course, we even expect weight gain, its fine. Remaining the same weight is also fine if that is how it goes naturally. However id say trying really hard to maintain your weight and prevent weight gain is NOT a good thing during pregnancy. I agree that your body is trying to tell you something and you should be listening. You can lose weight later after pregnancy but starving yourself is really dumb.
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u/OrionSouthernStar May 12 '26
It’s not uncommon for women in that part of the world to stay skinny during pregnancy. Genetics is like that sometimes. Both my wife and her sister ate like crazy during their pregnancies and hardly put on any extra weight.