The illusive pregnancy glow

I ran into a friend this morning who doesn’t know I’m pregnant. The first thing she said to me was “Wow, you look fantastic.” I suddenly realised she’s the 4^th person who’s said that to me in the past week. I wonder if the pregnancy glow has kicked in and I just didn’t realise it. It would make sense – while people might be noticing the glow on the outside, I’m noticing the distinct lack of it on the inside.

The pregnancy glow is apparently caused by the increased levels of progesterone and extra blood circulating through your body. I guess that’s one of the perks about being pregnant – you radiate! I know I’ve seen it in other women when they’re pregnant, and have even guessed pregnancy was the cause when they hadn’t announced it. I wonder if they felt as “un-glowingly” on the inside as I do.

It’s interesting that the body can mask the truth so well. While these friends note how supposedly fantastic I look on the outside, they have no idea that on the inside I am trying not to vomit, am struggling with exhaustion and basically feel crappy. I guess that’s why I’ve been so surprised to hear, knowing that my insides don’t match my outsides.

On the bright side, I was brave enough to weigh myself yesterday and expected to have put on one to two kilos after over-indulging in ice-cream and chocolate in the past week. Nope, I’d lost weight again. I told my husband and he was a little worried. Like me, he expected that I would be gaining by now but I guess my metabolism has other plans.

For a moment, I considered if I should be worried. But then I thought about what I eat on an average day. The below is an accurate description of my diet for the past few weeks.

7am – Porridge with banana and passionfruit

9:30am – Coffee with homemade banana muffin (low fat!)

10am – 1 can of lemonade if I’m feeling nauseous

11am – Lunch – normally dinner leftovers of meat and veges

1pm – 2 crackers with low-fat cheese

3pm – Handful of nuts

4pm – Low-fat yoghurt with cereal

7pm – Dinner – some kind of protein and veges

8pm – 2 mini chocolate bars

2am-5am – 1 apple bar (depending when I wake up hungry).

When I look at all of that, I’m certainly not starving myself. All the guides say you only need an extra 300 calories when you’re pregnant and I’m certainly consuming more than that. But I think I’m making healthy food choices and letting myself have my little chocolate treat. I admit, I did go overboard in my ice-cream week, but I quickly got over it and am not interested in it anymore. To be honest, I’m getting over the chocolate too and am really just eating it because it’s there.

I’m just amazed that at 11.5 weeks pregnant, I weigh less than I did when I first found out I was pregnant. I thought it was more good luck than good management, but I’m starting to realise good management has played a part too, along with a fast metabolism!  For now, I’m happy knowing I’m eating sensibly and making sure Sticky has all the nutrients she needs to grow big and strong. 

Actually, maybe it's just the fact I'm deliriously happy about the fact I haven't put on weight that's giving me the glow. Whatever the reason, there's clearly some external factor that people are starting to pick up on. I'm now just waiting for my insides to catch up to my outside! 

Image courtesy of www.freedigitalimages.net