Bethany Frankel vs. Valerie Berkowitz (part II)

I want all the hungry women who have gained more weight than Bethany Frankel did when she was pregnant to know that it’s not the end of the world. You can lose the excess weight but it may just take a little longer. Yes, when it comes to weight loss, we all want to lose more weight faster but if you can get over this attitude it will be a much easier journey.
Here’s my story:
I’m having my 4th and last child in 2 days! I have a lot of weight to lose, there is no disputing this. I’ll try to post a picture (I’m not the most technical tool in the shed so my picture posting is limited). I am not someone who has 30 pounds to lose and is complaining about how fat my butt looks.  My butt, belly and everything else is huge. Some people barely recognize me.
Why? How does this happen to a nutritionist, who is in pretty good shape? Quite frankly, I’m just not sure of the underlying reason, yet it’s likely due to hormones. Just after 4 weeks of being pregnant, my body demanded eating every couple of hours. Celery sticks did not work. I had to eat at least ½ a sandwich as a snack between meals to feel full. I could not tolerate water but wanted milk or juice (of course I diluted the juice with water). So without binging on high calorie, high fat foods (like cake cookies and ice cream) my calorie level rose quickly. I was nauseous if tried to cut the calories my body craved. I was so sick I could not get to the gym.
So my calorie level increased my activity level dropped and my weight skyrocketed.  Would I call this binging, well maybe but it certainly was not willful. If I have to gain so much weight, I would like to blame it on the enjoyment of sinful pleasures like Haagen Dazs and cheesecake (like Bethany explains) but I can’t. Through much of my first and second trimester, I struggled with a mix of internal hunger and insanity.
Here’s just a little peek of my pregnancy experience.  Let me just preface this by saying I am typically someone who does not crave or think that much about food. I can work through lunch without getting hungry. Yet, while pregnant and after eating all day (3 small meals and snacks), I fall asleep by 8-9 pm.  Sometime between midnight and 3 AM I wake-up hungry. I sit in bed trying to watch TV or read anything to ignore my body. After an hour or so I lose the battle. The nausea starts and within the half hour I get sick only to be alleviated by eating. Once I have eaten something, cottage cheese and fruit or a hard boiled egg, I fall back to sleep around 6 AM.
And Bethany, I love you and have enjoyed watching your growing success but before making these general statements please realize that there are a large (no pun intended) group of women, just like me, who need positive reinforcement because their weight gain during pregnancy was not similar to your experience.
I’d like to hear from anyone who has had similar experiences. But I will blog from, time to time, about what I do to shed the excess weight.