Week 20 Twin Pregnancy Journey: Let's Talk Calories

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Week 20 Twin Pregnancy Journey

The Week 20 Twin Pregnancy Journey brings us to an exciting point: the 20 week detailed ultrasound! I also go deep about calories and eating during a twin pregnancy.

Though we’ve had a few quick ultrasounds so far (such as the early dating ultrasound where they told us it was twins!), this one took 1.5 hours. It was so neat to see them squiggling around in my belly, and to barely feel it. Both babies measured bigger than average, at 0.85lbs for baby A and 0.93lbs for baby B. Whew! I guess all that eating has paid off.

Speaking of eating…

I’ve been following the diet plan laid out in Dr. Barbara Luke’s “Expecting Twins, Triples or Quadruples”, which heavily encourages a high caloric diet. It has some great tips, but I do take them with a grain of salt. For example, it says to eat 3,500 calories a day for twins.

We all know, however, that no two women are the same. Some may have pre-pregnancy needs of 2,200 calories, as she states in the book,. However, my needs based on height/weight/activity level/etc. work out to ~1,850 calories. Not only that, but most experts agree that you need an extra 300 cals/day/baby in the 2nd trimester, and 450 in the 3rd, versus her blanket recommendation of an extra 1,300/day. That puts me at around 2,450 calories in the 2nd trimester and 2,750 in the 3rd. Which, granted, is pretty awesome, but it’s no 3,500 calories.

She also claims that gaining +25lbs by the 20wk mark is strongly correlated to both increased birth weight and delayed prematurity, and that gaining it prior to 20 weeks is far more beneficial than after 20 weeks. Something that I can do to increase the chances of healthy, full-term babies? Pass me that second plate!

I have to say though, it’s an odd feeling leaning into a high calorie diet. It’s entirely opposite to everything you’ve been told your entire life. Of course, I love indulging…but the guilt is hard to let go of.

So where did I end up?

I started tracking everything I eat via the My Fitness Pal app. The net result? I’ve been consuming an average of 2,600 cals/day, and at my 20 week checkup was up +19lbs. This is less than Dr. Luke’s recommendation of 3,500, and I didn’t hit her recommended +25lb gain. Yet it was higher than my calculation of 2,450 based on my pre-pregnancy caloric needs.

Overall, I’m happy with it. I believe the rules set out in the book can help avoid prematurity with multiples, and that the recommendations are backed up with extensive research and studies. I’m very happy to have read it, and have garnered some excellent tips from it I believe will help my babies grow.

I also believe that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for everyone, so my goal was to follow her tips to an 80% mark. I’m a questioner vs. a blind rule follower, usually looking for the rationale and making my own fact-based decision. My own OB didn’t seem to agree with all of Dr. Luke’s recommendations, saying you should instead eat what your body tells you it needs, and not force food in. So I’ve found a place in between, and (fortunately or unfortunately) my appetite seems to have caught up.

Top 10 Essentials to Thrive in Your Twin Pregnancy

Symptoms

Symptoms: Little jabs and kicks, which are adorable and make me smile. Hunger is big enough now that eating the right number of calories is no longer a challenge. Though…what does that have in store for the future of the pregnancy if appetite continues to rise?? In my singleton, my appetite grew bigger every month, and never decreased when my belly ran out of room, as many women claim it does.

Babies are each the size of: Mangoes (17cm)

Belly size in singleton weeks: 26 weeks

Week 20 Twin Pregnancy Journey: Let’s Talk Calories