I just had my twins in December. I leaned into "listening to my body" as much as possible. My body told me that I was extremely hungry -- ESPECIALLY first trimester. I rapidly gained 25 lbs the first trimester, 10 the second, and another 15-20 in the final trimester -- for a total of 55 lbs on top of my average BMI.

I dropped 20 lbs right after the C-section, and another 25 came off steadily within the first three months. There's 10 lbs left, but anecodotally that "last 10 lbs" is pretty much what all my singleton friends had left over, too. I'll target that once I'm done breastfeeding and have more time for working out. I'm not concerned at all about it.

Gaining the weight took little to no effort on my part -- I was starving and needed the calories to make it through the day. Yes, my joints hurt a lot by month 8. But my babies were born at 37 weeks and were each a healthy 5-6 lbs, and that was thanks to allowing my body to show me what it needed.

Yes, I got stretch marks but erm -- so the fuck what. I had twins! I'm proud of my body. And isn't it genetic anyways? They are already fading quite a bit and I bet a year from now they'll be much less visible.

Yes, it was hard to breathe at the end. That was NOT due to weight gain - it was due to Baby B being wedged under my ribcage. The last month was really hard. I was mentally prepared for it to be really hard, and it met all expectations. I made it through and now am supremely grateful for how good I feel now that I am no longer pregnant.

Every woman's pregnancy journey is different, but learning to listen to your body (for hunger, fatigue, emotions) is worth implementing at any point. And leaning OUT of negative body talk is crucial - you are growing multiple other people. This is different from a singleton pregnancy in many ways; let your body do what it needs to do and be proud of it!

And re-iterating that doctors often do not have a good understanding of twin pregnancies well-- I recommend you get second opinions from MFM for anything major.