Hey guys I really need some advice. I am a 27 year old mother of 3. I currently weigh 250. I am having trouble sticking to a diet plan. My husband and I have decided to have another baby. I am really concerned about my weight. I weigh the same as i did at 9 mo with my youngest daughter. I cant weigh 300 lbs and I am scared if I get pregnant I will. I just cant be any further away from my goal than now. Does anyone have any advice about dieting and pregnancy. I know it is a really touchy thing. I am not talking about any kind of crazy crash dieting, just trying to be healty and getting some exercise in. I just dont know what to do. I would like to loose like 40 lbs before I get pregnant, but we r gonna start trying next month and that isnt realistic. I really need some advice. Is it safe to lose weight while pregnant or at least maintain? Is it safe to start a new fitness/diet plan while pregnant? Is this even possible or do I have to choose between 300 lbs and a baby. Please help! I could really use some advice!
I can tell you that with my most recent and last pregnancy, I reached that weight. I ended up with a 8lb 13 oz baby and about 4 days after I got out of the hospital, I ended up in the ER with super high blood pressure and my heart rate would not rise above 45bpm. I was in the hospital without my baby boy for 3 days while they tested and tested to make sure I did not have a heart attack. I could not breast feed because they had me on Lasix-I ended up losing 30lbs of excess fluid and I was still holding some. Unfortunately my milk-which I had always had trouble producing with my other 2, but with this one had been excellent-did not come back in full. After a month, we had to switch to all formula.
I'm not telling you all this to scare you or attempt to put you off having more children. I'm just saying that you need to make sure you are healthy enough so that your baby can be healthy.
I'm only 7 years older than you, btw.
Good luck sweetie!
There's your problem right there! Unfortunately it can't be a "diet" or it won't work for the long haul. A lifestyle change is what's going to work for you. Start by making small changes in your diet that you can live with, and as those become habits, add more small changes. For instance, drink diet soda instead of regular, and once it's a habit, switch to crystal light instead of diet soda... the goal with that one is to eventually get to water Do the same thing with eating and exercise.
My sister lost weight while she was pregnant! She wasn't on a diet though, she just craved fruits and veggies constantly. Maybe talk to your doctor. I'm sure you already know this but it's probably a much better idea that you lose weight before getting pregnant again, or you'll have a higher risk of developing gestational diabetes, which can cause health problems for your kiddo.
There's also a pregnancy forum on here somewhere. I'm sure they'd have much better advice.
you can reduce your portions and exercise through the whole pregnancy. the difference is later into it, its a lower intensity, and if you are used to lifting heavier wts, they need to be lighter. with women who are already overweight, or more(i'm obese too) its possible to maintain. i wish i could give a more detailed answer.
just start small. try to improve 1 thing a day. take a short walk each day. march or dance inside. any increase in movement counts! you can do this!
Personally, I'd be where I need to be before trying. I don't know if you have a particular reason you plan to start trying next month, but I'd suggest waiting. I've never been pregnant, but I'm losing weight now because I am not going to be unhealthily pregnant and many people around me (friends and family) have had awful experiences and complications due to being so overweight/unhealthy when conceiving.
Well, I am in your position you are pondering right now. In 2006 I became pregnant with my first boy (I was 20) and I weight 190lbs (about 30lbs overweight, but I didn't mind much). My son was born in 2007. I became pregnant again and my second son was born in 2008. I gained a lot of weight between the two pregnancies (I weighted 270). I could not shake my baby weight no matter what. I am now currently 6 months pregnant (I am due in January), but it has been a hard road. I developed high blood pressure during this pregnancy (due to being so overweight) and am having to take medication and my doctor says it is a strong possibility the baby may have to be born early to prevent me suffering a stroke (YES A stroke at 25!). I would def. say you should try and lose the 40lbs you are wanting to lose before you have your 3rd baby. It would be in both yours and you baby's best health interest.
However, if you do become pregant before you lose the weight (as I did) it is ok to maintain and even lose a small bit of weight during the pregnancy so says my doctor, but not by dieting. Try eating fish (watch out, there are certain ones you should avoid while pregnant) and lots of veggies. I also walk 2 miles on a treadmill each day (once in the am and once in the pm). My doctor recomended I gain 11-20lbs if I gain at all. Well, when I found out i was pregnant I weight 280, I now weight 285 and the doctor said I have probably actually lost weight, but the baby is growing and so the 5 pounds is from the baby. If I had to to it agian, I would get rid of all my past baby weight before I got pregant this 3rd time, but if you do become pregnant just work with your doctor and eat healthy and move your body. Good luck to you sweetpea!!
I've never been pregnant, but I woudn't do it yet. I would lose weight first at least half of the weight you need to be healthy. You have to worry about yourself before you worry about another. You have this one right now that needs you, imagine you got pregnant and complications during birth #2 and both children are motherless now and you never got that chance because you didn't want to wait. Take care of you so you can take care of your children.
I think you can definitely work on eating healthfully and possibly maintaining or have a small gain during pregnancy. If you are otherwise healthy, I don't think I would let it stop me...I was about 200 for my first pregnancy and 230 for my second, and both my kids are completely healthy...I did gain way more than I wanted to but it was because my eating plan was basically whatever looked good. If you start out at 250 you don't need to gain a lot of weight during pregnancy at all to have a healthy baby. I understand timing if you are thinking of age differences and such...anyways like I said as long as you are healthy otherwise, I would TTC when you feel like it's time for you and work on having a very healthy pregnancy. Hope you don't mind me posting here, I'm 32 but I saw your post so thought I'd respond! Good luck!
Last edited by sept15lija; 09-17-2010 at 03:00 PM.
I would just like to say, that if your history has been to gain a lot while pregnant, it will most likely happen again.
I have three kids, and my weight went up after every one of them. My third pregnancy (I was 200ish when I got pg) ended up with me on Aldomet for high blood pressure, an early C-section due to threatened pre-eclampsia, my kidneys were not functioning properly, blood/protein in my urine, twice weekly visits to the ObGYN, and I was on bedrest for 3 months. Not fun.
If you can lose just 10% of your weight before pregnancy, it can make a big difference. I would try to diet maybe the rest of the year, and make "baby making" your new year's resolution. Having been there myself, I wish I would have had a healthier 3rd pregnancy.
Set a goal weight for trying to conceive, and once you get there, get busy, lol!
I'm going to be VERY BLUNT and I hope I don't hurt you or anyone else here. But I studied a lot and talked to several nutritionists while pregnant with my three babies and a doctor.
FIRST: you need to talk to your OB about this BEFORE attempting to get pregnant
SECONDLY: you need to LOSE THE WEIGHT FIRST. Your priorities are really skewed up right now. Don't even think about what you look like as a reason to lose weight, but think about the baby you want to have. How healthy do you want your baby to be? Because right now, with your dieting problems, you're setting your baby up to have health problems too. Don't think your baby's development is immune to your poor nutrition and your obesity problem
You'll be HURTING the baby to purposefully get pregnant when your weight is out of control. It effects your blood sugar, the nutrition the baby gets, and a LOT of other things. For both YOU and the baby, you need to get your body under control for like the next year, and get healthier BEFORE you conceive the baby.
I personally think its a selfish decision to get pregnant when you've chosen not to be in a position to SAFELY care for the baby while its in your womb. If you get pregnant next month, your body isn't a safe or healthy place for your baby to develop. Do you want to put YOUR BABY in an UNSAFE place? Or do you want to wait, make YOUR WOMB a safe and healthy place for the baby to be? For my own babies, I wanted to make it as safe and possible as could be.
I know this from experience, I was only 20 lbs lighter when I started my third pregnancy than my second and my third pregnancy was MUCH safer and healthier, and I tested my blood sugar constantly it was so much easier to maintain healthy numbers simply because I didn't have the extra fat to begin with. The change was remarkable.
Talk to your doctor, Talk to a nutritionist. I've read countless number of articles about this throughout my pregnancies and I'm acutely aware of the body chemistry. Even just losing 30-40 lbs first can make your next baby SO much SAFER and HEALTHIER. (I'm talking about LIFETIME benefits here too, think "short-term sacrifices" in getting yourself healthy first = "longterm" and LIFELONG benefits for your child)
Please talk to your doctor. Your baby's health needs to be a higher priority than your emotional desire to have a baby ASAP. Seriously. Consider your priorities, what's more important to you?
Also, rewarding yourself with "getting to have a baby" after losing x-amount of weight and adding healthy food to your lifestyle might be the motivation you need to kick your backside into shape and take it seriously. Think to yourself "I'm not eating this spinach to lose weight, I'm eating this spinach so I can create a healthier and cleaner and SAFER environment to care for the new baby I'm going to conceive!"
You want a healthy baby? Give yourself a healthy body to care for it in. And its not going to revolutionize and change within a month. Trust me on that one.....
Most obese people are severely malnutritioned. Its a fact. Don't focus on cutting things out of your diet, focus on adding healthy food TO your diet, and then the unhealthy stuff will gradually be eliminated over time.
Dont know what to do.
Do the same thing with eating and exercise. 
