Pregnant - Nursing Diet support for the pregnant or nursing chick!

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Old 03-21-2005, 01:46 PM   #1  
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My husband and I are considering having a child. I am 35, and about 85 pounds overweight. My parents are both diabetic as well as my 2 older brothers. So far, I check out to be healthy with the exception of all the extra weight.

In your expereinces, what concerns are you or have you faced in your pregnancies in regard to weight? Do you recommend I lose a significant amount of weight before trying to conceive?
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Old 03-21-2005, 04:40 PM   #2  
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Hard to say. Age can impact fertility, and so can weight. So it's a question of how much more time you want to take before you start TTC.

I was, hmm, 100 pounds overweight when I got pregnant with my first. I have PCOS (mild version, thank God), which negatively impacts weight & fertility both, so even though I was trying to get pregnant I was pretty surprised when I did!

Statistically speaking, overweight women have higher incidences of gestational diabetes & preeclampsia (and first-time moms also have higher incidences of preeclampsia). I had problems only with preeclampsia with my first, and there are things you can do once pregnant to help ward that off, like the Brewer Diet. (Note: that's a way of eating during pregnancy, not a weight-loss method.)

Your number one priority if you are overweight and pregnant is, IMO, to find a doctor or a midwife who will not ride you about your weight. Sometimes overweight women gain weight while pregnant, sometimes they do not. The truth is, your baby will take from your body what it needs, and you will get what is leftover. About the last thing you need to be obsessing over while pregnant is if you're gaining "right." I have seen otherwise intelligent and confident women turned into little puddles of goo over this question. And I hate it.

Some overweight (or even previously overweight) women have serious mental issues with gaining weight during pregnancy, or with even just their tummies getting bigger. IMO, that's something for you to consider when you're thinking about trying to conceive. Pregnancy is a very stressful time to begin with (and our modern medical establishment is good at exacerbating that).

There is some evidence that being overweight leads to higher incidences of interventions like c-sections, but my gut feeling is that finding a good professional to take care of you during pregnancy is the best way to help head off a section. (The section rate in the US is around 30%, compared to 10% or 15% in much of the rest of the world.) There is no evidence that being overweight leads to bigger babies, and I haven't heard of any suggestion that it affects nursing potential either. Though you will play **** finding maternity clothes in the stores. The fashion industry doesn't like to think of us fat girls having sex, much less getting preggers.
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Old 03-21-2005, 05:00 PM   #3  
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togger .. I am in your situation. I will be 35 this May. I just had my son last month. Look at my signature - I am 100 lbs over weight - I'm only 5 feet tall.
Pregnancy could be dangerous for anyone. I watched my weight, did small amounts of exercise, got plently of rest, and tried to lead a stress free life.
For me... having a newborn is harder on my body then being pregnant!

Good luck to you... you are not getting any younger.
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Old 03-21-2005, 05:18 PM   #4  
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I wouldn't bother losing weight to get pg unless you were planning to get pg later anyway. A good site is Plus-Size Pregnancy.

I agree with finding a good dr that isn't fat phobic. I also agree with the brewer diet altho I'm probably not getting enough calories according to it.

Last pg I was over 270 to start and I had an uneventful pg except for a gallbladder attack.

Looks like you are going to be high risk for GD. While GD is a pita it doesn't mean the pg won't go well.

Good luck and hope to see you joining us really soon!

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Old 03-22-2005, 03:02 PM   #5  
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I feel that of course it would be nice to be a healthy weight starting out, but not necessary. I was about 90 lbs. overweight at the beginning of my 2nd PG, and 85 at the beginning of my 1st. I had 2 very uneventful PGs and deliveries.

I actually switched from a 7 dr. practice to a MW at 23 wks. with my first, because they told me I shouldn't gain more than 20 lbs.! My MW told me as long as I gain slowly, she didn't care if I gained 40 lbs...or so. I ended up gaining 29 lbs. With my second, I had new MWs and they never even acknowledged my weight, except to say that they were happy at each weigh in. I got up to 16 lbs., then started losing in the last 6 wks. or so...ended up with a 9 lb. gain.
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Old 03-22-2005, 04:37 PM   #6  
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LBH, when my mother-in-law was pregnant with my husband, she was put on a 1,000-calorie-a-day diet and told not to gain any weight. And she was not overweight.
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Old 03-22-2005, 04:46 PM   #7  
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Isn't it amazing? Drs. were and sometimes still are insane!!
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Old 03-31-2005, 08:33 AM   #8  
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I had lost a lot of weight on Atkins before getting pregnant with my wonderful son. However as I was still about 100 lbs overweight I had a host of problems including chronic morning sickness (obese women are more likely to have this), chronic hypertension (my blood pressure was normal before pregnancy but the hypertension began to show up in the 4th month and I had to be medicated), and gestational diabetes. All of these things were attributed to my weight.

I lost weight through the entire pregnancy ( a total of over 10 lbs), had high ketones the whole time, and my son had to be taken by induction 4 weeks early due to intrauterine growth ******ation (he had stopped growing at around 29 weeks), which they blamed on my hypertension. He was okay and I would do it all over again but I am constantly looking for signs of damage that could have been done because of all of my problems. The amount of guilt that I felt while pregnant and since is hard to deal with. He seems healthy but I am still worried all of the time.

At my six week check up my doctor told me that to get pregnant again would be a mistake. Six months prior to getting pregnant with my son I had had a miscarriage and that is what had motivated me to lose weight before this pregnancy. My doctor said that with all of the problems I had had I was lucky that things turned out so well and that next time the chances of having a healthy baby were minimal.

That said , just do your best to take care of yourself and your baby. Force yourself to eat and take your vitamins and drink plenty of water. I also blame my son's and my health issues on a very stressful time at work. If you feel stressed don't be afraid to take time off. My doctor wanted to pull me out of work for a month as I was crying in her office about my boss' terrible treatment of me. I only stayed out for a week and the week I went back was the week my baby stopped growing. You and the baby are your first priority.

Good Luck
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