Pregnancy and overweight

[oolala53]

Rant alert!!

I listened to a local public radio show today on overweight, obesity, and pregnancy. I was shocked to hear that 20% of the women who have babies in the San Diego area where I live weigh at least 250 lbs.! The incidence of difficulties for women even with a BMI of 30, and for most women that would be under 250 lbs., goes way up. They did not say the ages of the women but I can only guess they must be 35 and younger.

I did not have children and have had a bad bingeing problem that escalated over the last 40 years. I've often wondered what I would have done if I had gotten pregnant, meaning would I have been able to curb my crazy eating. I know one thing, unfortunately; I would probably very much have resisted even my doctor telling me to stop eating my problem foods. Terrible to say, but that is how strong the connection was. (The featured doctor said he tells patients- prospective mothers AND their partners- to stop eating fast food, potato chips, and sweets. Period. I wonder how many do and how many don't and end up eating more out of anxiety?) I've been trying for 6 months to motivate myself to not be an idiot on S days partly as a way of trying to be an example of doing what's right (getting to my highest allowable weight on the BMI chart, which I accept is flawed, but I can't claim lots of muscle or any of the other reasons people pooh pooh it), but have not been able to do it. I'm still 19 lbs. away and not ready to count calories, either.

I know on another mostly female weight loss site I'm active on that many women believe they should not try to lose weight while pregnant. The featured speaker today disagreed. He said there was great benefit to it, but I can also imagine he wouldn't tell a woman to go on a 1,200 calorie a day diet. I can't imagine that MOST pregnant 250-lb. women would end up NOT losing weight on No S. I also can't believe how many women who have delivered in the past 20 years talk about feeling that they could relax about their eating while pregnant. I knew even 40 years ago that it was a myth that you needed to eat for two. You are eating for two, but not two grown humans!

This frightens me very much, though, for the health of the women and the children in our country. The featured obstetrician said he recommends that a woman be in her normal BMI range before she gets pregnant. Do women know this? Would it matter? I was not obese until close to the end of my childbearing years and then only for a short time, but I've been overweight for most of my adult life. I was never even trying to get pregnant. I don't remember my doctors bringing up the connection between high weight and difficult pregnancies, but then again, I'm sure I knew it wouldn't be good to be pregnant and heavy. In fact, I imagined that if I got pregnant, I would choose to cut the crap because of my obligation to the baby. But we'll never know. And I know it's very easy to judge from the outside.

I'm sure doctors do mention these things, but some of the doctors interviewed for the piece said that they have had many patients change doctors when they brought up weight issues. It is such a personal issue, even though it affects more than the individual. In fact, some books I've read on bingeing issues have advised women who show no other problem signs such as high blood pressure or high blood sugar to quit seeing any doctor who made an issue of her weight.

I also know one of my friends is a male doctor who's officially obese and has been at least overweight for decades. I would have used that as an excuse not to listen to him, were he my doctor. And I would have thought a thin doctor didn't understand me!

I'm not even sure this is the place to post about this, but I just keep thinking that No S is one of the best bets for sanity in eating, esp. combined with cool-headed but consistent education about the wisdom of eating mostly unprocessed foods.

I also know that if we try to "guilt" women over this, it won't work. If guilt worked, most of us--especially women--would eat all the right foods and be thin. There is definitely an issue of building character and ultimate personal responsibility in the pursuit of moderate eating and weight loss, but guilt hasn't been shown to be a successful motivator.

I don't know what the answer it, but it is damn scary. And if we leave it up just to individuals to fight against the food industry, cultural attachment to too much food, and the backlash of women's body hatred, it will be pretty much a wash. IMHO

[clarinetgal]

I can certainly understand some of your feelings. I was at a normal weight when I got pregnant with my son about 3 years ago (he'll be 3 in October!), and I ended up gaining 52 pounds. I ate some pretty good things like fruits and carrot sticks, but I also ate a lot of crud. I never got anything like high blood pressure, pre eclampsia, gestational diabetes, etc... because I was healthy when I got pregnant, and I exercised my whole pregnancy.
If I get pregant again (which I want to do soon), I will eat much healthier this time around. Yes, I got my baby weight off, but it took a LOT of work! I'll definitely try to stay within the 25-35 pound weight gain range next time around.