High BMI and TTC, don't want to wait

[ColleenEatsVeg]

hi ladies and lads. In the last three months my BMI went from 36 to 29 and with every pound coming off through diet and exercise ..I have become baby obsessed. Am I being unreasonable for wanting to get back to TTC seconds after my weight goes from being obese to overweight.

I mean I keep trying to tell myself to wait til I'm a "healthy weight range" (a weight i have never been in my adult life) but can't seem to turn off the baby programs on TV. This is harder than dieting and get do support from my DH he's as excited at the idea of a little one as I am. I just want to be pregnant now.

I think you know the answer yourself.

It's better to wait if you're going to plan a pregnancy.

Meant to say, well done on the loss so far!

Well done so far but as worraliberty says you need to get yourself into your optimum health before you TTC.
That includes smoking/drink/folic acid .You don't mention your age but that has a bearing too.
When you do get pg you might feel too rough in the first few weeks to excercise and your eating habits may go mad!!

I went from 10st 7lb to 8st 2lb before I had DS. I was 33 at the time and was really glad I did it before.
And don't forget it can make it harder to conceive if you are overweight.
Good luck.

Don't forget all the other risks like hypertension and gestational diabetes.

Hi Colleeneatsveg, a BMI of 29 should not be a hinderance to ttc. You are in the overweight category, as am I and I'm also ttc but according to my doctor its the waist measurement rather than BMI that counts, eat healthily, take your folic acid and good luck. Congrats on your loss so far thats fantastic

i was in morbid obesity when i conceived DD. i wanted a baby and was prepared for my weight to be a hindrance but was in "fat denial" iykwim. i took two months to conceive DD (two months from implant removal). On paper me and DH shouldn't be able to conceive, but we did. Frankly i feel everyone is doomed during pregnancy, either because your overweight or you drink too many diet drinks, or you don't eat enough nuts, (oh i forgot your not supposed to eat nuts). I think if you don't smoke or drink and take needless medication then you probably have as much chance as the rest of us.

I was 15 stone when I concieved ds and had a problem free pregnancy. And it is apparently now ok to eat nuts during pregnancy, breastfeeding, etc. Get your folic acid, cut drinking/smoking and see what happens

I was obese at conception (unplanned I might add), I had a fuck of a time self esteem wise, was constantly berated for being overweight during pregnancy, could die, complicate things etc etc. It ruined my pregnancy in part, and I would never ever fall pregnant when overweight again. Horrible

Depends how old you are really : if you're younger you could wait a bit but if you're in your thirties there may well be more health risk associated with waiting than with going for it.

In the absence of any known problem (PCOS etc) studies have found that fertility is decreased for obese women but not for overweight ones - the good range for fertility seems to be a BMI 21-29 ( see humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/2/324.full) so I wouldn't worry about that.From a fertility point of view overweight-but-not-obese seems to be better than very slim.

Remember also that BMI is a very poor evaluator of health for individuals - it was designed for studying populations because it's a good measure of what the average should be. But based on their body types/genetics/bone structure/muscles individuals will have very different ideal weights. An athlete with a naturally lrage frame and a lot of muscles (think rugby player) can be in peak physical condition with a BMI close to obese, someone with a tiny frame who does no sport can be putting their health at serious risk with with a BMI slightly in the overweight range. You know yourself whether you have a large/small frame, whether you are muscular etc. If you're doing a lot of exercise you ay be carrying quite a bit of muscle which will sway your BMI (muscle is heavier than fat) but is a good thing. I don't see why you would wait until you get down to the magic number 25 : for you, the beginning of the healthy range might be quite a bit higher than 25. There's study which found that about about 25% of people classified as obese are actually quite healthy at that weight - they just happen to have genetics that make them gravitate to being heavier. Meanwhile some slim peopl have awful metabolics.

Hardly anyone is in optimal health at the start of their pregnancy. The BMI gets a lot of attention because it's easy to measure and record but there's also cholesterol, fat levels, waist-to-hip, iron levels, blood presssure, blood sugar levels, etc. etc. etc. You might want to ahve complete blood tests done to see whether or not your extra weight is associated with any other heath problems - if it is there'd be more reason to wait than if not.

How far do you have to go? I've no idea about BMI but I plan to be v healthy if we TTC again as I've 3 babies baby weight to lose!

If you are nearly there go for it as it may take a while anyway so you can carry in healthy eating /exercise etc

I am 32 weeks pregnant and had a BMI of 29 when I conceived. I was in the process of losing weight but conceived more quickly than I expected to (I have PCOS and needed medication to conceive DS so we don't use contraception and expected to need assistance again). However I had and have (touch wood) no complications or other health issues and have low blood pressure, low resting heart rate, good blood iron etc. No one has mentioned my weight during pregnancy at all.

My bmi has been in the scary figures for all my pregnancies, and I don't give a fig. It's a ridiculous measurement as it doesn't take frame or the makeup of your mass into consideration. Do what is right for you.

Hi OP - YANBU in my opinion, obviously don't just take my word for it but in my experience a BMI of 29 would not necessarily raise eyebrows. Just bear in mind that weight is one factor that could dictate your options for care in pregnancy or treatment during labour and delivery.

Mine was 34 when I conceived last year - this still allowed me to have midwife led care throughout pregnancy as the cut off for consultant led care and monitoring due to weight in this area is 35.

I did worry about possibility of gestational diabetes but was fine.
After going up and down for years I feel if we had waited for me to achieve the optimum weight we may never have had our gorgeous DD.

I was very obese when I conceived DD last year - BMI was 40. It was an unplanned pregnancy and I was so worried when I first found out I was pregnant as I had planned to get healthy and lose weight before I started a family.

As soon as I found out I was pregnant I changed my lifestyle and ate so much more healthily and did loads of swimming. Despite my BMI, I had a trouble free pregnancy and think I can attribute that to both luck and the very robust health I have always enjoyed despite my weight, combined with being sensible during the pregnancy. Because of this I put on very little weight during the pregnancy and 2 weeks after DD was born I weighed less than I had before conceiving.

Due to BMI I had shared care and it was perfectly fine. I didnt enjoy feeling like a drain on resources due to something within my own control, but everyone involved with my care was very nice and didnt have anything like the experience CareyFakes mentioned.

I would say that if I have another, I will make every effort to continue to reduce my BMI first, rather than set out to have a pregnancy which will be automatically "high risk".

Good luck.