To think all women who have given birth have lost 10% of body weight?

[GappyValley]

I was doing an online health survey as part of my work annual medical, and one of the questions was ‘have you ever lost 10% or more of your body weight?’

I ticked yes, because I put on, and then lost, a couple of stone with pregnancies.

It then asked me if I have ever had a BMI that placed me in overweight - I again ticked yes because my pregnancy weight moved me from a normal weight to overweight, and it took me many months to get back to a regular BMI.

The finished result then told me that I was at increased risk of a number of health conditions due to previously being overweight and losing 10% of my body weight.

But, surely the vast majority of women who have had children will have spent at least some time with an ‘overweight’ BMI?

I know this is MN so I’m going to get loads of replies from people saying they were a slim size 8 throughout pregnancy, and only had to undo the top button on their regular jeans for a few weeks before birth but for the average height women, you would have to have a starting weight of 8.5 stone or under to not tip into overweight with average pregnancy weight gain?

I’m a bit pissed off to be told normal pregnancy weight gain has given me some sort of long term health risk!

I'm pretty sure pregnancy fluctuations won't count on a medical health questionnaire unless it specifically asks about being pregnant.

First of all I don’t think it counts because in pregnancy it’s not exactly your body weight you lose.

When I was 9months pregnant I weighed a bit over 10stone. When I weighed my self after coming home from the hospital I was only 7lbs lighter even though Dd was 6lbs, 9oz and that placenta looked heavy! I never got back to my pre pregnancy weight. In fact I never got any lighter than the day I came out of hospital. So no, I didnt lose 10%

I wouldn’t have included that period of time myself

Yoyo dieting is really bad for the body. I doubt the questionnaire was including pregnancy.
Though I see your thinking if you put on anything over 2 stone during pregnancy then it is extra weight from calories not baby.

I’m guessing you’re not supposed to include when you were pregnant when considering your weight gain and loss in a health questionnaire, it’s obvious that’s a time that women will gain and lose weight. It’s talking about (for example) if you’ve put on two stone from eating too much/not getting enough physical activity or lost two stone because you had cancer.

Do they even measure BMI in pregnancy? Seems somewhat pointless.

I wouldn't include pregnancy weight gain tbh.

What does a 10% weight decrease over a long time do to a person?

@nokidshere

I'm pretty sure pregnancy fluctuations won't count on a medical health questionnaire unless it specifically asks about being pregnant.

This. I don’t think my pregnancy weight gain would have given me an ‘overweight’ BMI (I had a low BMI to start with) but I wouldn’t count it even if it had. I also lost weight very rapidly after my first pregnancy which would normally be considered unhealthy. But recovering from pregnancy isn’t the same as crash dieting.

A pregnancy isn't you gaining or losing signficant amounts of muscle or fat, it's you carrying a baby. The bulk of your weight fluctuation is that of the baby (plus supporting weight in terms of fluids/milk/ect).

If you were healthy weight before and added baby weight then during pregnancy you weren't overweight you were a healthy weight for a pregnant woman (and then presumably nursing afterward, which would also alter what would be considered a healthy weight).

They aren't being unreasonable, you filled in the form wrong.

It depends on whether someone has gained baby weight and lost baby/pregnancy weight following the birth, or whether someone has gained a large amount of excess weight during pregnancy that's excess calories.

I had a borderline overweight BMI after giving birth, but it fell back into normal/healthy within a month or two, even with heavy nursing boobs. I wouldn't have counted that for a medical questionnaire, but probably would have counted it if I had gained lots of weight during pregnancy and continued to have a securely overweight BMI for many months after.

I’ve just looked at it again and there is no mention of not including pregnancy weight!

I’ve ticked the box to say I’m a woman, and it just then asks me if as an adult, I have lost 10% or more of weight, and separately, if I have ever had a BMI which classed me as overweight.

I don’t know what weight I was the day I have birth, but I know that in the days or weeks after birth, I was around 12 stone.
It took me 8 months to get back to my ‘fighting’ weight of 10 stone, so I’m guessing that I was technically overweight for maybe 6 months each pregnancy?

Which can’t be uncommon surely?

I bet this is a product of a ‘male default’- Caroline Criado Perez wrote about this.

I think what we are saying is that we would have interpreted the question as being about weight gain and loss, and NOT about pregnancy. So we would have not ticked the box about losing 10% or your bodyweight.

Good god.

I had twins so
Couldn't read the scale as bump
Was enormous

YABU

Surely common sense would say it’s talking about your own weight not your weight plus your unborn child.

I thought bmi was measured differently when you're pregnant anyway. Seems really odd to me that you would count a normal pregnancy as 'weight gain'.

Personally I wouldn’t have included pregnancy weight unless it specifically asked about being pregnant or if it took me a long time to lose the baby weight (ie at a certain point baby weight just becomes weight).

Just googled this, apparently bmi measures during pregnancy are based on your initial weight during first antenatal appt or pre-preg weight

@MadeOfStarStuff

YABU

Surely common sense would say it’s talking about your own weight not your weight plus your unborn child.

So when I don’t have the baby in me, and it’s just the weight I gained during pregnancy..?

I’m not talking about the weight on the scales during pregnancy. I don’t think I actually weighed myself.

But the weeks after I came back from hospital, I was 2ish stone heavier than pre-pregnancy
I lost that weight but it means that a) I was in an overweight BMI category (post partum and for several more months) and b) have lost more than 10% of my body weight.

I doubt that’s unusual in child-bearing women, right?

My BFF gained 5 stone in her first pregnancy (single baby), entirely down to overeating courtesy of living with her mum throughout who used cooking to show love. It took her 2 years to shift it. I'd include that in the survey but not normal pregnancy weight gain. Your body is supposed to get heavier during pregnancy, and stay higher for some time after birth, as long as you stayed within the realms of normal/expected weight gain I'd say it doesn't count.

I think this is just a questionnaire that has been written by someone who didn’t consider pregnancy.
I personally wouldn’t have gone into overweight because I did start pregnancy very underweight (under 7 stone) but either way a medical questionnaire should consider pregnancy and specify if it’s to be considered.

If this is your annual medical it probably concerns the last 12 months and only weight gain/loss that is not connected to pregnancy or postpartum period.
Even if you were pregnant,I would put 'Not applicable'.
Sudden weight loss/gain is connected to many disorders ie under or overactive thyroid etc.

I wouldn't count pregnancy as being overweight (because you're supposed to gain, so your target weight just increases). The 10% loss thing I wouldn't count either for the same reason unless explicitly stated. Or I would say 'Yes (in pregnancy)'

The questionnaire is indirectly sexist and should have been written to exclude pregnancy/post birth weight changes.

YANBU because you answered the question they asked (even if it wasn't the one they should have asked).