Early pregnancy with BMI in the overweight category

[Tempeliz]

Hi everyone

I got booked in (online) for my first appointment with the midwife yesterday and one of the questions was about BMI.

My BMI is in the overweight range (around 27) but I’m very active and into weightlifting which I do 4-3 times per week. I’m 5’10 and wear a 12-14 in clothes. I felt a bit stressed about my BMI being close to the 30+ mark where extra folic acid would be required. Should I be taking more or am I definitely ok because it’s below 30? I struggle a bit with my body image so I’m also a bit worried about having my weight scrutinised at the appointments.

I'd trust your midwife to tell you if you needed extra, given she presumably calculated your precise BMI.

Re weight scrutiny, I'm properly fat and the midwife never did. She just checked there was some gain as baby grew. There was definitely no "Omg your so fat, you better go on a diet now!" stuff.

You're clearly fit and healthy so please, don't worry about it

You're fine on the regular dose of folic acid! BMI is so outdated, muscle is denser than fat and as a weightlifter, I'm sure you have plenty of muscle. Tell your midwife you're not interested in talking about your weight as well, she should be respectful of that

i seriously doubt you will have your weight scrutinised. I had a BMI of about 32 at my booking appointment and it seemed like everyone was dancing around me to not hurt my feelings. If I mentioned my BMI at any point I was told how ‘great’ I looked and how I ‘was fine’.

I think you need to be morbidly obese or have other risk factors to dare them to acknowledge it.

Thanks everyone for the reassurance - I feel better about it! It’s my first pregnancy so it’s so hard to know what’s the right thing to do.

@SleepingStandingUp i expected (possibly naively) to have an appt with the GP or midwife and have weight checked etc quite early in the pregnancy but I won’t have my first appointment until my 12 week scan. I just had to fill out an online form to self-refer to maternity services - I didn’t have to put my weight in, the only section that mentioned BMI was a tick box to tick if BMI is over 30. So I was a bit worried about being close to the cut off point.

I has a BMI of around 30 when I conceived DD. I was worried about judgement from the medical staff too - but as I stepped on the scales (visibly uncomfortable) the lovely nurse said "Ah you're a wee slip of a thing" - which was plainly untrue, but I appreciated her kindness.

Despite being both overweight, and older than average (36) - I was classified as low risk, and had a healthy pregnancy. No one mentioned my weight at any stage.

And I was DEFINITELY less fit than you!

Don't freak out about it. As PP said, BMI is a very inaccurate tool.

They measure weight partly because it gives an indication of how your baby is growing and the pregnancy is progressing. Partly because higher BMI increases risk of other pregnancy conditions like gestational diabetes. As a weightlifter, lots of that weight will be muscle rather than fat so I wouldn't worry. TBH I wouldn't worry if it was fat - they're flagging up risk, not demanding you go on a diet.

It's by no means unusual to have a higher BMI and get pregnant, it's just a fact of life these days. If I remember rightly, it was BMI over 33 that triggered a bit more support with it, they might have given diet advice and very high BMI might determine choice of how to give birth a bit. They don't always like very heavy women having water births as it can be hard to get heavier women out in an emergency etc.

I have a higher BMI than you and have only had the obvious pointed out at booking in appointments from midwifes, such as having extra growth scans, taking aspirin and having the diabetes tests. You really have nothing to worry about it at all.