High bmi and pregnancy

[lindsayville]

I'm a generously sized uk 14 to 16 aware of the fact I'm overweight and lately been relying on to much junk and takeaway and little to no excercise as I'm simply exhausted having 3 kids being 11 weeks pregnant and also working. However my bmi was 35 I'm short maybe 5ft2 however I'm disgusted at myself for letting myself get this far. Has anyone any advise on how to eat healthy or what they do to maybe lose safely a few pounds in this pregnancy or tips for better eating? I'm a rubbish cook hence to many takeaways but I want to change now I don't want to risk diabetes for the baby.

Tommys do a free a pregnancy book.called having a healthy pregnancy. My mw recommended it to me
It's a lovely glossy book with photos and packed full of tips, non judgemental. It's not about dieting or loosing weight but being aware of lifestyle changes and looking after yourself and the growing baby. You can register online for it free of charge and they will pop.one in the post for you.

Oh that book sounds good!

I had a bmi of 32 at booking and felt like you've described. It's not nice! But I lost weight without trying in the first half of my pregnancy, and was low-risk throughout and didn't even have a glucose tolerance test. So don't worry OP, it might not have any affect on your pregnancy.
Eat loads of fruit and veg, protein and good carbs (wholegrain bread, brown rice etc) and keep up with any exercise you did pre-pregnancy. I did do a lot pre- and throughout pregnancy, and lots of walks as well.
For me the problem has been after pregnancy - I'm fatter now than I was when is just given birth 5 months ago!
Good luck OP and don't beat yourself up about it :)

Hi, have you had a chat to your midwife? Mine refered me to Slimming World for 12 weeks. I lost a couple of kg but it was in the 1st tri - I didn't carry on after the referal ran out but have carried on with the principles.

My BMI was higher than yours to start with so try not to worry (easier said than done, I know) and rather than lose any more weight my aim now is to be at my pre preg weight or thereabouts at delivery.

I was dreadful for grazing on goodies before I fell pregnant so now I just don't buy them or buy stuff I'm not keen on for DH. I'm too lazy/shattered to go out and buy it when the mood strikes so that has helped me with cutting back.

Good luck

I was doing slimming world when I fell pregnant. It was brilliant, I lost 22lb in 6 weeks. I wouldn't recommend that during pregnancy lol. But they so have a diet for pregnancy, think its based more on healthy eating rather than weight loss. When I got bfp I went back to my bad habits, need to get myself on course again as I'm feeling bloated and constipated (tmi). Anno that's part and parcel of early pregnancy but I'm sure a but of fruit r fibre would help me a bit.

I was in the same boat. My weight was never mentioned until I was in labour and then the bloody useless anaesthetist blamed it for not being able to get an epidural in, but ultimately I was glad I didn't have one anyway.

I actually lost weight naturally in the first few months, due to a combination of not drinking and feeling nauseous. I sailed through the GD test and gave birth to a very healthy, normal sized baby (albeit two weeks early but that's another story for another thread).

Congratulations on your pregnancy

My midwife referred me to slimming world. I haven't taken it up yet as prior to 23 weeks I hadnt gained any weight. I have now gained a few pounds so will be aiming to start in a few weeks. Third trimester and miserable weather is a sure fire recipe for weight gain for me, so now is a good time.

I believe the idea is to use SW to maintain weight rather than lose it.

I second the point about not drinking - I'm sure that contributed to weight loss during first trimester (drinking usually leads to munchies!) - that at loss of appetite due to MS.

An 'easy' fix is to not have crap in the house, because then you can't be tempted by it. There's a running joke in our house that we never offer a biscuit when someone pops over - that's because we don't have them in the house (otherwise I'd eat the whole packet in one sitting)!

If your workplace is like mine, there will be a 'crap table' full of biscuits/chocolate. That one is hard to avoid I admit! I try to restrict myself to if its someone's birthday rather than taking something from it every day.

In terms of learning how to cook healthier meals, with 3 kids to look after it sounds like you are very busy and would likely benefit from either batch cooking (spending an hour of so at the weekend making a big batch of something that you can freeze into portions for during the week), or from simple, quick recipes.

I firmly believe there is no such thing as a rubbish cook - if you follow a simple recipe, it will work. The key thing is to find simple recipes/meal ideas with only a few ingredients so you don't get overwhelmed. In terms of inspiration, Nigel Slater's "Real Fast Food" is a good shout, and Nigella Express. You can often pick these up in the charity shop or you could borrow from the library. Most recipes from big name chefs are also online.

One of my favourite 'fast foods' is fish - 20 minutes or less in a medium oven (gas 5/170c) will cook a fillet of fish and it is high in protein so fills you up. In the time it takes to cook the fish, you could have boiled/steamed up some rice or potatoes and some veggies to go with it. You can experiment with shop bought or home made marinades with fish or meat in the oven. If you are veggie, hugh fearnley whittingstall or yotam ottolenghi has lots of lovely veggie recipes.

Depending on how old your kids are you could even get them involved in cooking/picking recipes. When I was growing up, I made dinner after coming home from school every night from about the age of 12 - that was how I made my pocket money!

Eating healthily doesn't have to be difficult or arduous - pre-pregnancy, I lost quite a lot of weight eating simple, wholesome food and I'm certainly not a great cook.
For example, a dinner might be chicken breast or fish with two or three veg; poached eggs and avocado on wholemeal toast; a small portion of pasta with aubergine, courgette and mushroom chucked in a tomato sauce; a halloumi and houmous wrap with carrot and cucumber - that sort of thing.
On a very lazy night I'd just have scrambled eggs (went down well with DS too). The key for me was avoiding sugary and processed stuff, which is full of calories and leaves you hungry too.

The most important thing though, IMO, is to make sure you're active. Even if you don't want to do "proper" formal exercise, just walking everywhere will really help - and being fitter makes labour easier too, allegedly.

As an aside though, Beverly, I'm not sure it's helpful to call an anaesthatist "bloody useless" for not being able to get an epidural in with an obese patient. It's well documented that it's much harder to do, isn't it?
Though perhaps it would have been better if you'd been told that in early pregnancy rather than finding out the hard way, when you actually needed it.

Thanks girls! I know I've been to heavy handed with the takeaways and the soft drinks. I rarely drink alcohol so that isn't an issue in pregnancy. Yesterday was a kick up the rear end I needed. I'm more of a cant cook I really don't enjoy it but I will be making a lot more contrived effort to stop being so lazy and unhealthy. I stocked up today on good foods fruits and things I enjoy to make. My midwife didn't say much part from that not to worry it's normal to put on weight in first tri but I was disgusted with myself. Im going to be more active and eat healthier. A previous c section has left my stomach in a state and I be pretty much comfort rated my way through the past year but enough is enough now. Book sounds good i will send for it thankyou!

A good site is bbc good food. I swear by it. I stopped smoking 2 1/2 yrs ago and discovered food. I can cook, everyone comes her for big celebrations, Christmas etc. Unfortunately I eat what I cook lol. And piled on 2st. Easy to put on, not as easy to get off. Like I said slimming world saved me, gave me lots of tips I'm using now still. Just healthier way of cooking now, not dieting.