High bmi risks

[Justanotherlostsoul]

I’d really love to have another baby but my bmi is 29 and I have about 3 stone to lose until I’m a healthy weight for my height. I feel physically unfit and recently made the decision to give up sugary food and drinks. It hasn’t made any difference to my weight and I still feel sluggish. I try and exercise as much as possible and I’m now counting my calories and eating a lot of salad and veg. I haven’t lost any weight at all. Before my DS my bmi was 19 so this extra weight isn’t typical of me, it came about from comfort eating during the pandemic. I know a lot of people will say to lose the weight before ttc to avoid diabetes etc but can anyone give me their stories of having a high bmi during pregnancy and how it worked out for them please? I’ve never had regular periods and rarely ovulate so to me ttc is urgent as it took 3 years to get my son. I’ve never had issues with weight loss so any tips to shift this weight quickly would really help. Any advice would be welcome, tia

Have you spoken to your GP? Struggling to lose weight, irregular periods and taking a long time to conceive suggests polycystic ovaries.

I got pregnant with a bmi of 30. My pregnancy was uneventful except for high blood pressure in the last couple of weeks. I had to have a diabetes test due to my bmi, but it was fine.

I've got no advice on weight loss, other than it's probably not a great idea to do it quickly if you want to get pregnant - it's probably better to focus on nutrition and overall fitness.

If changing your diet has made no difference to your weight or energy levels I’d see the doctor. You need your iron and b12 levels checking and your thyroid. Worth doing before ttc anyway. Hope you’re feeling better soon.

I did mention it after a year of ttc my son and they done some tests which came back clear, no cysts or any other indication of pcos but I agree I do seem to show signs of it. I’m glad your pregnancy was healthy it gives me hope it might be safe to ttc sooner than I thought.

A high BMI alone isn't a risk factor, it just means you may be more at risk of developing other things that make you higher risk, but it isn't a certainty.

I had DS with a much higher BMI than yours and due shortly with our second. Both textbook uncomplicated pregnancies, never high blood pressure or anything wrong in my urine, never a problem with scans or baby movements. Didn't get gestational diabetes. Decidedly average in every way.

Agree with PP there's a possibility PCOS if affecting you- this is often caused or made worse by insulin resistance, so lowering your carb intake can really help. You could have a look at doing the 8 week blood sugar diet to reset your hormones, I used to hardly ever have periods until I went on a similar diet before I had surgery, and from the month of going on the diet until now I've had periods like clockwork, except when pregnant. Sometimes it's just that kick start your hormones need to start working properly.

I have a high bmi and we decided due to age and other factors that we just needed to go ahead and try rather than waiting until I lost weight. I've had a few complications early on none of which were related to my weight and have been having a fairly healthy pregnancy since then. Only difference for me has been that I've been consultant led care rather than midwife led but since its our first it's not really made a difference to me. Also I had to take aspirin and folic acid throughout but again not a major issue for me. If you think you might struggle to conceive then just focus on eating good nutritious food and up your exercise and see what happens without your contraception. Speak to your gp if you're worried, I went for a check up before ttc just for my own peace of mind to rule out anything underlying eg diabetes etc.

Thank you that’s really reassuring to read, I’m glad it worked out for you. I will look up the diet thanks.