Is it REALLY unsafe to lose weight in pregnancy if you're a lardarse already!!

[BigMomma3]

OK, very very worried now. Yesterday at dentist, when I stood up from the chair in the waiting room, the chair came up with me, attached to my thighs. This evening at cinema, had to pull my thighs in to get in the chair .

I am nearly 18 weeks with baby No5 and had always carried extra 'baggage' from previous pregnancies, so at the start of this pregnancy was already 3 stone overweight and have put on at least 2 stone since then so plenty of lard to lose. I have got to lose some or I won't be able to move by the end of this pregnancy. I have been eating LOTS of carbs as it's the only thing that helps with the sick taste in my mouth.

I keep reading that even overweight women should not try to lose weight in pregnancy but is that really true? There's no way I would live on 1000 calories but need to cut down drastically and add some exercise (aaarrggghhh where will I find the energy). Any advice appreciated!

congrats on the pregnancy, look up slimming world i think they do a diet programme for preg women, good luck

ps should just add, no idea if its safe or not to diet in pregnancy, eating healthily i suppose is a good thing though!
Im in over my head so ill leaveyou to it!
good luck

I'd talk to your GP and/or MW. My understanding is that if you're starting off a bit overweight it can be a good thing to loose weight during pregnancy as long as you do it very carefully and make doubly sure you're getting all the nutrients you need to grow a baby. Similarly exercise can be good - but not all forms of exercise are appropriate and starting something aggressive now wouldn't be the best plan.

Talk to them and good luck

I lost 1 1/2 stone within the first 4 months of my 1st pregnancy, and I didnt diet, I had mild morning sickness but I went off a lot of food, mainly sweet things.
I ended the pregnancy 1 stone lighter than I started. My daughter was a healthy 8lb 13 oz at birth so it had no effect on her.

But Slimming clubs do have special diets for the preggies.

Constant nausea is the usually pregnancy diet isn't it? ;)

In my view - of course you can IF you do it sensibly. Slim fast, cabbage soup diets and signing up for marathon training are obviously out. But, you risk putting both of you at risk during the pregnancy, delivery and for you, long term health issues if you don't start controlling your weight.

Sorry to be blunt - but you have to want to lose the weight, and put the effort in regardless of whether or not you are pregnant. Wishful thinking won't sort it out and the pregnancy will mean that you will need to be more careful as to how you go about shedding excess.

Obviously, take yourself off to the GP and/or your midwife and discuss your current diet and exercise(honestly) and vet your plans with them or ask them to help you devise one.

If your diet includes white bread, white pasta, refined /processed foods; soft drinks; biscuits and cakes plus all the usual examples then you just need to cut them out and substitute them with something a little healthier. eg: Brown rice and wholemeal pasta. You can't and shouldn't cut out carbs entirely as you will run out of energy which if you already have children is not really an option I imagine 1000 calories a day is a starvation diet for a model - 1800 cals with lots of exercise (2hrs a day) will shed weight quickly for a normal person and you would then need to add additional calories for the baby.

If your diet is relatively healthy and you just didn't shed the baby weight from the last pregnancies, then I'd suggest a review with the GP or a nutritionist esp to look at your portion size (try weighing your food for a week - it's amazing how much you can overeat) and then biting the exercise bullet. If you are eating about 2000/2200 healthy calories a day and getting in a daily 3-5 mile walk (1hr - 1.5hrs) you should trim up in no time and it will get you in good habits for afterwards. Go by yourself or take the kids in a pushchair(extra training weight) or find a walking buddy - the mornings are getting brighter and it's much easier to get your a## out of bed if you have a mate waiting for you on the corner freezing their a## off. Weirdly, exercise makes you feel less hungry, though it helps if you resist the urge to eat as soon as you get back. A glass of water and a 30 mins wait helps. Porridge for brekkie will keep you going for hours too and it's v low fat (unless you make it with cream)

Don't get me wrong - I don't want to sound smug or preachy and I loathe the gym and croissants are sooo delicious it's not funny but it is no fun being a lard a## and no-one except YOU can sort it out.

almost exactly the same story as the wifey for me I was a stone lighter after having a girl (bringin me down to a still overweight 11st 9). In part this was thanks to initial weightloss of 7lb because of faint nausea. The main things I actively avoided were sugary sweets and chocolate I think I cut out tea aswell. despite this dd still weighed in at 9lbs.

Agree with greenwichb on replacing refined carbs with wholegrains, quinoa, brown rice baked potatoes in their skins etc however I am 4-5 weeks pregnant at mo and cannot resist biscuits, white cheesey pasta and hovis best of both with butter. I will have to get my arse in gear before I gain lots of unnecesary weight like I did in my first pregnancy with ds.