What was your BMI when you got pregnant?

vinerie

My husband and I are going to try for a baby! I'm a little worried about my weight, though. Right now I am 6 feet, one-half inch tall. I weigh 191 pounds. For my height, a healthy BMI is 187. Try as I might, I've been hovering between 190-194 for a while, down from 208 last August (still very happy about the loss, though!)

I'm wondering what people's BMI was when they got pregnant, and how long it took you to conceive. Also, age would be interesting. I'm older--38, so I've got some factors going against me, in terms of conceiving quickly.

Note: I know BMI is an imperfect measure of healthy weight, but there is a VERY strong correlation between healthy BMI and easier/quicker conception. We know this, because science. Of course there are numerous other factors (I.e. Age), but I'm just curious to hear your stats on this point if you'd like to share!

Thanks!

Winter_Girl92

23 for first baby at 18 years old and 34 for second baby at 21 years old.

sperkins68

Its verry normal to feel sccared and i know a few people who have kids at your age and older. And i was over weight when o got pregnant with all 4 of my kids and had no problem concieveing. With my 1st my bmi was 26.6 I was only 18 then and was on birth control but i still got pregnant. With my second my bmi was 40.8 and it only took me 2 tries (1 month)to get pregnant. With my 3rd my bmi was 37.9 and i gotbpregnant first try. My last my bmi was 40.8 and i got pregnant first first try.

Heartisalonelyhunter

Pregnant right now at 39. BMI around 22 this time although I think it was higher the last time I got pregnant. Anyway I wouldnt worry about it, I don't think 5lb or do will make any difference in you conceiving. As for for it being more difficult for women in their late 30's to conceive, that's actually a myth. It's based on 18th century church records from France and doesn't really apply to women today!

Heartisalonelyhunter

Also forgot to say this is an amazing read. It's by a well known economics professor who got fed up with being told by Dr's what to do/not to do when pregnant with no data or statistics to back it up. So she went and found the data herself and analysed it. She covers all the pregnancy perceived wisdoms, alcohol, age, diet, obesity and gives you the actual numbers and study sources for those wisdoms. I'm a numbers geek so I loved it!
http://www.amazon.com/Expecting-Better-Conventional-Pregnancy-Wrong/dp/0143125702

vinerie

Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »

Also forgot to say this is an amazing read. It's by a well known economics professor who got fed up with being told by Dr's what to do/not to do when pregnant with no data or statistics to back it up. So she went and found the data herself and analysed it. She covers all the pregnancy perceived wisdoms, alcohol, age, diet, obesity and gives you the actual numbers and study sources for those wisdoms. I'm a numbers geek so I loved it!
http://www.amazon.com/Expecting-Better-Conventional-Pregnancy-Wrong/dp/0143125702

Thank you! I have read research on age and fertility that suggests it is harder to conceive as you age. But perhaps the negative effects have been exaggerated.

vinerie

Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »

I don't think 5lb or do will make any difference in you conceiving.

I agree that five pounds won't make much of a difference, but perhaps 15 would. But now that we are trying, I feel I've run out of time to lose, haha. My plan is to keep with my weight loss goals until we get pregnant. But like I said earlier, getting below 190 has proved rather elusive. Body fat is 29%, which is in a healthy range, so that is good. Waist to height ratio is also in the good range (I carry my weight in my thighs and butt.)

Need2Exerc1se

I had my first child pretty young. My BMI then was 18.5. Second child - 19.5, third 19.4

MarilynTC

I am 5'4" and was 180 when I got pregnant with my first at age 36, and 170 when I got pregnant with my second at 39. I had dropped from a high of about 200 lbs. before the first. Both were completely healthy and uneventful pregnancies, and I conceived the first month of trying for each. Anecdotally, two friends of mine with normal BMI's had miscarriages with their first pregnancies, and another friend who is about the same weight as me (one or two inches taller) had a similar experience as mine with both of her pregnancies, but she was heavier for No. 2 than No. 1.

Are you having problems conceiving? Have you been trying for more than 6 months? If so, I think you go see an OB instead of fretting over 5 lbs. There are myriad things that can cause you to take longer to get pregnant.

3dogsrunning

I don't remember exactly but I was about 5lbs over the upper limit for healthy. I always tend to be on the higher side of BMI. It took us 11 months. I was 33.
I did see an OB in that time. He said it is not uncommon to take a year or more to concieve.

Tubbs216

I would think your age would be more of a factor than being a touch overweight. I've known loads of heavier women get pregnant easily and carry healthy babies, including several pretty obese women. Those who are underweight are more likely to have trouble conceiving than those who are a little overweight. I'd say start trying as soon as you can, and don't hang around if things don't happen pretty quickly.

(I have three children and was normal to slightly overweight BMI when conceiving all of them, over the ages of 26-31.)

kirstens1984

BMI first time about 22 (age 28), took 1 month to conceive. TTC now with BMI of 19 but only just started trying (age 31). Don't know body fat I'm afraid, I'd say pretty average at the moment as I'm small framed.

shadow2soul

First(2011): started at 33.8/ ended at 44
Second(2013-2014): started at 28.7/ ended at 35.8

Currently fluctuating 22.3-22.6

I should note that my first pregnancy was full of complications. I ended up hospitalized towards the end and had to have a csection at 34 weeks.
My second pregnancy went smoothly up until labor. I believe the healthy habits I picked up on MFP prior to the pregnancy played a large part in this. Most of the weight gain happened at the end of the 2nd trimester and all of the 3rd.

Jennloella

My husband. Hangs his clothes next to mine and I get pregnant. Healthy bmi to start out with most of my four kids. Got pregnant on first try with all of them, my age when I had them all: 22, 25, 34, and 35. My third baby was 6 weeks old when I got pregnant with my 4th so I was still underweight from the pregnancy when we conceived. I hadn't even had my period yet so literally the first egg I dropped was the winner! Good luck OP!

nvmomketo

My first, at age 28,I had a BMI of about 25. I was fairly fit and slim at the time. For my second and third my BMI was around 26-27. I did not lose the fat inbetween, but after breastfeeding was all done by the third, it came off a bit easier.

We conceieved in the first month but lost that one. My oldest took 3 months, my second took the first try, and my third took about 8 months.

Good luck with ttc. Have you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility? It helped me know when I ws most fertile in terms of timing things (my cycles not perfectly regular).

wendymoira

I had my kids at 31yo (BMI of 30, took one month to conceive) and at 34 (BMI of 34 thanks to weight I put on after the first one, took four months to conceive). Nothing interesting about either pregnancy from a medical standpoint, I'm happy to say. I guess I'd think about health/fitness to some extent while trying to conceive, and definitely about any known fertility or reproductive issues, but not as much about BMI in isolation (and I wonder about correlation between high BMI and PCOS or other reproductive/endocrinological conditions in the studies you mention).

Stacey765

vinerie wrote: »

Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »

Also forgot to say this is an amazing read. It's by a well known economics professor who got fed up with being told by Dr's what to do/not to do when pregnant with no data or statistics to back it up. So she went and found the data herself and analysed it. She covers all the pregnancy perceived wisdoms, alcohol, age, diet, obesity and gives you the actual numbers and study sources for those wisdoms. I'm a numbers geek so I loved it!
http://www.amazon.com/Expecting-Better-Conventional-Pregnancy-Wrong/dp/0143125702

Thank you! I have read research on age and fertility that suggests it is harder to conceive as you age. But perhaps the negative effects have been exaggerated.

I read somewhere that this is a misconception about it being harder to get pregnant. That while there are more older women needing help to get pregnant it might not actually be their age that is making it harder. But maybe they could conceive naturally and now they can afford to get have medical intervention. you don't find too many women in their early 20's because they aren't done trying everything else yet.
(bonus note!) I also read that women believing falsely that they couldn't get pregnant was one of the number one reasons ladies aren't real good about taking their birth control correctly (everyday/on time) and then getting accidently pregnant.