Fat moms = fat kids??

From the article in question - "We know our genetic makeup influences our children's risks -- but so can our environment," foundation spokeswoman Dr. Beth Abramson said in a news release.

Genetics and environment work hand in hand. If a child has a higher chance of being overweight due to genes, then it makes sense to adapt the environment in a way that helps to minimize that risk (which is what SoVictoRRious says she is doing in her posts).

Something else to keep in mind (especially for the dimwit who thinks overweight women should not be allowed to get pregnant) - this is a study that looks at correlation, which illustrates the relationship between events or variables; it is not an illustration of cause and effect.

Wow! I work in health care, with Women and Children's health, so I see overweight women having babies, the biggest risk with this may be gestational diabetes. Not every over weight woman ends up with gestational diabetes, and not each gestational diabetic is overweight. Many women make much much worse decisions during pregnancy, think drugs, and alcohol, now that is selfish.

For real?! @_@ Are you sure this is not a troll post?!

I'm curious, what is your definition of trolling.

I can believe this research. Genes can be influenced heavily by the environment in which they are expressed.

I was very thin while raising my kids. In fact, I only weighed 125-126lbs when 9 mths pregnant with them. One is heavy, the other two are thin. I think that food habits may have something to do with it. When I lived at home with my parents/siblings, all mom made was fried meat. Fried pork chops, fried chicken, gravies on top of everything. My siblings all ended up obese (as in one even had bypass surgery), all are diabetic and none of them exercise, at all. I ate that crap at home but I ate less than they did, I'm not sure why. Maybe I just wasn't as hungry? I was the only one who was on my bike, riding to the lake, running through the woods and climbing trees. I guess being a tomboy kept me from getting fat then.

Later in life as I got lazier and depressed, I gained weight.. up to 179lbs. Now I'm at a normal weight and my daughter is using MFP too and she looks awesome and is quickly reaching her goals. She has always been beautiful and she also has depression issues. My other daughter had a baby and has used MFP also with awesome results.

I raised my kids to be outside and to know how to have fun without money because you don't know what kind of life they will end up having.
I took them to every park I could find, played in the rain, played in the leaves, playgrounds, trails, we walked from the end of every parking lot (a habit that we ALL still do), we all got some sort of exercise, kept the kids active and made sure that when we had family gatherings, we are always outside doing something instead of just sitting around stuffing our faces. They all love to camp, hike, fish, play in the snow, etc. Now they, and we, are doing the same with our grandkids.
My sisters, who are both obese, raised fat kids. They are all fat, their kids and grandkids are all fat. They still don't exercise and their kids, grandkids don't exercise. They sit around, eat fast food daily and play on their computers/video games all day. I feel sorry for all of them.

IMO, all you can do is give them healthy choices, try to keep them active and do your best. In the end, just like any other life lesson, they will have to make their OWN choices and live with them. Parents and kids come in all sizes. No situation is the same.

i personally don't think any woman more than 40 pounds overweight has any business being pregnant in the first place. it's selfish and irresponsible.

young women, if you want to have children someday take care of your body now and get in shape.

Interesting. I have seen skinny women get pregnant and they eat/drink like crap the entire pregnancy but it's ok right? I mean, because they aren't overweight to begin with? Many overweight women who do indeed get pregnant, also take care of their diet, and get plenty of exercise while pregnant. Just an FYI.

My mother is half my weight, I outweighed her by 15....i call bull.

i personally don't think any woman more than 40 pounds overweight has any business being pregnant in the first place. it's selfish and irresponsible.

young women, if you want to have children someday take care of your body now and get in shape.

:noway:

So now I am selfish and irresponsible because I had a child when I was overweight? I personally think that no matter what weight you are when you have a child it does not mean that your child will be overweight. I do agree that if you are not set in the right mind of healthy eating that you could possibly be feeding your baby unhealthy food and that could possibly lead to an overweight child.

My mom was overweight when she had me, I was a skinny little kid then I became chunky after my parents divorced (I was 9). I was always fed healthy food and our Dad NEVER let us eat out. When I started getting $ from my Dad, I would eat out all the time and that's when the weight issues began.

BTW - I was 130lbs overweight when I had my 7lb 14oz girl and I am STILL around 60lbs overweight. She is 3yrs old, in the 50% in height/weight, LOVES vegetables and fruit, and her favorite snack is cottage cheese. I DO let her have mac&cheese, cheeseburger, chicken nuggets, french fries, or turkey hotdogs at least once a week. As we all know, moderation is the key.

Every single person on my mothers side of the family (and about 75% on my fathers side) are overweight, most of us are obese. If you see a thin person at a family event, they're related by marriage, haha.

I don't think it's genes though, mostly the family tradition of deep frying everything and then pouring gravy on it.

i personally don't think any woman more than 40 pounds overweight has any business being pregnant in the first place. it's selfish and irresponsible.

young women, if you want to have children someday take care of your body now and get in shape.

Really? Perhaps we should also prevent pregnancy for anyone with a genetic condition, or an affinity for tattoos, or perhaps for religious or political reasons. Yes that would work, NOT!!!!!!!

Changed my mind...I'm not even going to feed into this, it's so ridiculous

Every single person on my mothers side of the family (and about 75% on my fathers side) are overweight, most of us are obese. If you see a thin person at a family event, they're related by marriage, haha.

I don't think it's genes though, mostly the family tradition of deep frying everything and then pouring gravy on it.

My mom's family is like that. They love to eat!

My dad's family are all bony skinny smokers.

I"m hoping to find a balance (sans smoking of course)...

Meant to tag this in reply to the earlier comment about being irresponsible having kids when I am overweight.

While an overweight mother doesn't necessarily or automatically mean her child will be overweight later in life, this article is just one more reason I want to be at a healthy weight before I even think about getting pregnant. I also want to be certain I have learned positive and healthy habits so the environmental aspect is covered as well!

Have you seen Honey Boo Boo? ... Nuff said...

Yeah but those kids are overweight because the mother is always feeding her kids spaghetti with butter and ketchup. Thats not really the healthiest.

As the descendant of a chef who was born in Italy and immigrated to the US, I find the idea of pasta with ketchup a personal slight. This is a death penalty case! :-)

Oh, and also, I was 110 pounds when I got pregnant. I was 102 pounds into my sixth month due to extreme morning sickness and a high metabolism. I delivered at 155 pounds and was 120 within four months.

My daughter has been struggling with her weight since she was about 10 years old.