Weight loss before pregnancy advice?!

ashleeei
ashleeei Posts: 35
in Motivation and Support
Hello: Started to lose weight about a year ago just by getting off of the pill. I always wanted to lose weight but never tried hard enough til 20 lbs just seemed to melt away with no effort, just by stopping birth control pills… Since then my husband and I have decided we want to start a family soon. I have lost a total of 27 lbs and recently started to work harder for my goals…Count calories with MFP and hike 4 miles 4-5 days a week as well as some time on the elliptical the other days… I want to lose another 35-40lbs before we try and have a baby… I am 166 lbs currently and want to get to 130 lbs… Is this realistic? I am 5’2”. I know that I will gain a lot back during pregnancy but I am trying to get into a healthy way of living NOW not when I end up pregnant!! I know that I will have a much healthier pregnancy if I get my act straight now and make healthy a habit!!

Then my next question… I plan to stay as healthy and as active as possible during pregnancy… I hope this will help my body from completely suffering and help me from gaining WAY to much during pregnancy… And NO I don’t expect to not gain! I expect to gain at least 50 lbs… I have just known way too many people whose body’s paid for their bad food choices during pregnancy… Will I just gain all my weight back and end up just how I am now? Or will this help me have a “healthy” pregnancy weight that is more manageable to lose post baby?

Replies

  • Nedra19455
    Nedra19455 Posts: 241 Member
    Gah, I wrote a longer post that got deleted, but the gist of it is this:

    1. I tried to lose weight before having my baby. I did not reach even a 10th of my goal before we went ahead and got pregnant. I have no regrets. It would have been better if I had been at a healthier weight (and I am hoping to be more successful before the next pregnancy) but to be honest, it was more important to me to have a baby.

    2. I only gained 17 lbs during my pregnancy -- which was the perfect amount for my BMI. I stayed very healthy during my pregnancy even though it was hard to be active. My motivation was avoiding gestational diabetes -- which I did.

    3. You should't expect to gain 50 lbs -- it happens, but it isn't a healthy norm. If you got pregnant at your current weight, the recommended goal would be about 15 lbs, but even at your goal weight the recommended goal would be 25-35 lbs.

    4. How pregnancy affects you long-term depends on many factors. After my baby was born, I was 3 lbs below pre-pregnancy weight within a week (not because of anything I did -- just because it had been all baby and placenta and fluid...). But after sitting on the couch breastfeeding for 12 hours a day (no joke -- my kid was a slow eater) and sleeping every chance I got because I never knew when I'd sleep again, I gained 19 lbs.

    The upshot -- don't let weight loss prevent you from starting a family when you want to, but definitely use every day between now and when you get a BFP to get yourself to the healthiest weight you can.

    Good luck!
  • PinkCoconut
    PinkCoconut Posts: 655 Member
    I was totally losing weight when I got pregnant. When I did get pregnant I continued to track my food (but at a maintenance level until the middle of my second trimester and then I gradually increased my caloric intake to gain a pound a week) AND I worked out. I gained 16 lbs of actual fat and 40lbs altogether.

    I knew I wanted to get pregnant while I was losing weight. My philosophy was that I'd just go ahead and work towards my weight loss goals and then if I got pregnant, I'd readjust my goals.

    Unless you have had issues getting pregnant before and you're losing weight in a healthy manner (eating right and exercising - no crash dieting), you should be just fine.

    If you're really unsure of things, sit down and talk to your doctor.

    Feel free to friend me!
  • ashleeei
    ashleeei Posts: 35
    Thanks for the feedback guys! Really appreciate it!! Idk why I assumed I'd gain 50 lbs but I think it's because all the people I know who have been pregnant didn't care for their health and ate poorly with no exercise so of course they gained 50+ lbs! I feel that I am getting used to being healthy and the cravings have almost disappeared these past 2 weeks that I've been trying very hard so that's a plus!! I know that when we're pregnant I will want to be even healthier and will have someone important in my belly reminding me daily!! ;) thanks guys!! Can't wait!! :)
  • Lindzpnc
    Lindzpnc Posts: 98 Member
    I got back on the fitness wagon on april 1st of last year..5 weeks after my wedding and 12 pounds later I was determined to not let it get any worse and no let myself go.... a few weeks into it I started feeling ill and soon after I found out I was pregnant (we conceived april 12th) we were trying to get pregnant but my husband was told he was sterile and I had PCOS so the odds were slim to none-

    anyway point is if you develop your habits now its great.. but for me there was days when I couldn't move later in the preg.. days early on in the pregnancy where I would only sleep and go to work and come home and sleep more.. and days where I would rather sleep than eat. I gained 27 lbs and lost 21 within 5 days after birth. I had a C-SEC so had very limited mobility post-partum and wasn't cleared for 8 weeks so you have to just take it how it goes and do what's best for yourself... I tell myself now that if I ever end up preg again I want to stay active but it just all depends on how your pregnancy goes... I had a high risk pregnancy and although I did a few workouts here and there for most part I was either worried about the baby or not feeling up for it.

    Also they say moms with lower BMI's have healthier babies.. not true I know lots of moms who are tiny and have heavy babies and like me I was 60 lbs overweight and my daughter was only 6 lbs

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