Pregnant women who are also obese have a significant increase in pregnancy and delivery complications over women who are not obese. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) or 30 or greater. Sadly, the stillbirth rate is tripled in obese women. Obesity is the number one concern in pregnant women; it has replaced smoking, which used to be the top concern. Women who are obese at the time of conception should only aim to gain 10 to 15 pounds during pregnancy, while 25 to 30 pounds is a healthy weight gain for women who are a healthy weight at conception. Women who are obese also have longer labours and an increased rate of caesarian sections.
I have had many obese patients tell me, "I am never going to be stick thin." Who said anything about stick thin? Certainly not me. Stick thin is not healthy. Healthy is healthy and this varies from person to person. It used to be though that fat (ie. fatty tissue) was just fat and while many women disliked it from an appearance point of view, it wasn't actually overly harmful. Now we know different; it is harmful. Fatty tissue actually produces inflammatory hormones that increase your risk of a variety of diseases, heart disease and diabetes to name just a couple, and now we see that there is a significantly increased chance that pregnancy will not go smoothly as well.
Again, it's not about being "skinny" or conforming to some societal ideal. It's about beinghealthyforyour bodyand this is done through long-term lifestyle changes, not fad diets or weight loss pills.
TC
Pregnant women who are also obese have a significant increase in pregnancy and delivery complications over women who are not obese. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) or 30 or greater. Sadly, the stillbirth rate is tripled in obese women. Obesity is the number one concern in pregnant women; it has replaced smoking, which used to be the top concern. Women who are obese at the time of conception should only aim to gain 10 to 15 pounds during pregnancy, while 25 to 30 pounds is a healthy weight gain for women who are a healthy weight at conception. Women who are obese also have longer labours and an increased rate of caesarian sections.
I have had many obese patients tell me, "I am never going to be stick thin." Who said anything about stick thin? Certainly not me. Stick thin is not healthy. Healthy is healthy and this varies from person to person. It used to be though that fat (ie. fatty tissue) was just fat and while many women disliked it from an appearance point of view, it wasn't actually overly harmful. Now we know different; it is harmful. Fatty tissue actually produces inflammatory hormones that increase your risk of a variety of diseases, heart disease and diabetes to name just a couple, and now we see that there is a significantly increased chance that pregnancy will not go smoothly as well.
Again, it's not about being "skinny" or conforming to some societal ideal. It's about beinghealthyforyour bodyand this is done through long-term lifestyle changes, not fad diets or weight loss pills.
TC