Healthy Weight for TTC

Mothra1982

Hey all, 

 I'm new here. My husband and I are just about ready to start a family.  I'm 29 and weigh about 230lbs and am 5'7".  I was wondering if anyone had advice about dropping some of this weight to be healthier and to have a smoother pregnancy.  Any tips are completely welcome!  Thanks. 

KateLouise

If you look at my ticker you'll see I've lost some weight and still have a bit to go. Over the years I've gone up and down a bit, and what has made a big difference for me this time are:

1) Finally doing it for my own health and a longterm lifestyle change. Not to fit into a dress or some other short term goal.

2) acknowledging why I'm fat and identifying the lies I've told myself over the years, "I'm tall I can carry off the extra weight". and honestly I'm fat not because I eat nutritionally poor meals but because in amongst very nutritious eating I have added in lots of snacks of biscuits, cakes, chocolate and chips. 

2) Identifying my own strengths and weaknesses in terms of eating healthily. I love fruit and vegetables. I enjoy nutritious low fat foods. I'm good at cooking from scratch. I over eat when I'm bored. I eat fat and sugar when I'm tired. I'm lazy about exercise. 

3) Admitting and accepting I will never be a gym kind of a girl. It's just not my thing. What do I love? walking and dance class. So that's what I do.

4) Making small gradual changes rather than trying to radically alter my diet over night.

5)  enjoying low nutrition but highly delicious sugary and fatty foods, several times a week, and often daily. Note I didn't say "good" or "bad" foods because I truly believe that sometimes delicious rich ice cream is the best thing for me.

6) I've really enjoyed using WW the last 3months. It's helped me a lot to get a good sense of quantity and portions and it fits in easily with my day to day life. 

Good luck with your own journey. 

mrscheese15

I am not fat nor am I completely overweight.  However, DH and I have decided to go ahead and get ready for baby #2.  I gained 40 pounds with DD and she is now 13 months.  I have about 8 pounds (again) to lose to get back down to where I was before I got pregnant.  I too have to give myself a reality check.  I am only 5'2.  I HATED being 173 pounds when I delivered.  However, I did breastfeed for the first 3 months and I lost about 15 pounds in that time.  I never went to the gym, but realised that I needed to eat healthier.  So I started watching what I put into my mouth and ate ALOT more veggies and fruits. 

 

With this time around coming up, I need to get the pounds off so that I am not gaining more weight for this pregnancy.  I am going to start jogging in the park on my block.  I need the excersize.  Eating healthy is great, but I literally need to get my butt into gear.

 

I wish you al the luck in your journey to lose the weight and have a smooth pregnancy and birth.

 

 

-Amanda

rhondagraymond

You need a healthy weight loss diet plan that is balanced and doesn?t starve you. A low carb, high protein diet could really help you so try to eat fresh fruit and veggies along with lean meat, chicken, eggs or some sort of seafood. Go for walks every evening and gradually move on to other forms of exercise as you build your stamina.

TMWarren85

My advice would be to learn to eat healthy, and find activities that you enjoy that get you out there. (Sorry in advance if this is lengthy, I have lots of experience with losing weight...) I have lost weight two ways:

 When I was younger, I was never a small girl or very active and found myself weighing 205 at 5'6" and 20 years old. I couldn't handle it and decided one day I was going to change it. Keep in mind that I had been trying to "lose" weight for a while but that was driven by my jerk ex-boyfriend at the time so it didn't mean anything to me, it wasn't MY goal (and that 'one day' was a day not too long after I kicked him to the curb). Anyway- I started restricting my diet and pre-packaging things, but I would eat one serving of goldfish crackers, or half my entree, and I would get o the eliptical occasionally. I dropped 40 lbs in 6 months, but stalled. I realized I had to have more activity, so I started running and within 4 months I had dropped another 20 pounds. But I was starving myself, and when I would eat, it would be minuscule amounts of unhealthy foods. I was more focused on calories that quality. 

Then I met my future husband and realized how wrong I had been. I didn't know I could eat peanut butter and avocados, or how healthy a sweet potato is (and how good they taste mashed). And how important strength training was. I hadn't been fueling my body properly, or building muscle that would continue to burn fat after the workout was better. After we had been dating a while and he helped me get more comfortable with my workouts at the gym and eating more, I had gained 5 lbs, but had dropped two dress sizes and felt the best in my life.  

Fast forward 8 months and SURPRISE!!! I'm pregnant. We were already planning on marriage, but I was in my last year of school (I took a few extra laps...) and we were waiting for my graduation. So we got married and bought a house (all which came with stresses of their own). I went a little overboard (stoppe deating as well and working out much) and my body knew what it felt like to be overweight, so I gained back every pound I lost. Total disappointment, but I knew I had lost it once, I could do it again. And before my daughters' first birthday, with healthy eating and my normal workout schedule (changed up every six weeks to keep my body challenged) I was back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I wasn't doing P90X, or Insanity, I would go online and find routines with normal workouts.

I hear people talk about doing the Paleo (not sure if that's how you spell it) diet, Atkins, South Beach, whatever it may be- but unless it's something that you can do for the rest of your life, chances are it isn't a long term change. You can starve yourself and take diet pills, but the second you eat something you gain it back. It has to be an enjoyable and livable process. If you hate what you're eating, or whatever the physical activity you have chose, chances are you won't stick to it.  Changing your lifestyle isn't a sprint, and it won't happen overnight. And on the same point, if it's easy to do you won't value it as much as if you had to work at it. I have always told people to be the healthiest you have ever been before you get pregnant- that doesn't mean your lowest weight, just eating healthy and be active. That way you have the tools you need to remain healthy during the pregnancy, which will make it a much more enjoyable experience, and then the time afterwards you're not freaking out about trying to lose weight when you should be focusing on your new baby. 

 

That's my two cents, everybody has an opinion and if mine has in any way offended someone I apologize, if I have been incorrect in any assumption- it was my assumption to make and sorry if I may have misconstrued the info...

 

Most importantly, good luck on your road to mommy-hood!!