Too big to have baby?

Person_one

pollypenny wrote: »

When we have to spend p thousands, taking windows out or even taking walls down to take a patient to hospital things have gone too far.

Let someone feel uncomfortable in an average size wheelchair or bed, then they might face up to problems they are causing themselves.

Severe anorexics are sectioned. The morbidly obese are provided with enormous chairs.

The top one hardly ever happens and to have got to that stage I would argue there is almost certainly some severe mental illness going on. People with anorexia are given the care they need. Why should people who have problems with food that make them bigger rather than smaller be less deserving?

Why is it ok to hate obese people to the point of denying them actual essential health care? We're not talking about being 'a bit uncomfortable', some bariatric equipment makes it physically possible for people to receive their care. Theatre tables, stretchers, commodes, hoists, wheelchairs etc.

You might think that something as basic as putting a 35 stone person on a standard hospital bed just punishes them for their fatness and that's great, but actually what you end up with is a broken bed that costs a lot to replace, a patient with sores to their skin from the pressure, and pain in their muscles and joints, a situation where you can't change the person's position in bed which can affect their condition and even be life threatening in an emergency and a situation where the staff can't actually do their job properly because the equipment isn't suitable so making their lives much harder.

Laconic

Hi there!

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV, but I collaborate with a research group looking at health in pregnancy and the thing I've not seen mentioned here is what is your *actual* state of health? Put your weight aside for a second. The things that are really killer in pregnancy are uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, cardiac problems -- and none of those are unique to the obese.

Slimming World is all very well, but going to your doctor and getting a clean bill of health is much better, as is seeing a gynaecologist for your particular situation. No doubt about it, obesity does no one any favours, but to lose weight and how to lose weight safely while trying for a baby, you are much better off getting a referral to a registered dietitian: the advice you will get will be specific for *you*.

If you're ready to have a baby, I hope you go to your GP first and take it one step at a time.

GwylimT

Starlight123 wrote: »

Oh gwylim-your words have hit me 😐, never really though too much about it before till you said it. I really want to eat better even more now, OH is vegetarian but will be sure to eat more fruit n veg, leafy greens especially. I bought folic tablets earlier too. Will start to take so it's a reminder too of bigger picture

I think sometimes we forget that really a change needs to be a permanent lifestyle change, rather than a quick fix.

jackomdj

I was overweight, probably about your size, when I became pregnant with my first. I also have quite high blood pressure naturally and it was a pain because it went up when I was pregnant, at every midwife appointment they sent me to the hospital to get monitored as they send anyone with it at a certain point rather than how much it has gone up.

One of the reasons I lost weight after having DD was I wanted to be able to run around and play with her easily, although always fairly fit have you tried manovering around those soft play places?

pollypenny

Person_one wrote: »

The top one hardly ever happens and to have got to that stage I would argue there is almost certainly some severe mental illness going on. People with anorexia are given the care they need. Why should people who have problems with food that make them bigger rather than smaller be less deserving?

Why is it ok to hate obese people to the point of denying them actual essential health care? We're not talking about being 'a bit uncomfortable',

Re the first point - yes, MH to the extent of needing to be sectioned, as do those who feed her.


Re health care - surely the correct health care should be intervention at an early stage, when said person is overweight, before mordid obesity. Gym concessions, dietician support - not just a fact sheet, regular monitoring.

Obesity is visiting the NHS a fortune. Not just those who need bariatric equipment, but in prescriptions and treatment for diabetes 2.

Person_one

pollypenny wrote: »

Re health care - surely the correct health care should be intervention at an early stage, when said person is overweight, before mordid obesity. Gym concessions, dietician support - not just a fact sheet, regular monitoring.

Yes, and cardiovascular health should be sorted before anybody ever has a heart attack, and stress and poor diet should be dealt with before anybody ever gets a stomach ulcer, and smokers should be helped to quit before they get lung cancer or COPD, and diabetics should be supported to control their glucose levels so perfectly that they never need treatment for foot ulcers or incontinence, and motorcyclists and skiers should be advised to take up a safer hobby before they get spinal fractures or serious head injuries.

Reality is not like that though, no amount of health promotion and early intervention will stop you needing to deal with acute situations where they just haven't worked for whatever reason. What good is it to say to somebody on a surgical ward or an ICU who needs a bariatric pressure relieving mattress "You should have gone to the gym and ate more fruit and veg"?

ALIBOBSY

I am around 5ft and size 16, although I think I was slightly smaller when I had my eldest at 25.

TBH having read alot about weight loss and actual studies into health related to weight the facts are the main type of slimming clubs have repeatedly been proven to fail, in fact WW have admitted their business plan is based on repeat customers having to return to them over and over.

Studies have shown diet products do not work and in some cases may well be bad for you, the idea that high fat or high sat fat diets have any links to heart attacks or strokes has again been debunked. Sugar is far more of an issue and we all should be cutting back.

Studies have shown its best not to obsess with numbers and absolute weight and rather to look at your actual health. So increase good stuff like fruit and veg, avoid processed anything where possible and do some kind of exercise-a walk of 20-30 mins a day has been show in groups to produce some weight loss, improved heart strength, reduce blood pressure, reduce "bad" cholesterol levels and make a big difference to type two diabeties. Alcohol and smoking are far bigger health issues than being overweight, but if the NHS refused to treat ev1 who smoked or had a drink they would only treat a very small number of people.

As an aside I found I had such bad sickness with all of mine that I actually lost loads of weight during the first 4 months and put on very little before the end and weighed the same at 40 wks as I did at 6 wks lol.

TBH I would say your biggest challenges are your age (sorry but the older we get the more are fertility falls-although my last two babies were born when I was 36 and 38) and the high blood pressure. I would concentrate on eating more healthily whilst not obsessing about numbers, start walking or other light exercise, give up alcohol and if you smoke stop and let nature take its course.

Good Luck
Ali x

lulu_92

I'll give you my story. I got pregnant in 2015 after a year of trying and I weighed about 17st (I'm 5ft 8in) but unfortunately miscarried at 8 weeks, although my size wasn't to blame. I conceived again two months later, with twins and a weight of 18st 7lbs. Overall the pregnancy was perfect considering I was carrying two.

It was afterwards where I struggled. Having a baby in your arms often means you're getting up without your hands to help you, and that was hard. My knees were in constant pain from the amount of weight I was making them support. I knew I had to make a change for the sake of my health and my kids so I joined Slimming World when my twins were 3 weeks old. I weighed 18st 2lbs at my first weigh in. My girls are now 7 months old and I recently weighed in at 13st 6.5lbs.

My only regret is that I had made this decision earlier as I think it may have helped me conceive earlier and I wouldn't have made it so difficult for myself.

If you can get to a group I would definitely recommend Slimming World. I never go hungry and all of the food I eat tastes incredible.

I wish you all the best in losing weight and conceiving, as neither journey is easy!

Scrimps

Starlight123 wrote: »

I checked on NHS bum calculator categorising me as obese as 36 BMi. I'm just under 5ft and weigh about 13st I think but nhs site says I should weigh between 6st.8lms to 8st.12 as deemed @heslthy weight", that's bit much I think!

I lost 2 stone just before June this year but put back on as got lazy, bad excuse I know, I was doing insanity interval training. It was effective but after trip to shop I didn't fit into smaller size and so felt resentful then lazy as insanity is so hard. I didn't follow any diet, lots of avocado on rye, salads with protein post workouts. didnt have rubbish in home, drank herbal teas, 2l water a day, I was feeling up beat but then that shopping trip really set me back, bygones. I like the side plate idea, bit scared to do slimming world or WW as always felt restricted when I did in past and going out was nightmare for me. I'll try again, just need to get in habit of exercising after work, a friend once told me if you do same thing 3 days in row it becomes habit-Recently only lasted 2 days(!), will try again and think of bigger picture

Thanks so much for listening

Im going to call it a bum calculator from now on

You we're doing Insanity?? That is fantastic, it is hard work! :T
You also said you were feeling upbeat, even though that shopping trip set you back, try and remember you were feeling upbeat and aim for that again.

I tend to eat/drink/smoke when Im feeling low, it just makes me lower. When I can get out of that behaviour/thought pattern and spend time gym training/cycling/fixing up the house/completing crafts rather than sitting down with a beer and a cig, life just gets better and I feel happier (Not doing so well last few weeks).

As everyone has said, its the health that is the big thing. Try and forget the dress size, sorry to sound cheesy but you are not your dress size. Being healthy, active and upbeat defines you.

Youve proven you can do the exercising already, get back to it, whatever you enjoy and makes you feel good. If you dont feel like doing it one day, just do 10 minutes and if you still really, really, really dont want to do it, you can stop- just force yourself to start for 10 minutes on the days you initially dont feel like doing it.

The food thing, Slimming World does seem to work for a lot of people, the diet you indicated in your post seems quite aligned with slimming world actually. Weight loss is 80-90% what you feed yourself, the exercise is for the fitness, not weight loss. You're GP may be able to refer you to SW so the NHS will pay for the first few months. Youve got nothing to lose.

Good luck:)

Scrimps

Oh and regarding the healthy weight range on the bum calculator. I agree they do always seem very very light, but I think that is being overweight has been normalised unfortunately. Anyone I know that is in the middle of the ranges gets called skinny when theyre perfectly strong and healthy, they're just not carrying extra body fat.

The bum calc is a blunt tool but you have to be packing quite a lot of muscle for it to be as inaccurate people like to claim. Im in the overweight category myself so im not being a self righteous skinny here.

That aside, getting to that range doesnt have to be a goal for you so please dont let it put you off.