Fat Mamas - Page 3

[armidasawan]

So, is there a tribe for fat mama's?  Or is this an attempt to start one?  I'm not pregnant yet, but plan to TTC soon.  And as a fat mama I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about...Concerns that maybe not fat mamas don't have.  I just found a good blog.  So if there isn't any support here, where have you fat mamas gone to?  So far I've seen this: http://www.wellroundedmama.blogspot.com/

[nmouse]

Originally Posted by njessirae 

 I've taken quite a bit of flack for my decision to go ahead and TTC without, as my mother put it, "losing the food baby before you gain an actual baby." 

I had to respond to this--I had the same ideas about myself at a pretty similar weight. But I am convinced by the research that weight cycling is very dangerous, especially for the heart, and pregnant women are at increased risk to regain any weight they recently lost just because of what the body is doing. So losing weight just before TTC and then gaining it back during pregnancy didn't seem like the greatest plan. I got pregnant at 250lb and have had a normal pregnancy so far, or at least the weird stuff hasn't been from weight (hormones + transverse baby = argh). 

I like this Plus Size Pregnancy site quite a bit, which is by the same person who writes Well Rounded Mama.

It's true that you find yourself under extra scrutiny about your size when you're pregnant. I really drew the line for a lot of people in my life prior to the pregnancy, making it clear that I view my health as separate from my weight, but with the number of new medical providers I've encountered with the pregnancy it's been a bit traumatic staking out this territory again and again. It's been surprising how often I encounter a professional who thinks that this pregnancy is the only time in my life I ever ate right or exercised, and finds it necessary to tell me what a great "change" I'm making. It helps a lot to have supportive people in my life, and going with homebirth helps too.
 

[armidasawan]

Awesome website, thanks!

[Viola]

Did I ever post this blog link?  When Health Speech is Hate Speech?   A lot of this resonated with me, especially this section: BMI is clearly a terrible proxy for health, but is there an “ideal” BMI that keeps a person safe from weight stigma?   How much is the right amount of disappearing  to keep from being a target of hate?  How much of you has to disappear to qualify for insurance without being forced to participate in Weight Watchers at work?  To keep you from being called a fatty during “Childhood Obesity Awareness Month”?  To prevent a weight loss lecture when you go in to see your doctor for a strep throat?  To keep you from being the one the other kids blame because there are no more cupcakes allowed at school?  How much of you has to disappear to make sure you can get a knee replacement without having to first mutilate your stomach?  To keep your school from sending your parents a failing “BMI report card”?  To keep you from worrying that the state will remove your children from your custody? 

: http://healthateverysizeblog.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/the-haes-files-when-health-speech-is-hate-speech/

[amydidit]

Originally Posted by nmouse 

I had to respond to this--I had the same ideas about myself at a pretty similar weight. But I am convinced by the research that weight cycling is very dangerous, especially for the heart, and pregnant women are at increased risk to regain any weight they recently lost just because of what the body is doing. So losing weight just before TTC and then gaining it back during pregnancy didn't seem like the greatest plan. I got pregnant at 250lb and have had a normal pregnancy so far, or at least the weird stuff hasn't been from weight (hormones + transverse baby = argh). 

I like this Plus Size Pregnancy site quite a bit, which is by the same person who writes Well Rounded Mama.

It's true that you find yourself under extra scrutiny about your size when you're pregnant. I really drew the line for a lot of people in my life prior to the pregnancy, making it clear that I view my health as separate from my weight, but with the number of new medical providers I've encountered with the pregnancy it's been a bit traumatic staking out this territory again and again. It's been surprising how often I encounter a professional who thinks that this pregnancy is the only time in my life I ever ate right or exercised, and finds it necessary to tell me what a great "change" I'm making. It helps a lot to have supportive people in my life, and going with homebirth helps too. 

I love that site. I wish it was recent though. My first birth story is one there and I submitted my last, but I don't think the site has been updated since I submitted in back in 2009. 

[SleepyMamaBear]

Another FAT mama here. Been a LONG time science I have been active on MDC. So I am easing back in slowly.

[lovingmom14]

I'm a fat momma too! Been struggling with it since I had my daughter. She's 9 now. Its been a tough road for me with all the things I have been through. I've tried losing the weight for my health, but seem to gain it all back and then some. So, now I'm at the heaviest I've ever been. And trying to accept it is hard!!! My Dr is worried that I'm going to end up with Diabetes since it runs in my family. So, now I'm looking into different eating habits and walking more. Lets see how this works out...... 

[Viola]

I watched a BBC program about exercise called The Truth About Exercise.  It is an hour long, but you can watch the whole thing on YouTube, since they have a channel there.  It was pretty interesting, and here is a link to an article about it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17177251

There was an experiment where the guy did 3 minutes of intense exercise a week and saw health improvements. Basically 20 seconds of intense exercise at a time, 3 times a day, 3 times a week. Most of the exercise I get these days is walking my dog, plus the bit of strength training I do to help my back injury.  So I've tried adding in the really stressful 20 second intervals into my walking, either by adding in a steep hill which I walk up as fast as I can, or I just flat out run uphill for as long as I can.  I've noticed that my cardiorespiratory fitness level has improved, I can now more easily walk up steep hills that had me more winded, and I'm now try to make my dog walking more intense where I can.  I just think it's interesting, because I used to do interval training as part of longer exercise sessions, and I continued to try and add little spurts of more intense stuff in, but I wasn't sure it really did anything.  But now that I'm actually concentrating on doing those little intense spurts, getting things really moving for that time, I do feel like it's helping.