Weight Loss Success Story
Dear Michelle,
I was so delighted to see your email about weight loss during pregnancy. My name is Sheila and I have a great success story for you concerning weight loss during pregnancy. I lost 45 lbs during the pregnancy and another 20 lbs in the two weeks after my son Morgan was born.
In November of 2003, I was diagnosed as a borderline diabetic, weighing in at almost 200 lbs. I am only 5'4" and was extremely obese for my size. I began to eat a diabetic diet and cut out sugars and simple carbs and began to exercise. In December I found out I was pregnant at 39 years of age and not really expecting it. I thought it was menopause. I was told at that time that the pregnancy alone would probably put me in to diabetes II because of the hormones. In January of 2004, I was started on insulin to control the fasting levels and in February started on fast acting insulin to take before meals to control it. They warned me at that time that I would probably be on huge amounts of insulin before the pregnancy was over and held me to very strict numbers for blood sugar counts (90 at fasting and 130 an hour after meals). I was also checking my ketone levels daily. It was tough at first. The first few months I felt like I would starve. It was actually my body craving all the junk like sodas, french fries that it was used to. I began eating fresh fruit, drinking lots of water, protein, fish and lots of green salads, spinach and vegetables. All the stuff a growing baby needs. I had a treadmill at home which had actually not been used for several years. I put it to use and began walking 3 miles a day and doing hand weights using a weight bench. I made it a daily routine and usually walked 6 days out of 7 and did weight training every other day. My perinatologist was doing ultrasounds to follow Morgan's growth in utero because of my age and the diabetes. We knew that even though I was losing weight, he was still gaining every month.
I am happy to say that Morgan was delivered by an elected scheduled c-section on August 31 of this year. He was 4.8 lbs, a small baby, but not premature and very healthy. I have lost 65 pounds since November of 2003. I feel much better and had lots of energy during the pregnancy. I am also an avid gardener and kept that up during the pregnancy also. Matter of fact I was out planting and helping my husband fill in trenches for a sprinkler system the weekend before my baby was born. I didn't have morning sickness, backaches, and the other things that I read (horrified) that most women have during pregnancy. I actually had a very easy pregnancy. I was released on the morning of the 3rd day after surgery and was very mobile and had an easy recovery. I believe a lot of that can be attributed to the way I was eating and the exercise.
I wish more women would realize that being pregnant is not an excuse to sit around and eat and take it easy during pregnancy. They will feel much better about themselves and the pregnancy if they take an active approach. I am happy to say that I am no longer on insulin and not considered diabetic anymore. I also never had to take the huge amounts of insulin the doctors had warned me about. I was actually on very low doses and most times didn't even take it before a meal because I watched what I ate really closely. I am still maintaining my exercise program and eating habits and will have to the rest of my life. Had it not been for the pregnancy I may never have changed my lifestyle.
As of today, November 5, Morgan is a healthy 8 lbs and still growing and is healthier than he would have been had I kept the weight on and continued my destructive eating habits. I wanted to avoid a lifetime of obesity problems for him also and the chance that he too might end up diabetic, not to mention the risk of birth defects, in utero, when diabetes is out of control. I was followed by a perinatologist, endocrinologist and my obstetrician the whole time. They said I could be their poster child for controlling weight and diabetes during pregnancy because I did better than they could have ever imagined.
I would love to get the word out to other women that a "fit pregnancy" can be very healthy for both mother and baby and can definitely change your life in many ways. I was bombarded by magazine articles and people in general who believed that you absolutely have to gain weight during pregnancy in order to have a healthy baby. There were no articles (until yours) that addressed weight loss and obesity during pregnancy. I believe so many women are being denied the health they (and their unborn babies) could have by not being informed. And I totally agree with you, feeling overweight and being overweight are totally different. I also agree that weight loss when you are overweight can be the best thing for you and baby if you are eating the right kind of food and you are followed closely by a doctor. I truly believe the key is quality, not quantity in the food you eat during pregnancy.
Thanks for all your great info too. As you can see, I am still reading even after my pregnancy has ended.
Sheila
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