Overweight or obesity during pregnancy or before pregnancy has various impacts on health of the mother as well as baby/conception. Obesity can cause many complications during pre-pregnancy or pregnancy state, such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, thyromegaly, infertility, preeclampsia, clotting disorders, premature birth, miscarriage, still birth, sleep apnea, etc.
Broadly speaking two categories should be considered for overweight-obesity, one pre-pregnancy stage and pregnancy stage. If you are obese and wanted to conceive or if you’re pregnant, then you should have proper health risk assessment including personal medical history, family medical history, lifestyle assessment to assess the status and it’s risk on your health as well as the baby.
If your BMI (body mass index) is between 25 to 29.9, then you’re overweight and if your BMI is 30 or above then you’re obese. Being overweight has less health impacts in comparison to obesity.
Pre-pregnancy obesity:-
If you fall under overweight category, then you should reduce your weight before conceiving. Optimum weight will help to maintain your optimum health and wellbeing of your baby.
If you fall under the category of obesity, then you should definitely reduce your weight as well as you should consult your physician to assess your medical health. You may be in a stage of pre-diabetes, diabetes, pre-hypertension, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, thyromegaly, etc. If you’re diagnosed with any of the above mentioned ailments, then you should be little careful before conceiving and during pregnancy.
Obesity during pregnancy:-
If you’re pregnant and obese, then you should follow a proper ante-natal check-ups to rule out any pre-existing or developing health ailments as mentioned above. If you’re at a stage of getting the health issue, you should take advice of lifestyle counsellor/dietitian. And if you’re already having existing health ailments, you should take advice of your physician as well as lifestyle counsellor / dietitian to manage your existing medical ailment.
Lifestyle management:-
Lifestyle management for obesity has various aspects to consider, exercise and diet being the main components are more focused and worked upon.
Exercise during pre-pregnancy phase is little more aggressive, where you can manage your weight with following exercises such as brisk walking, jogging, swimming, aerobics, callisthenics, etc.
During Pregnancy, exercise will consider your overall health as an individual and your baby. So, the best exercises will be walking, swimming, pelvic exercises, yoga and stress management.
Diet plays an important role in weight/obesity management. During pre-pregnancy stage you should follow a strict diet focusing on reduced calorie intake, whereas during pregnancy the diet should be balanced with more of raw fruits, raw salad, nuts-beans, green vegetables and whole grain cereals.
The diet and exercise protocols also consider the pre/existing health ailments such as diabetes and hypertension to reduce further complications. If you’re obese/overweight and you’re pregnant or planning to conceive, then you should consult your physician before planning any lifestyle modification & management programs.
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