When you are pregnant, your hormones start to fluctuate and stress level increases. Not only these, your appetite tends to behave weirdly as some women find it difficult to eat, while others simply can’t resist eating. When you remain famished all day long or maybe, eating out of stress, you justify your food habit by saying that you are pregnant and so, you are free to eat anything you want. Well, that is not right!
If you become overweight – 23 kg or more – during your pregnancy, then eventually, you will face the consequences more than what you will face while losing weight after giving birth. Here, Jillian Michaels explains some complications related to health and pregnancy
Hypertension and Diabetes
- Excess of sugar or salt may lead to problems like diabetes and hypertension. Both these conditions can complicate your pregnancy. These conditions are hard to manage and may develop potential risk for both the mother and baby. So, make sure to avoid extra sugar and salt in your food.
Discomfort
- Excess weight gain can increase backaches, calf cramps, exhaustion, achy joints and heartburn. Excess weight during pregnancy can make your labor experience more taxing.
Delivery Issues
- If you have gained too much of weight during pregnancy, then your baby would proportionately grow bigger. This will increase your probability for the use of vacuum and forceps for vaginal delivery. Being overweight may also increase your chances of getting your baby delivered via C-Section instead of vaginal delivery. This will eventually make it harder for you to recover after childbirth. Moreover, the positioning of epidural becomes more complicated if you are too heavy during your labor.
Risk of Childhood Obesity
- People believe that a fat baby is a healthy baby. According to Jillian, that is not so true. In most cases, when an expecting mother gains excess weight, the foetus too acquires the weight in the form of fat cells. This increases the chances for your child to struggle with weight gain or makes him more prone to become obese as he/she ages.
- According to a study, the babies, whose mothers gained over 55 pounds during their pregnancy, had 5 ounces more weight when compared to the ones, whose mothers acquired 18 to 22 pounds during pregnancy.
- Another study showed that women, who gained excessive weight during pregnancy, in comparison to those, who gained just the recommended weight, had children with four times more probability to become overweight by the age of 3.5 years. Many studies depict that birth weight is directly linked to BMI in the later phases of life, i.e., adolescence and adulthood.
Recovery Struggles
- Jillian Michaels reveals a scary truth about pregnancy. In the light of several studies, she says that it is normal for a woman to gain weight during pregnancy. But, if such women are unable to lose weight after 6 months of giving birth, then they are at a higher risk to remain obese. So, try to gain less weight during your pregnancy to avoid pre- and post-pregnancy complications.
An important way to be in perfect shape before, during as well as after pregnancy is to concentrate on caring to yourself with a positive attitude. Jillian Michaels suggests that it’s all about balancing instead of deprivation. Maintaining this balance is necessary not only during the pregnancy, but also after the birth of your baby.
Along with quantity, focusing on the quality of food is also important. An organic chocolate is always a better option than the sugar-coated one. That vegetable burger is much healthier than the one with non-organic meat, laden with hormones, fillers and antibiotics.