Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Ultimate Goal

My ultimate goal with this weight loss journey is to lose enough to be able to get pregnant. We have known for a few months now that we are dealing with infertility.  We are waiting for one more test to come back but otherwise it is fairly certain we will have to do IVF.

Yesterday was our first visit with the fertility clinic. I know that being obese can make pregnancy more difficult and it can cause difficulties with the IVF itself. I want to be as healthy as possible before we do IVF so it has the best chance at working because we are paying for it entire out of pocket (our insurance does not cover IVF) and it has a price tag of $15,000 - $20,000 each try.

He said ideally a BMI below 30 is what they like to see, which is out of the obese category. I have a long way to go to get to that point so he said I really want to be at least in the 30s. My current BMI is 41. When I started this journey my BMI was 45 so I am down 4 points so far.

To get below 40 I need to lose 7 more pounds (232 pounds).
To get below 35 I need to lose 36 more pounds (203 pounds).
To get below 30 I need to lose 65 more pounds (174 pounds).

Since we have to pay for IVF ourselves we probably won't be able to try until the end of this year at the very earliest. That gives me at least 37 more weeks to lose this weight. If I want to lose 65 pounds by then, that is a loss of about 1.75 pounds a week. This is 100% doable if I just stick with it.

He suggested a low carb low sugar type of diet. I definitely think I need to do a diet overhaul. I am not willing to give up certain foods because I know myself and that will just set me up for a binge, but I can make smarter choices. Even though I have been doing weight watchers and sticking to my points, I have not been eating well. I eat whatever I want as long as I don't go over my points.  Honestly, that is what I love about the plan. But I need to make a few adjustments.

I can start eating whole wheat bread and pasta instead of white. I won't give up potatoes but I can eat them less often. I also need to eat more veggies and fruits. These are hard for me because I am an extremely picky eater. This is another thing I need to work on. The last thing I am going to do is cut down on my soda drinking and drink more water. I drink tons of water at work but when I am at home I drink diet soda. I gave soda up completely a couple years ago no problem but somewhere along the way started back up again. I only drink diet but its still not good for you!

I am going to slowly incorporate these changes into my diet so hopefully I can stick with them. I just need to keep my eye on the prize: a baby for me and my husband

5 comments:

  1. I know how you feel, I am a picky eater and trying to incoporate vegatables in my diet is hard.

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  2. Please reconsider not taking the Dr.’s nutrition advice. Maybe my story will help you. I endured 7 years of fertility issues. I had difficulties getting and staying pregnant. I have PCOS among some other issues. It took me 2 years to become pregnant for the first time. I was around 200 pounds. I had just started working with a fertility dr. when we found out. The number one reason I know why I got pregnant was that I had been doing Lindora (strict low carb), losing weight and exercising. The second time I was pregnant it was because I was exercising and eating correctly. I lost this baby. The third pregnancy was just after I had completed 4 weeks of boot camp style exercise class. I was about 230 pounds. I lost this pregnancy too and discovered yet another issue as the “why” I was having miscarriages. We decided to work with a fertility specialist. He took one look at me and said he could guarantee I have metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance) – belly centered weight issues. A 3 hour glucose tolerance test proved it. He wanted me on a strict diet of no breads, proteins, only green veggies, berries and only hard cheese, no dairy. I did it and with an IUI and clomid we got pregnant and for my whole first trimester I continued to drop 2 pounds a week following his recommended diet. I truly believe the dietary and exercise changes in my life increased my ability to get pregnant. I don’t suggest a super extreme like his but just consider making small changes over time. You might be surprised at how different you feel eating a cleaner, whole foods diet. I would be happy to talk to you more about this. It’s my 2 cents coming from a 37 year old mom of 7 year old and a 2 year old. I made some sacrifices to myself in order to bring life to my beautiful boys.

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  3. Thank you for sharing your story. I'm glad you were able to find something that worked for you to get pregnant. I do plan to make small changes I just don't want to do anything extreme. I don't believe in cutting out entire food groups unless medically necessary.
    I don't want to get into our whole story, but we are dealing with male infertility issues, so no matter if I were the most healthy woman in the world we would still have to do IVF. I do want to lose the weight to be as healthy as possible when we do IVF, but losing weight won't change our infertility.
    I've never been tested for insulin resistance, but I do know I carry most of my weight in my hips and thighs rather than my stomach. My waist to hip ratio is .71 which is in the normal healthy range. So I have that going for me at least! lol

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  4. I am the opposite. Big waist - zero hips. Wish you luck in your journey - both of them. Try not to stress, it plays a big part.

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