Who Is Supporting Healthy Choices In Pregnant Mothers?

It’s no secret here on my blog that I am overweight, I have been for many years and if I am honest my weight has been something that has yoyo’d for most of my adult life. 

A few years ago when I first started writing on here I undertook a weight loss mission and lost 4.5 stones, I still needed to loose more but still it was a massive improvement to my health, I felt better, my body ached less and for the first time in a very long time I felt happy in my own skin. 

Roll on giving up smoking, complacency and 2 operations and this time last year I had gained 5 stones back on, my confidence had taken a kicking and I feared our much wanted 3rd child would be a long distant hope. 

Fast forward a few more months in 2015 and a positive pregnancy test had me throughly ecstatic but also totally terrified … after all being the heaviest I have ever been and carrying a pregnancy was going to be tough. My pelvis is already damaged from SPD and will require medical intervention at some point … add to that my painful back, swollen knees and my all round unhealthiness and mix it with a big dollop of Caesarean section and I have to say the harsh realities of what the next 9 months were to hold had me terrified.

Thats when I made the decision to try and turn it round to become as healthy as I could be during this pregnancy … OK I might not have taken up running or jogging but for 8 months of my pregnancy I kept active everyday, even decorating the house from top to bottom.

Next on my list of things to address was the biggest thing that let me down, my food intake … I am terrible at self control normally and my choices are somewhat dire so starting at the beginning of the pregnancy I stopped drinking my usual 2 litres of fizzy pop and had one glass a day followed by ensuring I drank 2 litres of water a day. 

I reduced my carb intake, which was difficult since I craved cheese sandwiches, however it was all about moderation for me and learning that one was good enough and I didn’t need to eat 4, along with eating a varied diet and ensuring that I ate when hungry and not at set times I actually had the unproblematic pregnancy of the 3 I have had.

Two weeks after my son was born I weighed 27lbs less than I had the year before meaning I had in fact lost weight while being pregnant, however with very little support from any of my health care providers which in fairness is throughly disappointing, most were very quick to pass comment on my weight and general unhealthiness but no one seemed to want to help support me to do anything about it.

This is why I am supporting the #10StepsHealthyPregnancy Campaign to help educate pregnant women and empower their health providers on what can be done in pregnancy to stay healthy as scarily some recent statistics from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that as many as 45% of mums attending their first maternity appointment are overweight (19%) or obese (26%) and many of them did not receive enough information on making the right choices while pregnant.

Part of me feels relieved that it was not just me that lacked this support and the other part of me gets angry, I am thankfully starting my new babies life in a much healthier position than I was at the beginning of my pregnancy but that is due to me being super proactive and being determined to stay as healthy as can be, although even the advice I found online was somewhat conflicting so I love the fact that the Infant & Toddler Forum (ITF) are bringing the information together and simplifying the most up to date, evidence-based information on pregnancy nutrition and wellbeing and highlighting it with the #10StepsHealthyPregnancy campaign.

For me pregnancy was my fresh start to make my pregnancy the first day of the rest of my life at becoming healthier, I am so pleased and proud of achieving a weight loss during pregnancy but do hope that with the #10StepsHealthyPregnancy campaign that finally Mums to be will get the support they need in making healthier choices and not just on the eating front either.