What are some steps to help in trying to get pregnant?

tips on getting pregnant when your overweight image

KB

I am wanting to have another baby and in the past when I got pregnant there was no planning or "trying" to it, I just got pregnant. Now, I am trying and I need to know some steps I can take to increase my chances.

Answer
Some foods, habits, and medicines can harm your baby â even before he is conceived. Find out what to do and what to avoid when you're trying to get pregnant.

* Before Pregnancy
* Planning Conception
* Adoption and Foster Care
* More Fact Sheets and Resources

Before PregnancyBottle of folic acid pills

If you're thinking about getting pregnant, or are already pregnant, taking care of your health is more important than ever. Follow these tips for a healthy pregnancy:
Get 400 micrograms (or 0.4 mg) of folic acid daily. Eat foods fortified with folic acid, take a multivitamin, or take a folic acid pill to get your daily dose. Taking folic acid in a pill is the best way to be sure you're getting enough. Including 0.4 mgof folic acid (or folate) in your diet before you get pregnant and in the first three months of pregnancy can help prevent some birth defects. If you don't get enough folic acid, your baby's spine may not form right. This is called spina bifida (spy-nuh bif-uh-duh). Also, your baby needs folic acid to develop a healthy brain. Many doctors will prescribe a vitamin with folic acid. But you also can buy vitamins or folic acid pills at drug and grocery stores. Some foods rich in folate include: leafy green vegetables, kidney beans, orange juice and other citrus fruits, peanuts, broccoli, asparagus, peas, lentils, and whole-grain products. Folic acid is also added to some foods like enriched breads, pastas, rice and cereals. Get more details on folic acid.

One half of all pregnancies are not planned!
And many women don't realize they are pregnant for at least a few weeks. So you should always take care of your health. Your baby is counting on you for the best start at life!

* Start watching what you eat. Load up on fruits, vegetables, and whole-grains (such as whole-wheat breads or crackers). Eat plenty of calcium-rich foods such as non-fat or low-fat yogurt, milk, and broccoli. Your baby needs calcium for strong bones and teeth. When fruits and vegetables aren't in season, frozen vegetables are a good option. Avoid eating a lot of fatty foods (such as butter and fatty meats). Choose leaner foods when you can (such as skim milk, chicken and turkey without the skin, and fish). Find out more about what to eat and what to avoid for a healthy pregnancy.
* Tell your doctor if you smoke or use alcohol or drugs. Quitting is hard, but you can do it. Ask your doctor for help.
* Get enough sleep. Try to get seven to nine hours every night.
* Take steps to control the stress in your life. When it comes to work and family, figure out what you can and can not do. Set limits with yourself and others. Don't be afraid to say NO to requests for your time and energy.
* Move your body. Once you get pregnant, you can't increase your exercise routine by much. So it's best to start before the baby is on the way.
* Get any health problems under control. Talk to your doctor about how your health problems might affect you and your baby. If you have diabetes, monitor your blood sugar levels. If you have high blood pressure, monitor these levels as well. If you are overweight, talk to your doctor about how to reach a healthy weight.
* Ask your mother, aunts, grandmother or sisters about their pregnancies. Did they have morning sickness? Problems with labor? How did they cope?
* Find out what health problems run in your family. Tell these to your doctor. You can get tested for health problems that run in families before getting pregnant (genetic testing).
* Make sure you have had all of your immunizations (shots), especially for Rubella (German measles). If you haven't had chickenpox or rubella, get the shots at least three months before getting pregnant.
* Get checked for hepatitis (hep-uh-tie-tus) B and C, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and HIV. These infections can harm you and your baby. Tell your doctor if you or your sex partners have ever had an STD or HIV.
* Go over all of the medicines you take (prescription, over-the-counter, and herbals) with your doctor. Make sure they are safe to take while you're trying to get pregnant or are pregnant.

Ask your partner to stay healthy too!
Ask your partner to limit how much alcohol he drinks. If he uses illegal drugs or smokes, encourage him to quit. Studies show that men who drink a lot, smoke, or use drugs can have problems with their sperm. These might cause you to have problems getting pregnant.
Woman and man smilingPlanning Conception

While trying to conceive, you can use natural planning methods such as the ovulation method (have intercourse just before or after ovulation) or the symptothermal method (evaluating fertility based on your daily temperature). Remember: women are more likely to become pregnant if intercourse takes place just before or just after ovulation. This is because the unfertilized egg can live for only 12-24 hours in your body. If you'e been trying for a few months with no results, don't get discouraged. Only 20% of women trying to get pregnant are successful on the first attempt. So don't lose hope or assume something is wrong.

having trouble getting pregnant can you help?

Foxy C

I have been trying forever( okay only 2 years), my periods donât come the same time every month and most months they are so heavy. I donât really know how to time it so we have been doing it at least twice a week. But it doesnât seem to help. I am a smoker I do plan on quitting when I get pregnant. I am a little overweight i was wondering of that can effect my chances. If there are any tricks or tips I can do please help me thanks.

Answer
I ttc for 2 years ... Well I finally decided to go see a fertility specialist and they tested my husband and he was fine well I had to have surgury for endometreosis , dye shot up my tubes and tons and tons of blood work afer all that they put me on clomid and I concieved 6 months later !! Well if you cant tell when you ovulating get ovulation test or start having sex every other day but I would buy the test and try to figure out when ovulation was or theres not a BIG chance you will concieve !! but here are some things that my dr recomended my husband and I ... oh yeah I quit smoking when I started clomid and lost weight and started eating right and exercising ... GOOD LUCK


* You ovulate 2 weeks after the LAST day of your period
*Have sex a couple days before you ovulate sperm can live up too 72 hours
*Take an ovulation test you can buy them at walmart (just like a pregnancy test)
*When you get done having sex raise your bottom up so the sperm goes upwards stay like that for at least 15 min
*Take a bath or do something relaxing before having sex
*Start eating healthy and exercising
*If you or your partner smokes stop it really decreases your chances
*Start prenatal care

GOOD LUCK !!
Mommy of a 2 week old

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What can a single mom who can't go to a gym do to lose weight?

tips on getting pregnant when your overweight image

woot

I was overweight before I got pregnant, and that just made it worse. I want to lose this weight, but I can't afford to pay a babysitter while I hit the gym.

What are some other options? Any creative tips for things I can do at home? Thanks.

Answer
You do not need a gym to get in shape and lose weight if youâre an average woman. I have time and money and several good gyms in my neighborhood but still I donât go there because I donât need to.
Gyms are very good for people who need to be part of a group to motivate them, doing aerobic classes or whatever. Gyms are also good if you need to use their pool because you like to swim and do not live in a neighborhood with a pool. Gyms are good if you want to play sports like basketball so you can meet other people there and play and gyms are good if you are strong and need to use all the weight machines they have available there. And Iâm sure gyms are good for a lot of other reasons (like if you have no clue how to exercise, somebody will help you there) but none apply to me.

I do not need to be motivated by a group, I already have a neighborhood pool, I do not play sports and I do not need weight machines (I use small free weights) and treadmill (I just walk/jog in my neighborhood) so I do not need to go to a gymâ¦beside, I like to do my weight training in my underwear (itâs so hot right now) and I could not do that in a gym!

I think, in your case, you should focus on three things if you want to lose weight:
FIRSTâ¦making sure you eat what you need but not more,
SECONDâ¦burning the fat reserve you donât need and
THIRDâ¦building muscle mass to make your metabolism higherâ¦

FIRST, watch your calories intake and make sure you eat what you need but not more so your body stops making fat reserve.
You could start by getting an idea of the number of calories your body need every day by calculating your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and making sure you never, ever eat less than your BMR, otherwise your body, an extremely marvelous and adaptable system, will just lower your BMR to save you from starvation, thinking you have no access to food, which, for your body, would be the only reason youâre not eating when youâre hungry!
Your BMR is just your weight in kilograms multiply by 7.18 to which you add 795 (a little different formula for guys)
BMR: women: lbs x 0.453 = kilograms x 7.18 + 795
(BMR: men: lbs x 0.453 = kilograms x 10.2 + 879)

Sometimes, you can get overweight because you dieted before and ate less than your BMRâ¦so your body adapted and lowered your BMR and then when you had enough of that low calories diet, you started eating normally again and just got bigger and bigger because of your abnormally low BMR. If you starve yourself enough, you can live, just eating one yogurt a day or a handful of riceâ¦and not even lose weight.
It always breaks my heart to see all those young girls trying to lose weight by just eating less, not realizing theyâre dooming themselves to a lifelong low BMR so they will never, ever be able to eat normally without making fat reserve.
(If you have a low BMR, your only way out of it is to build muscle mass to get a higher metabolism.)

For you, I would suggest you first concentrate on knowing how many calories you need every day. If you have been gaining weight, it is advisable to first maintain your weight for a couple of weeks. Itâs like if youâre driving a car and you want to go backward, you would first stop. Just watch your diet, count your calories and weigh yourself. When you get to a point where you maintain your weight, then you will know your BMR.
For example, I found out a while ago (before I started my exercise regimen) that if I ate about 1,200 calories a day, then I would not gain or lose weight, so this was my BMR at the time, which was 15 calories from the BMR formula above that would have resulted in 1,185 calories for a 120lbs woman like me. Then I started exercising and gained a few pounds of muscles, while getting thinner, so now my BMR is higher, so I can eat even more.

Weigh yourself every day, because you will have fluctuations due to salt intake and water retention, periods, regularity, etcâ¦which you would lose in the next few days, but overall you will see that you are maintaining your weight because your lower weight (every few days) do not go higher. At this point, you need to weigh yourself every day, not once a week, a month or a year. If you weigh yourself every morning (in the morning, after peeing, naked, before breakfastâ¦), then when you gain one or two pounds overnight or over a few days, you know itâs just water retention or other things and you can just ignore it. Weigh yourself every day, do a little chart, and just look at the lower number that will tell you if youâre maintaining your weight or gaining or losing. You just need to weigh yourself to determine your BMRâ¦once you do that, you do not have to weigh yourself anymoreâ¦in fact, you should put the scale aside and rely on a tape measure instead because as you go to the next phase of burning fat reserve and building muscle mass, you will gain weight (a few pounds of muscle mass) while getting thinner.

So, here you are, eating exactly what your body needs, not making fat reserve anymore, stabilizing. Of course, you eat healthy, because at that point, you have to get quality over quantity. You know the drillâ¦fruits and vegetables, lots of fiber, no fried food or fast food, blah, blah, blahâ¦very often, people eat too much because they do not eat satisfying food. If you eat a sweet potatoes, you will not be hungry for a while but if you eat a regular potato, your body will not see any difference between a potato and just plain sugar and you will be hungry again in no time. Also avoid white rice, pasta and bread for the same reasonâ¦not as fulfilling as brown rice, whole wheat pasta and bread. Go online and learn about nutrition so you can end up like meâ¦my dinner plate is so fulfilling that halfway there, Iâm full and put the leftover in the fridge as a snack for later.

How can i get pregnant?

doggie

I have one daughter and shes turning 3 in august and ever since she was 1 we have been trying to have another one whats some tricks or tips on getting pregnant, i am overweight and have high chloestorle does that effect it or what, and everytime after sex i go to the bathroom right away and clean up, will that effect it also. or should i wait
what can i do to get pregnant

Answer
I've always heard that putting a pillow at your hips, while/after sex and waiting there will help the sperm travel lol. so definitely don't go clean up right after. but being overweight and the cholesterol does effect it, but it shouldn't by much. Try eating healthier meals, drinking more water, and light exercise should help. I've also heard taking prenatal vitamins while tcc also helps! give it a little more time and be patient, it happens when you're least expecting it!
GOODLUCK!

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