Atkins while trying to conceive

[Sadia Naseeb]

i have a question on behalf of my friend...

This friend of mine is really motivated to lose weight the Atkins way seeing my weight loss coz she also needs to lose 15-20 kgs..but the problem is that she is trying to conceive for the past 2 years..

i would like to know that is it safe to start atkins while u r trying to conceive?

[sham]

Hi there im just going to say i don't know if its safe or not but since she is wanting to lose the weight why is she trying to concieve she should rather lose the weight and then try to concieve as they say as u lose the weight it will help her towards concieving i don't see any harm with the diet tell her to consult her doctor and if they say to lose weight then do it first.

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by Sadia Naseeb

i would like to know that is it safe to start atkins while u r trying to conceive?

Yes, it is safe to do any phase of Atkins while trying to conceive. But as soon as she knows she's pregnant, she should move to Maintenance and stay there for the whole duration of her pregnancy+nursing.

[jadensmom]

I just went to my obgyn to have my annual exam and she had mentioned that a few of her friends couldn't get pregnant because of weight issues and after doing atkins and losing the weight were able to become pregnant. Not that it would be the same for everyone but it does seem to help to be healthy and not over weight when try to conseive. Atkins also seems to for a lot of people put their menstrual cycle into a regular cycle. I have pcos and couldn't get pregnant until doing atkins 4 years ago. It gave me regular cycles which I hadn't had since I was 18 thus being able to ovulate.

[logos]

People do "Atkins" in a number of different ways. Some of those ways could easily involve a diet low in folic acid, which is needed to prevent a certain kind of birth defect and is the reason for pre-natal vitamins. It might predispose to this type of defect.

While i'm not sure if its a good idea to even try to conceive on Atkins, it seems that it would be important to be on pre-natal vitamins before trying (which is advisable for any woman given that the kind of birth defect that folic acid prevents typically occurs even before the woman knows shes pregnant...).

[Sadia Naseeb]

Thank you all of you for your valuable replies.

[willbethin]

I had to be on fertility pills with my first two pregnancy, (3 Kids, Twins & a single). I had never prevent getting pregnant in 16 years of marriage. But after I lost a lot of weight on Atkins and ended up pregnant and two and a half years after that again with no fertility pills.

Like Jadensmom said, my menstrual cycles began two weeks after starting Atkins and was every month for years. I think I had only had about 15 in the last 20 years before starting Atkins.