My Atkins Pregnancy Experience

[Amanda T]

I would like to start off by saying that this board is one of the best I have come across. I absolutely love it.
I started Atkins January first, and lost 30 lbs in 3 months time. I was finally feeling pretty again, and next thing you know, I'm pregnant! This was a surprise, as my oldest is 16, my younger is 4, and my husband is 44- we definetly weren't trying for a third. But after a while I was very, very happy. The challenge was trying to move into Maintenance, especially since my stomach rebelled when I introduced more carbs into my diet. However, I finally manged to stop ketosis.
7 weeks into my pregnancy I had a day when I had horrible gas sensations, my stomach distended, and I was extremely uncomfortable for 24 hours. The next day I started bleeding, and a trip to the ER confirmed no embryo in my uterus, and a suspicious spot in my abdomen by ultrasound. As it turns out I had an abdominal pregnancy which self terminated. The bloating was an accumulation of fluid in my abdomen, most likely blood and the "products of conception". I hate that term, this was my poor lost baby. For a while I have wondered if my loss was caused by my diet and exercise program ( I exercise vigorously 6-7 nights a week), and I've been second guessing my every bite. However, I know that in actuality my body was really healthier, and should have been better able to nurture a baby, this was just my very very bad luck.
I've decided to try once more to have a baby, after resuming my normal cycles. This time I'll religiously stick to the maintenance phase of Atkins. I am looking forward to having a healthy pregnancy, and growing a healthy child. It is encouraging to come hear and read accounts of women having successful pregnancies with Atkins, and I am really looking forward to the day when I join that group.

[missy_33]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. Remember that your baby is now your own angel just for you and the rest of your family. I don't know about the eating habits,I've seen women eat nothing but pure juck and everything turned out o.k. I've seen gestational diabetics not follow any healthy eating habits and by the grace of God,the baby was fine. None knows why thses things happen,but they happen for a reason. Again,I'm so sorry.

[Justwannaloseafewlbs]

Amanda: I am so very sorry for the loss of your little baby. While I am not a doctor, I do not think the Atkins diet had anything to do with the loss of your pregnancy. That is the sort of thing than can happen to any woman, like an ectopic pregnancy, which is fairly common. I haven't seen any research on the effects of low-carb diets on pregnancy, and I am not aware that any has been done. It might be something to look into.

However, if you do a little research online, you can find out about the communities of people living in the fringes of habitable regions, such as the native americans in Alaska, who traditionally ate animals and very very little plant matter (they also ate organ meat and ofal for vitamins). The point is that there are entire communities that have survived for generations by eating diets extremely low in carbohydrates. These people must have lived most of their lives in a state of ketosis, yet they continued to have babies and make families for thousands of years. I do not want to imply here that a mom should strive for ketosis during pregnancy by any means. I just want to explain why I think this WOE is not necessarily at fault.

I really think that what happened to you and your baby was an unfortunate event beyond your control. I wish you the best of luck in having another baby, a health pregnancy thereafter, and a smooth and easy birth!

[slimndown]

Sorry for your loss. I just wanted to reinforce that this WOE isn't particularly harmful. I just had my baby a few weeks ago and, up until the last couple of months of pregnancy, I was in ketosis. The diet had no negative effects on my baby or conception. Unfortunately, sometimes these things just happen. My best wishes for your next attempt .