The reports indicate that there is now a trend in which “Expectant mothers are dieting and exercising to excess as they try to mimic Hollywood stars with svelte figures weeks after giving birth”

Here’s and example of one of these reports:

As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, I (of course) have the utmost of concern for the wellbeing of the fetus; and would consider anything done to harm a fetus inadvisable at best and criminal at worst. 

However, let’s try and back away from the hype and analyze this objectively.

From the above report, let’s first look at the good points made by Dr. Holly Phillips:

1. Pregnant women should not focus on scale weight – good point.
2. Exercise is good and has many benefits for the pregnant patient. – excellent point.
3. Don’t overdo exercise and don’t push yourself to the point of exhaustion. – absolutely.

However, there were also a few points made which were (in my opinion) unjustified.  These are:

1. Caloric restriction can lead to  birth defects? Whoa., I may be wrong, but I could not find a medical reference to back that up.  In fact, there is good evidence that a prolonged caloric SURPLUS can cause abnormal growth in cells and this has been linked to cancer.  Who knows what it might do to a fetus?
2. Hypoxia from excercise can lead to neurological problems? Wait a minute.  Hypoxia from chronic lung disease or from asphyxiation of the fetus during labor can lead to neurological problems, but, to obtain that level of oxygen deficit from exercise is (once again in my opinion) impossible.

I didn’t intend to flame Dr. Phillips, but I do think there should be some perspective to what she said. 

As in all things, moderation is the key.

More to follow on this topic.

At first, this struck me as a whole lot of exercise for a pretty modest degree of weight loss.  Many of the patient’s that I see on a daily basis get far less exercise than that.  And (unfortunately) we see the results on a daily basis.

I began thinking, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we as a medical community made a push to really educate patients regarding how much is required to over come obesity with lifestyle changes. 

In digging through the article, I noticed that the authors used an electronic sensor to monitor how many calories the patient’s were burning each day.  I figured it would be great to test out this monitor in a pilot program in some of the postpartum (post delivery) patients that I see in the office.

I contacted the makers of the particular sensor (BodyMedia and SenseWear) but to date, I have not gotten a response.

The bodybugg ( http://www.bodybugg.com/) looks like the same kind of device.

Here is a Youtube video.

BodyBugg on Youtube

I will check it out and report back.