How much wait should I gain during pregnancy?

It is important that a pregnant woman gain weight during pregnancy but pregnancy for obese women is different. They need to work very closely with their doctor to make sure that they don't gain too much weight.

Teresa Hillier, MD, senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research has found that if a woman gains 40 lbs or more, it doubles the risk of having a baby that is more than 9 pounds. That generally means risks to health of both mother and child.

The rule of thumb is that just because you are pregnant it does not mean that you can binge or eat without counting your calories. Plus, while your exercise routine should change, you must still engage in proper exercise. This will also allow you to lose weight easily after childbirth.

Poor sperm quality

Right now if you do not know that being fat is bad, you are either a moron or living under a stone. This is not the place to discuss all the complications associated with being overweight, but I want to highlight one major problem for men who want to make a baby but are fat. It is widely documented that pregnancy for obese women is a huge risk and fertility of overweight women is much lower than that of physically fit ladies.

New research from University of Aberdeen by Ghiyath Shayeb says that obese men have lower sperm count than normal-weight men, their sperms are also of poor quality and could have damaged DNA raising the risk of birth abnormalities. In other words their sperms do not move fast and far enough, and are therefore, incapable of fertilization, and are thus a major cause of infertility in men.

The net result is that unless the woman is very healthy and could compensate for a man's sperm problems, it is best that obese people first get on a weight loss program before considering to become parents.

Why am I fat?

If I look at all the ads on television for losing weight, I started to think that people were really trying to become skinny through diet, exercise, or weight loss surgery.

How wrong I was! According to a new poll from Woman's Day magazine, only 8% of those polled admitted to exercising on a regular basis, yet when asked what they most wish for, 37% stated to be thinner. Just to put it in perspective, two out of three Americans have a weight problem.

And while I also thought that women would want to look younger -- I want to and am terrified of getting old -- in this poll only 6% stated to look younger.

The final shock came to me when I read that if given the option, 78% would rather get a million dollar payout than have Jennifer Aniston's slim physique.

I guess we now know why so many women are fat. They are simply not willing to do the hard work needed to lose weight and would happily waste money on diet pills.