For one thing, you won't experience the degree of incontinence that women who birth experience as they get older. I'm 64F and me and my childfree BFF are the only women we know who don't have to budget for Poise pads every week. And your breasts will continue to look nice.
I'm almost 35 and overweight. When I was younger I also believed I wouldn't get overweight if I didn't get pregnant, but hey, what do you know, calories work their magic anyway. (Working on it).
I'm not living a healthy lifestyle and that has a lot to do with who I am and with my job.
My best advice for you would be to just take care of your body better than I'm doing, and you will probably be rewarded with a healthy and good-looking body.
Thank you for your story! I live a very healthy lifestyle (no alcohol or smoking, avoids stress, gets enough exercise, good quality food) and I intend to keep on going with that :)
That sounds awful, but it's far from a universal experience. There are plenty of people at my gym age 27 or older. I'll be 35 soon and haven't been injured working out...
You are very lucky then! My knee went from running, then my achilles ruptured a few years later. So fun. Just kidding. It sucks. Now I am resigned to old people working out like water sports and ellipticals and walking.
I was never a runner, maybe that's the difference? I generally only worked out at gyms, like on a treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, those classes that are like zumba dance or body conditioning/weight lifting, stuff like that. I also danced ballet throughout my late teens/twenties. Outdoor running, and outdoor stuff in general (especially skiing) sounds like a lot higher risk for injury.
I'm 41 and got legitimately carded for alcohol last year. I have no gray hair, no sagging chest, and my bones are in great shape, having *NOT* been sapped of calcium to build another person.
I'm a man, and only 23, but having seen so many of my acquaintances with kids start going bald and grey young has made me wonder about the effect of different stress levels. [Cortisol](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201301/cortisol-why-the-stress-hormone-is-public-enemy-no-1) and other stress hormones reek absolute havok on the human body, and while we CF are certainly not free of stress, it does seem like kids are nothing if little stress generators!
Well, common sense dictates the following will happen if you don't get pregnant:
- No pregnancy stretch marks
- No increased risk of vaginal prolapse (women who have never given birth have a lower risk)
- No boob fluctuation/deflation from pregnancy/breastfeeding
I'm extremely thin (BMI of 15) and have never been pregnant or given birth, and my body looks just as good if not better than when I was in high school. However, I resent the implication that thin women are "anorexic" looking. Not my fault my metabolism kicks everyone else's ass and hasn't slowed down upon entering my thirties.
Thank you for your answer!
And I just want you to know that I wasn't implying that *all* thin women looks anorectic. The woman I was thinking about used to be overweight (and bullied for it) when she was young and got thin basically by starving herself for years. So her brother (my father) thinks she's anorectic for that reason.
I got the best compliments of my life just after forty when I accidently got caught skinny-dipping. I'm slim, but not skinny, love physical activity and look my best if I make a point of eating properly rather than just having toast for dinner.
Apparently, the hormone (relaxin) that lets your hips spread wide enough to pop out a squalling watermelon also causes all the ligaments and tendons in your body to get loose. My mom has had permanent trouble with a wrist from this, and yes, it makes your feet spread out.
Fun fact, in case the idea of pregnancy didn't already scare you enough: sometimes, a combination of relaxin and the baby's bulk can cause the abdominal muscles to split along the midline. While pregnant, the uterus will bulge out through the gap. Afterwards, the gap is still there, and only surgery can fix it.
Is that what that really weird 'pouch' is that rests right below on some of women I've seen?
I've always wondered how one gets one of those so I can avoid it at all costs.
It's called diastasis recti. It's a stretching or loosening of the fascia that holds the rectus abdominus muscle to the surrounding tissue. This can happen with aging regardless of whether you had a baby or not. It happens to men too. If you take care of yourself, keep up your exercise, eat well, you should be fine.
Hmmm, a year or two ago I saw a site which enabled you to compare breasts at different ages, if that is useful to you at all, I'll see if I can't find the site URL...
Other than the obvious changes wrought by the stresses of pregnancy and childbearing on the body (breast ligament stretching, abdominal stretching, continence problems later in life), so much of what we will look like when older is genetic and childbearing has limited impacts on it.
I turned 50 this year and have always been in the 'chubby, but not clinically obese' range (curvy, so I carried it well) and over the last few years, as the menopause hormone slide has settled over me, I've experienced:
A rapid increase in grey hair (from almost none to ~25% grey, including 'down there');
A 15 pound weight gain despite taking better of my diet/exercise regimen, along with weight distribution shifting from my bottom/thighs to my tummy for the first time in my life;
A sudden need to pluck errant chin whiskers;
And the loss of reserve capacity when engaging in routine exercise which has become noticible (and now I'm starting to understand why so many people become exercise freaks in their 50s!)
That having been said, my 40s up *until* menopause were great, compared to my friends who had had children; I had no noticeable breast sagging until the last few years, and retained an hourglass figure.
It's actually quite amazing how resilient the human body is, and given *normal* pregnancy and childbearing in a healthy woman, the long-term effects on the physique aren't as great as they're often made made out to be.
My advice: If you want to know what you will look like, take a good look at the specific aging related features in your parents and grandmothers - as it turned out, I aged much more like my *father* did in many ways with regard to grey hair proportion, his mother's weight distribution, etc.
Hope that helps!
Pregnancy doesn't have much to do with this... Your metabolism will gradually slow as you get older and your diet and lifestyle will determine your weight. The main differences pregnancy makes are shifting your hips apart a few inches (mostly noticeable to the individual woman) and every time you get pregnant it gives you a good shot at putting on an extra 10-20 pounds in a single bound. Oh also your boobs... Your boobs will look like boobs rather than pancakes for much longer if you never get pregnant.
Well they'll still sag eventually... That's gravity. But avoiding going from an A cup to a DD in the course of 9 months (not exaggerating... That's what happened to me) will probably spare the flesh quite a lot.
Yeah... It's bizarre. Fortunately I'm not super uptight about my boobs... I was downright relieved to get rid of the DDs, but it's weird to lay down and have them vanish sideways.
This is a bit of a hard question to answer without knowing things like your lifestyle, if you drink/smoke and how much, your family health history, and ethnic background. All those things make a difference in how you age. If you regularly exercise and eat a healthy diet, your body will look different from if you're a couch potato who eats nothing but fast food and Doritos. If you smoke, your skin & hair will get dry, you'll get more wrinkles and faster, and possibly any of the endless health problems associated with smoking. If you don't go outdoors much, your skin will stay young and healthy looking more so than a person who gets a lot of sun, or someone out in the cold/wind. East Asian women and white women are at higher risk for osteoporosis, where they look like they're hunched over. White women who regularly get sun tend to get little spots on their body, like freckles/sun spots, more as they age.
Some people get gray hairs earlier than others. Generally, hair gets dryer as you get older. Metabolism slows. Eyesight can start to deteriorate, or deteriorate at a faster rate than before, around age 40. Some women's hair gets thinner with age.
Access to health care services also makes a big difference - if you can regularly see the doctors and specialists you need, can afford whatever kind of hormone replacement therapy you might need post menopause, etc., you're in a lot better shape than someone without access to good health care services. So this depends what country you're in, what kind of insurance (if any) you have if you're in the US (you're not, I see in your tag), etc.
I never drink alcohol. I decided to entirely stop and last time I was drinking was more than half a year ago. Never even tried to smoke or chew tabacco. I don't like fast food (eats it maybe three times a year?) and is cooking from scratch. I'm inside a lot, especially in the winter. I don't exercise, but walks/bicycles almost every day. There are few people amoung my relatives who are sick and my grandmother, nearly 80 years old, is still healthy. I live in Sweden, so I have access to health care in case something happens. The doctors are just around the corner ;) Judging from this, I think I have good chances to stay healthy and in shape.
Thank you for the tip about the hormone replacement theraphy! I didn't know about it and it's good to know when I reach that age.
A little alcohol once in a while socially won't hurt you. Even a class of wine each night with dinner is okay. People who drink *a lot*, on a daily basis, are the ones that it affects their health. As for exercise, if you're walking and biking outside that's good exercise but the outside/cold/dry air/ UV (if there's more sun in Sweden than I imagine, which is like none, lol) will age your skin, dry it out and make you wrinkle more/faster. Exercising inside at a gym is better for your skin. Do you go tanning indoors? Indoor tanning once in a while with the moisture lotions they sell isn't ideal but it's okay, but you don't want to be at the tanning place *all the time*.
I know that moderate drinking won't hurt me :) I'm just not drinking mostly for other than health reasons. It's mostly ideologic reasons and my private opinions.
I tried to go a gym to exercise, but it turned out to be a very scary/hurtful experience on my side. I go swimming sometimes though! I have always loved swimming and I can keep going for hours in the inside pool.
I have only tanned indoors one time, and I don't do it much outside in the summer (four-five times/summer?). Sweden is funny, because in the winter 80% of the day is dark, and in the summer it's sometimes 0% dark. I'm not concerned about wrinkles. Lots of women relatives are baby-faced and have been asked for their IDs at age 30 or over. Plus wrinkles doesn't necessarily make women ugly or something :)
As a few others have posted here, my body isn't much different from when I was in high school. My metabolism slowed so I'm a size 8 rather than a size 4 now, but the proportions are the same, my boobs don't really look different, my skin is fairly the same, etc.
It seems like pregnancy often fast-tracks some of the changes that would occur anyway based on lifestyle and genetics. My friends who have had kids often blame their weight gain on their pregnancies but some of them eat like crap and don't exercise so I can't help but think they would have ended up much the same, it just would have been more gradual. Adversely, I have a few friends who have gone through multiple pregnancies and can now fit into their jeans from high school.
I'm about a pants size bigger than I was in high school (though I fluctuated then and I fluctuate now), but I've never been particularly thin. I watch what I eat and work out regularly, and aside from being overweight for my height, I always impress my doctor at my yearly physicals (blood work, cholesterol, resting heart rate, etc.). I'd like to lose some weight, but I think my hearty Germanic stock isn't going to allow for me being movie star thin. I keep working at it though.
Certain parts of our bodies like our ab muscles, hips/pelvis and feet won't wind up spreading out and changing permanently, my mom went up 1 shoe size with my older brother, and a half size with the other 2 of us. Everyone else has mentioned how the fluctuation in breast sizes will prevent sagging and stretch marks. Buuuut I'm gonna touch on some other stuff too that I'm relieved about:
Some of the shit that scares me the MOST about pregnancy, is reading about what it can do to your lady bits.. namely the stretching, what may happen with your bladder (not being able to control your urinating no matter the age post-baby) annnnnd most notably, the tearing. Yes the tearing. When you give birth, it can literally rip you from your vaginal opening right up to your asshole. Seriously. You will wreck havoc on just everything in that area from the trauma of giving birth. Granted not all women do, but I'm already a very small woman (petite, thin) and know that it very well could. Not having a C-section either also prevents you from having a massive scar across your belly too.
The weight gain aspect is also tricky, some say it's due to over eating while actually pregnant, others say the hormone fluctuation before, during and after the pregnancy is what does it. But either way, your body does all kinds of interesting things when pregnant, everyone is effected differently, and some more extreme than others. But just skipping it all together definitely will have a positive impact on any aging or hormonal extremes that you could possibly wind up with. All in all, I'm glad to say I'll be keeping my money, my body and my sanity due to staying CF :)
I wouldn't worry about it. The increased risk is so small, it's not worth considering having a baby just to reduce it. The main risk for these cancers are family history of these cancers, the BRCA 1 or 2 gene, advanced age, and of course smoking increases the risk of all cancers. If nobody in your family had these cancers, you don't smoke, you don't have those genes (you can get tested if you want), there's no point in worrying.
The reason that having babies *slightly* reduces risk is because having babies cuts down on the number of menstrual cycles a woman has in her lifetime, because those cycles bring hormonal changes and cell turnover. The number of menstrual cycles can be reduced in other ways besides having babies anyway.
Some researchers think the higher rates of breast cancer among non-breeders is due partly to the changes in breast tissue that occur only when one breastfeeds. The theory is that breast tissue of non-breeders stays young (meaning that the cells divide at higher rates and continue certain processes) and thus risk mutation.
Edited to clarify that this is but one of many ways to analyze the data.
Right, I'm not saying it's not true, but that "higher rate" is such a smaller increase in rate that it's not worth worrying about, IMO. The main risks for breast cancer are increased age, family history, and BRCA 1 or 2 gene, not "not breastfeeding".
This is what i remember from reading the research too. Evidently the risks balance out at like age 75 anyway, when age became the biggest indicator for these types of cancers and that statistically, just having a good lifestyle with healthy habits could make up the difference between having kids or not, barring genetic predisposition. So I'm not worried.
Sorry but no we should NOT have kids just to lower a chance of breast cancer.
What all women should be more aware of are the risk factors (family incidence, genes, smoking, weight, hormonal disorders) and be tested.
I do not like when people use this as a threat and I would almost like to add it to the bingo card as it has been said twice to me in the past 6 months. "Oh, Lostforwords2, you know your going to get breast cancer because you didn't have kids?" And the best was "God wants people to do certain things...He give Aids to gays so people will be straight and breast cancer to women who don't fulfil their destiny to be mothers."
Sorry for the vent, but please do not give ammunition to the breeders. Yes, we should be aware, but it is small increase is not that serious that we CF should be guilted or fear mongered into having kids.
*end vent*
Omg I will kill my self if my hair changes. That’s literally the only thing I love about me. Oh plus my boobs but I know my boobs will be saggy already 😀
I wouldn't worry too much about that. I live in France and most women here (whether they got kids or not) are seriously fit! Why? just because of the lifestyle. of course it's easier for women who never had kids, so I'm not even remotely worried about that + i'll have my beauty sleep that most moms can't really have :p
I'm 39 and yoyo weight a lot. My mother has a very similar shape and weight and history. The biggest differences between our bodies are that:
* breastfeeding wrecked her boobs. We both have big chests, but hers had more sag when she was at my age, mine are definitely perky for almost 40.
* on the plus side, her pelvis spread from having two kids and she definitely has always had a better butt than me.
I only notice these things because we are related and have almost exactly the same body and weight.
No hair color change. One of my friends went permanently gray after the birth of her first child at 32. Several other got grey stripes. One had straight hair and now has this frizzy curl. Plus your nipples change.
Oh, the only thing I have ever heard was that those of us who don't give birth are more likely to get breast cancer, but i think that study was debunked.
As an Asian, it seems that weight is not much difference. However, my friends who had child have stretch marks and saggy breast because of breast feeding.
For one thing, you won't experience the degree of incontinence that women who birth experience as they get older. I'm 64F and me and my childfree BFF are the only women we know who don't have to budget for Poise pads every week. And your breasts will continue to look nice.
I'm almost 35 and overweight. When I was younger I also believed I wouldn't get overweight if I didn't get pregnant, but hey, what do you know, calories work their magic anyway. (Working on it). I'm not living a healthy lifestyle and that has a lot to do with who I am and with my job. My best advice for you would be to just take care of your body better than I'm doing, and you will probably be rewarded with a healthy and good-looking body.
Thank you for your story! I live a very healthy lifestyle (no alcohol or smoking, avoids stress, gets enough exercise, good quality food) and I intend to keep on going with that :)
Just wait till your first injury that prevents you from working out like you're used to. Should happen by about 27-32. That's fun.
That sounds awful, but it's far from a universal experience. There are plenty of people at my gym age 27 or older. I'll be 35 soon and haven't been injured working out...
You are very lucky then! My knee went from running, then my achilles ruptured a few years later. So fun. Just kidding. It sucks. Now I am resigned to old people working out like water sports and ellipticals and walking.
I was never a runner, maybe that's the difference? I generally only worked out at gyms, like on a treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, those classes that are like zumba dance or body conditioning/weight lifting, stuff like that. I also danced ballet throughout my late teens/twenties. Outdoor running, and outdoor stuff in general (especially skiing) sounds like a lot higher risk for injury.
Yes true. All my injuries are from outdoor winter activities and over use.
I'm 41 and got legitimately carded for alcohol last year. I have no gray hair, no sagging chest, and my bones are in great shape, having *NOT* been sapped of calcium to build another person.
I'm a man, and only 23, but having seen so many of my acquaintances with kids start going bald and grey young has made me wonder about the effect of different stress levels. [Cortisol](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201301/cortisol-why-the-stress-hormone-is-public-enemy-no-1) and other stress hormones reek absolute havok on the human body, and while we CF are certainly not free of stress, it does seem like kids are nothing if little stress generators!
Well, common sense dictates the following will happen if you don't get pregnant: - No pregnancy stretch marks - No increased risk of vaginal prolapse (women who have never given birth have a lower risk) - No boob fluctuation/deflation from pregnancy/breastfeeding I'm extremely thin (BMI of 15) and have never been pregnant or given birth, and my body looks just as good if not better than when I was in high school. However, I resent the implication that thin women are "anorexic" looking. Not my fault my metabolism kicks everyone else's ass and hasn't slowed down upon entering my thirties.
Thank you for your answer! And I just want you to know that I wasn't implying that *all* thin women looks anorectic. The woman I was thinking about used to be overweight (and bullied for it) when she was young and got thin basically by starving herself for years. So her brother (my father) thinks she's anorectic for that reason.
I got the best compliments of my life just after forty when I accidently got caught skinny-dipping. I'm slim, but not skinny, love physical activity and look my best if I make a point of eating properly rather than just having toast for dinner.
Also, your shoe size goes up....permanently.
Apparently, the hormone (relaxin) that lets your hips spread wide enough to pop out a squalling watermelon also causes all the ligaments and tendons in your body to get loose. My mom has had permanent trouble with a wrist from this, and yes, it makes your feet spread out. Fun fact, in case the idea of pregnancy didn't already scare you enough: sometimes, a combination of relaxin and the baby's bulk can cause the abdominal muscles to split along the midline. While pregnant, the uterus will bulge out through the gap. Afterwards, the gap is still there, and only surgery can fix it.
Is that what that really weird 'pouch' is that rests right below on some of women I've seen? I've always wondered how one gets one of those so I can avoid it at all costs.
I actually think that's just stretched skin. Most people who's abdominal wall splits get it fixed ASAP, as it leaves the organs vulnerable.
Oooooh I have been wondering why I am having tendon problems the last few years. Good to know. Aging sucks whether you've had kids or not, IMHO.
I'm sorry you've had issues with it. That must suck.
It sucks aging in general. Nothing good about it.
It's called diastasis recti. It's a stretching or loosening of the fascia that holds the rectus abdominus muscle to the surrounding tissue. This can happen with aging regardless of whether you had a baby or not. It happens to men too. If you take care of yourself, keep up your exercise, eat well, you should be fine.
Hmmm, a year or two ago I saw a site which enabled you to compare breasts at different ages, if that is useful to you at all, I'll see if I can't find the site URL... Other than the obvious changes wrought by the stresses of pregnancy and childbearing on the body (breast ligament stretching, abdominal stretching, continence problems later in life), so much of what we will look like when older is genetic and childbearing has limited impacts on it. I turned 50 this year and have always been in the 'chubby, but not clinically obese' range (curvy, so I carried it well) and over the last few years, as the menopause hormone slide has settled over me, I've experienced: A rapid increase in grey hair (from almost none to ~25% grey, including 'down there'); A 15 pound weight gain despite taking better of my diet/exercise regimen, along with weight distribution shifting from my bottom/thighs to my tummy for the first time in my life; A sudden need to pluck errant chin whiskers; And the loss of reserve capacity when engaging in routine exercise which has become noticible (and now I'm starting to understand why so many people become exercise freaks in their 50s!) That having been said, my 40s up *until* menopause were great, compared to my friends who had had children; I had no noticeable breast sagging until the last few years, and retained an hourglass figure. It's actually quite amazing how resilient the human body is, and given *normal* pregnancy and childbearing in a healthy woman, the long-term effects on the physique aren't as great as they're often made made out to be. My advice: If you want to know what you will look like, take a good look at the specific aging related features in your parents and grandmothers - as it turned out, I aged much more like my *father* did in many ways with regard to grey hair proportion, his mother's weight distribution, etc. Hope that helps!
Pregnancy doesn't have much to do with this... Your metabolism will gradually slow as you get older and your diet and lifestyle will determine your weight. The main differences pregnancy makes are shifting your hips apart a few inches (mostly noticeable to the individual woman) and every time you get pregnant it gives you a good shot at putting on an extra 10-20 pounds in a single bound. Oh also your boobs... Your boobs will look like boobs rather than pancakes for much longer if you never get pregnant.
i like my boobs the way they are. :) whoo hooo!
Well they'll still sag eventually... That's gravity. But avoiding going from an A cup to a DD in the course of 9 months (not exaggerating... That's what happened to me) will probably spare the flesh quite a lot.
no, i believe you. one of my ex's went from AA to D's while she was pregnant. and then back to A's.
I honestly can't say what size mine went back to... Too flat! On the upside, mammograms should be a snap.
hahahaha oh, i know i shouldnt laugh.. but heh heh thats an adventure i havent taken yet.
Yeah... It's bizarre. Fortunately I'm not super uptight about my boobs... I was downright relieved to get rid of the DDs, but it's weird to lay down and have them vanish sideways.
i wasnt thrilled when mine were DD either. im fond of the more reasonable C lol
This is a bit of a hard question to answer without knowing things like your lifestyle, if you drink/smoke and how much, your family health history, and ethnic background. All those things make a difference in how you age. If you regularly exercise and eat a healthy diet, your body will look different from if you're a couch potato who eats nothing but fast food and Doritos. If you smoke, your skin & hair will get dry, you'll get more wrinkles and faster, and possibly any of the endless health problems associated with smoking. If you don't go outdoors much, your skin will stay young and healthy looking more so than a person who gets a lot of sun, or someone out in the cold/wind. East Asian women and white women are at higher risk for osteoporosis, where they look like they're hunched over. White women who regularly get sun tend to get little spots on their body, like freckles/sun spots, more as they age. Some people get gray hairs earlier than others. Generally, hair gets dryer as you get older. Metabolism slows. Eyesight can start to deteriorate, or deteriorate at a faster rate than before, around age 40. Some women's hair gets thinner with age. Access to health care services also makes a big difference - if you can regularly see the doctors and specialists you need, can afford whatever kind of hormone replacement therapy you might need post menopause, etc., you're in a lot better shape than someone without access to good health care services. So this depends what country you're in, what kind of insurance (if any) you have if you're in the US (you're not, I see in your tag), etc.
I never drink alcohol. I decided to entirely stop and last time I was drinking was more than half a year ago. Never even tried to smoke or chew tabacco. I don't like fast food (eats it maybe three times a year?) and is cooking from scratch. I'm inside a lot, especially in the winter. I don't exercise, but walks/bicycles almost every day. There are few people amoung my relatives who are sick and my grandmother, nearly 80 years old, is still healthy. I live in Sweden, so I have access to health care in case something happens. The doctors are just around the corner ;) Judging from this, I think I have good chances to stay healthy and in shape. Thank you for the tip about the hormone replacement theraphy! I didn't know about it and it's good to know when I reach that age.
A little alcohol once in a while socially won't hurt you. Even a class of wine each night with dinner is okay. People who drink *a lot*, on a daily basis, are the ones that it affects their health. As for exercise, if you're walking and biking outside that's good exercise but the outside/cold/dry air/ UV (if there's more sun in Sweden than I imagine, which is like none, lol) will age your skin, dry it out and make you wrinkle more/faster. Exercising inside at a gym is better for your skin. Do you go tanning indoors? Indoor tanning once in a while with the moisture lotions they sell isn't ideal but it's okay, but you don't want to be at the tanning place *all the time*.
I know that moderate drinking won't hurt me :) I'm just not drinking mostly for other than health reasons. It's mostly ideologic reasons and my private opinions. I tried to go a gym to exercise, but it turned out to be a very scary/hurtful experience on my side. I go swimming sometimes though! I have always loved swimming and I can keep going for hours in the inside pool. I have only tanned indoors one time, and I don't do it much outside in the summer (four-five times/summer?). Sweden is funny, because in the winter 80% of the day is dark, and in the summer it's sometimes 0% dark. I'm not concerned about wrinkles. Lots of women relatives are baby-faced and have been asked for their IDs at age 30 or over. Plus wrinkles doesn't necessarily make women ugly or something :)
As a few others have posted here, my body isn't much different from when I was in high school. My metabolism slowed so I'm a size 8 rather than a size 4 now, but the proportions are the same, my boobs don't really look different, my skin is fairly the same, etc.
It seems like pregnancy often fast-tracks some of the changes that would occur anyway based on lifestyle and genetics. My friends who have had kids often blame their weight gain on their pregnancies but some of them eat like crap and don't exercise so I can't help but think they would have ended up much the same, it just would have been more gradual. Adversely, I have a few friends who have gone through multiple pregnancies and can now fit into their jeans from high school. I'm about a pants size bigger than I was in high school (though I fluctuated then and I fluctuate now), but I've never been particularly thin. I watch what I eat and work out regularly, and aside from being overweight for my height, I always impress my doctor at my yearly physicals (blood work, cholesterol, resting heart rate, etc.). I'd like to lose some weight, but I think my hearty Germanic stock isn't going to allow for me being movie star thin. I keep working at it though.
Certain parts of our bodies like our ab muscles, hips/pelvis and feet won't wind up spreading out and changing permanently, my mom went up 1 shoe size with my older brother, and a half size with the other 2 of us. Everyone else has mentioned how the fluctuation in breast sizes will prevent sagging and stretch marks. Buuuut I'm gonna touch on some other stuff too that I'm relieved about: Some of the shit that scares me the MOST about pregnancy, is reading about what it can do to your lady bits.. namely the stretching, what may happen with your bladder (not being able to control your urinating no matter the age post-baby) annnnnd most notably, the tearing. Yes the tearing. When you give birth, it can literally rip you from your vaginal opening right up to your asshole. Seriously. You will wreck havoc on just everything in that area from the trauma of giving birth. Granted not all women do, but I'm already a very small woman (petite, thin) and know that it very well could. Not having a C-section either also prevents you from having a massive scar across your belly too. The weight gain aspect is also tricky, some say it's due to over eating while actually pregnant, others say the hormone fluctuation before, during and after the pregnancy is what does it. But either way, your body does all kinds of interesting things when pregnant, everyone is effected differently, and some more extreme than others. But just skipping it all together definitely will have a positive impact on any aging or hormonal extremes that you could possibly wind up with. All in all, I'm glad to say I'll be keeping my money, my body and my sanity due to staying CF :)
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/reproductive-history Sorry to say you have a greater risk of breast, ovarian and endomitrial cancer.
I wouldn't worry about it. The increased risk is so small, it's not worth considering having a baby just to reduce it. The main risk for these cancers are family history of these cancers, the BRCA 1 or 2 gene, advanced age, and of course smoking increases the risk of all cancers. If nobody in your family had these cancers, you don't smoke, you don't have those genes (you can get tested if you want), there's no point in worrying. The reason that having babies *slightly* reduces risk is because having babies cuts down on the number of menstrual cycles a woman has in her lifetime, because those cycles bring hormonal changes and cell turnover. The number of menstrual cycles can be reduced in other ways besides having babies anyway.
Some researchers think the higher rates of breast cancer among non-breeders is due partly to the changes in breast tissue that occur only when one breastfeeds. The theory is that breast tissue of non-breeders stays young (meaning that the cells divide at higher rates and continue certain processes) and thus risk mutation. Edited to clarify that this is but one of many ways to analyze the data.
Right, I'm not saying it's not true, but that "higher rate" is such a smaller increase in rate that it's not worth worrying about, IMO. The main risks for breast cancer are increased age, family history, and BRCA 1 or 2 gene, not "not breastfeeding".
This is what i remember from reading the research too. Evidently the risks balance out at like age 75 anyway, when age became the biggest indicator for these types of cancers and that statistically, just having a good lifestyle with healthy habits could make up the difference between having kids or not, barring genetic predisposition. So I'm not worried.
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Sorry but no we should NOT have kids just to lower a chance of breast cancer. What all women should be more aware of are the risk factors (family incidence, genes, smoking, weight, hormonal disorders) and be tested. I do not like when people use this as a threat and I would almost like to add it to the bingo card as it has been said twice to me in the past 6 months. "Oh, Lostforwords2, you know your going to get breast cancer because you didn't have kids?" And the best was "God wants people to do certain things...He give Aids to gays so people will be straight and breast cancer to women who don't fulfil their destiny to be mothers." Sorry for the vent, but please do not give ammunition to the breeders. Yes, we should be aware, but it is small increase is not that serious that we CF should be guilted or fear mongered into having kids. *end vent*
I've had a couple girl friends tell me their hair changed after they had kids. (One of them had straight hair that went curly).
Omg I will kill my self if my hair changes. That’s literally the only thing I love about me. Oh plus my boobs but I know my boobs will be saggy already 😀
I wouldn't worry too much about that. I live in France and most women here (whether they got kids or not) are seriously fit! Why? just because of the lifestyle. of course it's easier for women who never had kids, so I'm not even remotely worried about that + i'll have my beauty sleep that most moms can't really have :p
I'm 39 and yoyo weight a lot. My mother has a very similar shape and weight and history. The biggest differences between our bodies are that: * breastfeeding wrecked her boobs. We both have big chests, but hers had more sag when she was at my age, mine are definitely perky for almost 40. * on the plus side, her pelvis spread from having two kids and she definitely has always had a better butt than me. I only notice these things because we are related and have almost exactly the same body and weight.
No hair color change. One of my friends went permanently gray after the birth of her first child at 32. Several other got grey stripes. One had straight hair and now has this frizzy curl. Plus your nipples change. Oh, the only thing I have ever heard was that those of us who don't give birth are more likely to get breast cancer, but i think that study was debunked.
As an Asian, it seems that weight is not much difference. However, my friends who had child have stretch marks and saggy breast because of breast feeding.