Before Pregnancy

Once pregnant I plan to do monthly photo's of my belly getting bigger. Similar to what I did with the house but with me as the focus. I think it will be fun and a great way to document the pregnancy. I am also going to try and describe what it feels like. As a Type A personality I do research and while I could find out what happens to the baby each month finding out what it actually feels like to be pregnant was hard. I know you get morning sickness but does it feel like a stomach virus or more like the flu? What does it feel like when a baby kicks or moves? I have asked those that have kids and its been either so long ago that they don't remember those details or they couldn't describe it. I hope to be able to describe it.

Lots of other bloggers do the monthly photos of pregnant belly's but one thing I notice is they never do a before pregnancy. I often cant tell from the 1st month if there is a change or not because I don't know what their normal is. They say there is a change but as an outsider....sometimes I can't tell. So I decided I should do a "before pregnancy" shot so that we will know if there is a change or not :) Brian doesn't like this project as he will have to take pictures of me.

Front View

Side view

When I am actually pregnant I am going to switch pants. For this experiment I want to limit the variables as much as possible and I have other yoga pants which I will be able to wear longer then the ones above.

Also I should take the opportunity here to state why I do not agree with the BMI as a gauge of weight loss/health. Currently I am 5'5" and about 148lbs FINALLY I am within the normal range of BMI. However, I am not doing as much weight lifting so I have lost muscle mass. When I was doing more weight classes my BMI was considered obese....barely but still. I really didn't look much different then I do in the above photos, I just have less toning now. Muscle ways more then fat so when I start back with the weights I will gain weight because of the muscle. I have never ever ever been obese. Calling me obese at any point in my weight journey is just wrong and I hate how it must make people feel who are obese. If I am considered obese when I look like the above, how do you "classify" them? How do they keep the motivation to lose those lbs if they will still be labeled obese when they get down to my size? I am not a nutritionist or anyone who has any degree in this but there has to be a better system to gauge these things that will take into account not just height and weight but also how much muscle you have. There may be a better system, if so people in the health industry should use that to gauge whether someone is at the appropriate weight for their health, not the bmi. Yes we have a lot of obese people in America but I am not one of them.