How Do You Know if Your Pregnancy Weight is Healthy?
When you're pregnant, you certainly gain weight. However, if you were overweight even before pregnancy, the risk of different complications, such as gestational diabetes, high blood pressure conditions like preeclampsia, and the need to go through a C-section during the delivery of the baby.
Meanwhile, if you were underweight before pregnancy, it is important that you gain a substantial amount of weight during pregnancy. If you don't gain extra weight, your baby is likely to be born smaller than average.
However, health experts say that you should not gain too much. If you do so during pregnancy, it might increase your baby's risks, like being born considerably bigger than the expected size. Such occurrence is also known as fetal macrosomia.
If you gain too much weight while you're pregnant, you might be at higher risk of pregnancy-related high blood pressure, prolonged labor, gestational diabetes, and the need to go through a C-section or premature delivery.
If you gain excessive weight while pregnant, you are likely to suffer from "postpartum weight retention" and have an increased risk of blood clots during the postpartum period.
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Pregnancy Weight Gain
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recent studies present that only 32 percent of women are able to gain the recommended amount of pregnancy weight.
It was found that 21 percent of women gain too little weight, and 48 percent gain too much.
The CDC also said that gaining less than the recommended amount of pregnancy weight is linked to the delivery of a very small baby. As a result, infants born way below their ideal size are likely to find it challenging to start breastfeeding.
They may also be at higher risk for diseases and may go through developmental delays, where they are unable to meet the milestones as they go through stages in life.
Meanwhile, gaining way beyond the recommended amount of pregnancy weight, as indicated on CDC's website, is linked to having a very large-sized baby upon birth. This can lead to complications where a Cesarean delivery is required, or the child might undergo childhood obesity.
Furthermore, gaining excessive weight before and during pregnancy can increase the amount of weight that you hold on to even after pregnancy, which could eventually result in obesity.
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Ideal Weight during Pregnancy
During the first trimester, most women don't experience too much weight gain, and this is definitely good news if you are suffering from morning sickness.
Additionally, if you have a healthy and normal weight at the start of your pregnancy, you need to gain just between one and four pounds during the first few months. You can make this happen by having a healthy diet. This means avoiding unnecessary calories.
During the second and third trimesters of your pregnancy, it is important to know that you have a steady weight gain, especially if you begin having a healthy weight or if you are underweight.
During these stages, expect to gain around one pound every week until you deliver your baby.
OB Gynecologists say, additional 300 calories each day or equivalent to half a sandwich and one glass of skim milk are enough to help you achieve this goal.
If you are overweight, or your Body Mass Index or BMI is 30 or even higher, the guidelines recommend that you gain weight of just half a pound each week during the second and third trimesters of your pregnancy. This means adding one glass of low-fat milk or one ounce of cheese, and one serving of fresh fruit to your diet.
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Sep 11, 2020 08:33 AM EDT
