The weight you gain during pregnancy is important for a good development during the 9 months, but also for the long-term health of you and the child. We offer you some recommendations regarding gaining weight during pregnancy and the steps you can take to achieve your goal of maintaining a normal weight.
A healthy and balanced diet will help the baby get the nutrients it needs to grow at a healthy pace. Although you need a few extra calories, you don’t need to eat for 2. You should be getting about 300 more calories a day than when you weren’t pregnant. This will help you not gain too much weight towards the end of your pregnancy. During this period it is better to think more about quality than quantity. Taste everything, in moderation!
Weight before pregnancy is also important
Everything you eat before and after conception influences the child. It is true that nutrition during intrauterine life is of greater importance and that it must contain all the nutritional elements: proteins, fats, carbohydrates. Get used to eating less and more often before you find out that you will have a child. Not only will you avoid excessive weight gain before and during pregnancy, but you will have a better chance of avoiding nausea, heartburn, digestive disorders during the 9 months. No matter how busy you are, get used to cooking and give up fast food, fried foods, semi-prepared foods.
What would be the normal weight of the pregnant woman
If you are afraid of the extra kilos, find out that at the end of the 9 months, if you ate healthy, you should have a maximum of 16 extra kilos. In the case of a twin pregnancy, 3-4 kilograms are added. Overall, of the total weight gain during pregnancy, in addition to the 3-4 kg of the baby at term, the additional weight is due to the placenta (0.7 kg), essential for the transmission of nutrients to the fetus, muscles and fat that accumulates to strengthen your body and increase your energy reserves (2.6 kg), amniotic fluid (1 kg), increasing the volume of the breasts to be ready for breastfeeding (1 kg), blood and body fluids, which contributes to the feeding and oxygenation of the baby (1.5 kg) and the enlargement of the uterus 20 times more than the normal size (1 kg).
Variable weight gain
Some women may gain more weight than others during pregnancy. However, it is recommended to control your body weight during this period. A pregnant woman with a weight considered normal will have an easier pregnancy, an uncomplicated birth and a smooth recovery. In the first half of pregnancy, you will not gain much weight, possibly only 4-5 kilograms, but in the last 4-5 months, the weight gain is greater, reaching up to 2 kilograms per month.
What complications can excessive weight gain cause?
Since weight gain during pregnancy does not only occur in the waist and thighs, but throughout the body, it will be much more difficult to lose weight after childbirth if you lose control of your body weight. Being overweight, regardless of whether it was before pregnancy or acquired during the 9 months, is a factor that can cause various health problems, such as gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, increased thromboembolic risk and obesity in the long term.
Careful!
Avoid dieting to avoid weight gain, because nutritional deficiencies can cause pregnancy complications and health problems for the baby!
Advice
Check your weight once a week and at routine gynecological check-ups, but not more often, to avoid anxiety.
Expert advice
Dr. Andreas Vythoulkas, specialist in obstetrics-gynecology, with overspecialization in infertility
There are risks when you accumulate too many kilograms, but also when you gain too little weight. Too many kilograms during pregnancy can equate to the risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension and various complications during labor and birth. Too few kilograms for a future mother can lead to a low weight of the child and premature birth. Supplementing the number of calories should only increase in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy, so that at the end of pregnancy, an active pregnant woman without health problems should consume a maximum of 2,500-2,800 calories per day.
