During pregnancy, it is normal for expectant mothers to gradually gain weight – but this obviousness can cause some dilemmas. How to control your weight to get back in shape quickly after giving birth? How Much Should You Gain During Pregnancy? We answer these and other questions below.
Weight during pregnancy is an individual matter. How much we gain weight is determined by our genes, lifestyle and weight before conception, as well as the size of the baby. It happens that a newborn weighs little, and other times a 4-kilogram baby is born.
We normally control our weight using BMI, but this is impossible during pregnancy. Such a check will be carried out only by the attending physician, who weighs the patient every visit, always on the same scale. It is therefore important to visit your gynecologist regularly and check that everything is going well.
How Much Can You Gain During Pregnancy?
The answer to such a question is not universal, because we are different from each other. Organisms react in different ways to particular changes in the body, especially during pregnancy. Nevertheless, a “range” was defined, in which the expectant mother should more or less fit. For nine months, the weight gradually increases, and finally it reaches 10 to 12 kilograms. This value consists of: uterus (1kg), blood and other body fluids (3kg), breasts (up to 2kg), amniotic fluid (1-2kg), placenta (0,5-1kg), baby (3-4kg).
7 kg is lost soon after giving birth, and the rest “escapes” spontaneously over time – e.g. as a result of breastfeeding.
- first trimester – you should gain about 2 kg, the baby is still small. Some women lose weight because of morning sickness
- Second trimester – from then on, you gain weight about half a kg per week, i.e. 2 kg per month,
- Third trimester – proceeds similarly to the second one, and before the birth, he does not gain weight at all.
Take care of yourself in advance
Weight gain during a healthy pregnancy ranges from 12 to 17 kg. After all, you have a constant influence on your appearance during pregnancy and after giving birth. If you “eat for two”, you don’t move, you have to take into account the consequences. It is not worth treating this condition as an excuse to reach for too caloric meals. Unfortunately, this will bring consequences in the form of fat that will be difficult to lose.
Most often, people who simply have this tendency are overweight. During pregnancy, some women also develop endocrine disorders, which are a factor conducive to weight gain. Evil is both overweight (may disturb, among others, feelings related to fetal movements, causes hypertension, edema, varicose veins), as well as underweight – women with too low weight more often give birth to children with disorders, e.g. developmental delay. Therefore, you should take care of your “size” both before pregnancy – by introducing a healthy lifestyle and achieving the optimal weight, and during it.