Weight-Watching During Pregnancy

How Much Should I Gain?

By Deirdre Wilson

We all know that weight gain comes with the territory when you’re pregnant. Some moms-to-be expect and accept this while trying to eat as healthily as possible. Some see it as a chance to eat what they want without guilt. Others ramp up their dieting and exercise routines to try to gain as few pounds as possible.

If you’re thinking the strategies of those last two groups might be ill-advised, you’re right. Gain too much weight and you risk giving birth prematurely or giving birth to a large baby; you also increase your own risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and varicose veins. Gain too little and you could end up delivering a low birthweight baby (less than 5.5 pounds), which puts the infant at risk of heart, vision and breathing problems.

How much weight should you gain while pregnant?

Experts at the March of Dimes say it all depends on your pre-pregnancy weight:

• Normal weight women should aim to gain 25-35 pounds. Add about 300 healthy calories to your daily intake to help reach this goal.

• Underweight women will need to gain a bit more (28-40 pounds), since they’re more likely to have small babies.

• Overweight women should gain somewhat less (15-25 pounds).

Try not to obsess about how much you’ve gained so far and how much you have left to gain. Focus on getting the nutrition you and your baby need. Your health-care provider will let you know if you are gaining weight too slowly or quickly.

Don’t Diet!

Recent news reports have given a name to the quest to gain as few pounds as possible during pregnancy: “pregorexia.” This applies to expectant moms who consciously try to eat less and exercise much more to avoid even the normal weight gain expected in pregnancy. Media images of svelte-looking pregnant celebrities may be partly to blame.

But physicians warn that trying to fight the gain that is supposed to occur puts a growing and developing fetus’s health in danger. Talk to your doctor about your eating and exercise habits and whether these need to change.