How much weight did you gain during pregnancy

Weight Gain During Pregnancy: How Much Is Normal?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Reviewed by Traci C. Johnson, MD on June 12, 2022

In general, you should gain about 2 to 4 pounds during the first 3 months you're pregnant and 1 pound a week during the rest of your pregnancy. If you are expecting twins you should gain 35 to 45 pounds during your pregnancy. This would be an average of 1 ½ pounds per week after the usual weight gain in the first 3 months.

It's especially important to gain the right amount of weight when you're expecting twins because your weight affects the babies' weight. And because twins are often born before the due date, a higher birth weight is important for their health. When carrying twins, you may need between 3,000 and 3,500 calories a day.

Where Does the Extra Weight Go During Pregnancy?

Baby: 8 pounds
Placenta: 2-3 pounds
Amniotic fluid: 2-3 pounds
Breast tissue: 2-3 pounds
Blood supply: 4 pounds
Stored fat for delivery and breastfeeding: 5-9 pounds
Larger uterus: 2-5 pounds
Total: 25-35 pounds

Is It Safe to Lose Weight When Pregnant?

If a woman is very overweight when they get pregnant, their doctor may want them to lose weight. They should only lose weight under their doctor's care. But in most cases, women should not try to lose weight or diet during pregnancy.

How to Gain the Right Amount of Weight During Pregnancy

If your health care provider wants you to gain weight while you're pregnant, try these tips:

Eat five to six small meals every day.
Keep quick, easy snacks on hand, such as nuts, raisins, cheese and crackers, dried fruit, and ice cream or yogurt.
Spread peanut butter on toast, crackers, apples, bananas, or celery. One tablespoon of creamy peanut butter gives you about 100 calories and 7 grams of protein.
Add nonfat powdered milk to mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, and hot cereal.
Add extras to your meal, such as butter or margarine, cream cheese, gravy, sour cream, and cheese.

What if You Gain Too Much Weight During Pregnancy?

If you have gained more weight than your doctor recommended, talk to your doctor about it. In most cases, you'll want to wait until after delivery to lose weight.

Here are some tips to slow your weight gain:

When eating fast food, choose lower-fat items such as broiled chicken breast sandwich with tomato and lettuce (no sauce or mayonnaise), side salad with low-fat dressing, plain bagels, or a plain baked potato. Avoid foods such as French fries, mozzarella sticks, or breaded chicken patties.
Avoid whole milk products. You need at least four servings of milk products every day. However, using skim, 1%, or 2% milk will greatly reduce the amount of calories and fat you eat. Also, choose low-fat or fat-free cheese or yogurt.
Limit sweet or sugary drinks. Sweetened drinks such as soft drinks, fruit punch, fruit drinks, iced tea, lemonade, or powdered drink mixes have lots of empty calories. Choose water, club soda, or mineral water to skip extra calories.
Don't add salt to foods when cooking. Salt causes you to retain water.
Limit sweets and high-calorie snacks. Cookies, candies, donuts, cakes, syrup, honey, and potato chips have a lot of calories and little nutrition. Try not to eat these foods every day. Instead, try fresh fruit, low-fat yogurt, angel food cake with strawberries, or pretzels as lower-calorie snack and dessert choices.
Use fats in moderation. Fats include cooking oils, margarine, butter, gravy, sauces, mayonnaise, regular salad dressings, sauces, lard, sour cream, and cream cheese. Try lower-fat alternatives.
Cook food the healthy way. Frying foods in oil or butter will add calories and fat. Baking, broiling, grilling, and boiling are healthier preparation methods.
Exercise. Moderate exercise can help burn excess calories. Walking or swimming is usually safe for pregnant women. Ask your health care provider what exercise would be right for you before getting started.

When to Call Your Doctor

Talk to your doctor if you:

Want to know a good target weight gain for you
Think you are gaining too much weight
Are losing weight during the second or third trimester
Have an eating disorder that is keeping you from eating a healthy amount of food
Need help setting a good menu plan to gain a healthy amount of weight
Gain weight rapidly. This could be a sign of preeclampsia, pregnancy-related high blood pressure, a serious health issue

Health & Pregnancy Guide

Getting Pregnant
First Trimester
Second Trimester
Third Trimester
Labor and Delivery
Pregnancy Complications
All Guide Topics

How Much Weight I Gained During Pregnancy

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IF YOU WERE TO OPEN MY FRIDGE DURING PREGNANCY, YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT I WAS FEEDING A SMALL VILLAGE.

No for real though, you’d find loaves of fresh sourdough bread, mac n’ cheese-filled Tupperware, & raw chocolate chip cookie dough with spoon marks everywhere ( ya, I would eat that shit raw sometimes- judge away ).

Seriously though- never in my life have I eaten SO.MANY.CARBS.

I was ACTUALLY tired of eating. Carbs were coming out of my pores. But that’s what I craved: CARBS, CARBS, CARBS, & more CARBS. Did I mention sourdough? Like I should have named the baby Sourdough Bosstick. It has a ring to it, ehh?

Anddddd as you may have guessed: as I ate more carbs, I gained weight.

Yes, weight. Ohhhhh, such a taboo word. Something that feels uncomfortable to talk about. Kind of even gives me a pit to say the word.

But ya, the weight packed on during my pregnancy.

And what’s crazy is I had so many DM’s or Instagram comments from people asking me about the weight topic: “How much weight have you gained?”

It felt like SUCH a big question.

One that I felt like I would answer after my pregnancy, in a blog post, tied with a pink bow for you. So here we are- it’s a messy bow though. Because there’s so much to say about it, you know?

But the reality is, if I can use my platform to talk about a subject that women feel guilty about ( hey ! Me included ), then let’s do it- let’s go there.

So yes, one of those subjects most definitely is ‘HOW MUCH WEIGHT “YOU SHOULD” GAIN WHEN YOU’RE PREGNANT.’

First of all, all I kept hearing from my doctor, social media, friends, etc. was “you should gain between 25 to 35 pounds.”

PSSSSSTTTTTT.

Hi, hello, I did not gain 25 pounds. 25 pounds? Uhh, I gained that in the early 2nd trimester.

In fact: I gained 50 pounds at 40 weeks.

And to be blunt: I delivered at 41 weeks, so I probably gained 55 pounds- maybe more?

Almost SIXTY POUNDS is not what your doctor tells you to gain. But it’s what I gained. That’s my truth. And really everyone is different- like I have huge boobs, they blew up. I hold on to water. & I ate a lot of bread…because shit, that’s what I craved.

Looking back, I can pinpoint times throughout my pregnancy where I felt like VIOLET from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Rolling around like a huge ball- feeling out of control in my body. Sure, I was eating very healthy too, but after a heaping bowl of cinnamon cereal four nights in a row before bed, you’re not necessarily feeling your best.

BUT at some point instead of stressing out I just embraced the process & gave into my cravings- I could not choose my cravings. Like I wish it was vegetables & fruit- but it wasn’t. Most foods turned me off, to be honest.

I remember being in France with Michael surrounded by all the delicious breads, pastas, croissants, & lemon soufflé pancakes & just being like “live your best life, bitch.”

And boy did I ever !!! I ate !! And ate !!…And ate !!

& lived to tell you- the real tale. Not the social media pretty tale- the actual truth!

There were definitely times after I ate too many carbs & looked in the mirror & thought: “FUCKKKKKK. Is that more cellulite? Ugh, I can’t fit into that anymore. Shit, my love handles have doubled !!” To be real my ass truly tripled- my ass was like WHOAAAAAAA.

…And then there were other times where I just simply embraced the fact that I couldn’t shave my vagina or legs because I couldn’t see them.

You gotta laugh at that point ??

As far as clothes, towards the end, nothing fit- like not even Michael’s hoodies. All I could do at that point was go with it- I mean, what’s the point of stressing if there’s nothing you can do about it? You realize in pregnancy you can either be stressed ( which in my opinion, is bad energy for the baby ) or you can just laugh & accept the craziness that is happening to your body.

Luckily I had a healthy 7 lb. 11 oz. baby with a full head of hair, so what if I enjoyed too much sourdough? She was worth it.

My pregnancy taught me again the importance of stoicism– it reiterated why I love the philosophy so much. How to endure pain/hardship without complaint. How to accept what you can’t control. BE CALM. Accept what is happening.

And you know what? I meditated on that a lot- I really hope that energy transferred to the baby. CALM, CALM, CALM was a mantra I meditated on.

SO ! Why did I do this post? Because social media puts a shitload of pressure on women when it comes to weight gain, so to be able to showcase some realness here is very much important to me. For anyone who is pregnant, been pregnant, or just in general… I don’t want things to always look effortless, when sometimes they aren’t.

To me, it’s wild that after giving birth 3 & half weeks ago, people are messaging me: “are you back to your pre-pregnancy weight?”

HELL NO, I’m not. I have flabby skin right now. My uterus is still not back to normal ( it takes 6 weeks to go back to normal ). My hair is a mess. I’m tired. I feel slow- like my brain is slow. & I have a lot of work to do in the weight department.

The whole process has felt like a mind fuck…but also a lesson…one from my daughter maybe?

The funny thing is that shamefulness around weight gain is not bringing me negative emotions like they used to- maybe because I had a perspective shift or maybe it’s being vulnerable with you? Who knows. All I know is instead of making everything look Instagram-ready, I have decided to share my experience in hopes that it settles someone’s voice in their head who’s pregnant. Hopefully it enables them to give THEMSELVES a break too.

Ultimately whether you gain 25 pounds or 80 pounds- it is what it is. So instead of feeling any way about it, just realize you created a baby & it’s part of the gig.

( By the way, you should know any time I spent stressed about weight was fucking pointless because when I arrived home from the hospital I lost 30 pounds. Lots of water weight. Which happens to so many women- so now I have 25 pounds to lose. Which will be VERY challenging but what can you do. So as you can see, things are not Instagram-ready over here k? Don’t fall for any kind of facade here ).

Anyway, after this post, I’m trying not to give it too much energy. Like yes I have weight to lose. I will walk. I will move. I will drink a shitload of water. Have my vegetables. Intermittent fast. Use compression wear/belly band technique. Do Pilates. And The Skinny Confidential Body Guide. Enjoy inulin in my coffee. Sleep. Lower my cortisol. Be with my baby. Meditate. Walk some more.

…And give myself a fucking break. Ya know?

Would love to hear your thoughts- x lauryn

+ the thing I craved the MOST in pregnancy.

++ the pillow that saved my life for 9 months.

SHOP THE POST

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Weight during pregnancy. What increase is considered optimal?

Why is excessive weight gain during pregnancy particularly harmful? What should be the calorie content of the diet? How to build your diet so that you can eat varied (and tasty), but at the same time not gain too much? Let's figure it out.

What makes up weight gain during pregnancy?

An increase in the subcutaneous fat layer during pregnancy is a normal and natural process.

While the baby is growing inside you, he needs energy and external protection. But during pregnancy, weight increases not only and not so much due to the adipose tissue of the mother: there is more fluid in the body, the uterus grows, the fetus and placenta develop, and the breasts increase in preparation for the feeding process.

Interestingly, weight loss during the period of toxicosis can later provoke its increase: the body will try to regain what was lost.

Expectant mothers especially actively gain weight in the second trimester and the beginning of the third, but closer to childbirth, a pregnant woman can even lose 1-2 kilograms.

As long as the weight increases more or less evenly and does not go beyond the upper limit of the norm, there is nothing to worry about. But if your weight is rapidly going up, you should be wary.

How to correctly calculate the weight, and what increase is considered optimal?

In Russian obstetric practice, it is generally accepted that the total gain should not exceed 12 kg. for the entire pregnancy. Of these 12 kg. 5-6 accounts for the fetus, placenta, amniotic fluid, another 1.5-2 - for an increase in the uterus and mammary glands, and only 3-3.5 - for the fat mass of a woman.

But this is a general indicator, a kind of "average temperature in the hospital." The optimal increase is calculated individually and depends on the initial weight of the pregnant woman, her age, the number of fetuses and the size of the child (children), physical activity.

WHO recommends that optimal weight gain be calculated based on Body Mass Index (BMI).

It is determined by the formula: body weight (kg) / height squared (m).

BMI	Recommended weight gain
19.8-26 (normal body weight)	12.5-15 kg
26.1-29 (overweight)	11.5 - 14 kg
over 29 (obese)	7-9 kg

How to calculate the optimal weight gain?

To do this, use the following chart:

Calculate your BMI: divide your initial weight in kg. for height in meters squared.

For example, your "pre-pregnancy" weight was 60 kg with a height of 170 cm.

BMI = 60: (170 x 170) = 20.76.

A BMI of less than 18.5 indicates underweight. Indicators from 18.5 to 25 are within the norm, from 25 to 30 are above the norm, and a figure greater than 30 indicates obesity.
Now that you know your BMI, find the optimal weekly increase in the table and compare it with yours.

Week of pregnancy	Underweight before pregnancy (BMI less than 18.5)	Normal pre-pregnancy weight (BMI 18.5 to 24.9)	Overweight before pregnancy (BMI over 30)
4	0-0.9 kg	0-0.7 kg	0-0.5 kg
6	0-1.4 kg	0-1 kg	0-0.6 kg
8	0-1.6 kg	0-1.2 kg	0-0. 7 kg
10	0-1.8 kg	0-1.3 kg	0-0.8 kg
12	0-2 kg	0-1.5 kg	0-1 kg
14	0.5-2.7 kg	0.5-2 kg	0.5-1.2 kg
16	up to 3.6 kg	up to 3 kg	up to 1.4 kg
18	up to 4.6 kg	up to 4 kg	up to 2.3 kg
20	up to 6 kg	up to 5.9 kg	up to 2.9 kg
22	up to 7.2 kg	up to 7 kg	up to 3.4 kg
24	up to 8.6 kg	up to 8.5 kg	up to 3.9 kg
26	up to 10 kg	up to 10 kg	up to 5 kg
28	up to 13 kg	up to 11 kg	up to 5.4 kg
30	up to 14 kg	up to 12 kg	up to 5. 9 kg
32	up to 15 kg	up to 13 kg	up to 6.4 kg
34	up to 16 kg	up to 14 kg	up to 7.3 kg
36	up to 17 kg	up to 15 kg	up to 7.9 kg
38	up to 18 kg	up to 16 kg	up to 8.6 kg
40	up to 18 kg	up to 16 kg	up to 9.1 kg

Recently, doctors are increasingly talking about an individual approach and urge not to panic if the increase is slightly beyond the normal range. When assessing the state of health of a pregnant woman, the doctor focuses not only on weight, but also takes into account the results of tests and examinations and other important indicators.

Why is excessive weight gain dangerous?

Gaining extra pounds can lead to gestational diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, or cause a caesarean section.

In addition, excessive weight gain during pregnancy may increase the risk of obesity and associated cardiovascular disease.

What can I do to keep my weight within normal limits during pregnancy?

First of all, consult a nutritionist. If there is no such doctor in the antenatal clinic, it makes sense to contact a specialist on a commercial basis. He will develop an individual diet, which will contain all the useful elements, and will offer to keep a food diary. It will also tell you how to eat right and weigh yourself.
To prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy, it is enough to follow simple rules of a healthy diet:

Eat often and in small portions;
Always keep a “healthy snack” on hand: fresh apple wedges, unsweetened crackers, dried fruit, or sugar-free yogurt;
Refuse soda, chips, sausages and sausages;
Minimize sweets;
Avoid fast food;
Limit the use of condiments, especially salt, which retains water in the body;
Choose steamed dishes;
Eat more fiber-rich foods such as whole grain bread, bran, vegetables;

The diet of a pregnant woman should be varied. Include grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat and fish, legumes, or nuts.

It must be remembered that expectant mothers should never starve and adhere to extreme diets.

How many calories per day do you need during pregnancy?

It is difficult to calculate the energy value per day on your own, and then strictly adhere to a certain number of calories, and it is not necessary, unless it is recommended by a nutritionist or endocrinologist. On average, you can aim for 2000-2500 calories per day, but it is important to understand that the need for calories depends on many factors: age, initial weight, health status and level of physical activity.

When should I be on the alert?

Strictly speaking, it is better for a pregnant woman not to worry and entrust her condition to a doctor who will control the development of pregnancy, analyzes and monitor weight. It is important to take tests to determine the level of fasting blood glucose once a trimester. The appearance of glucosuria, an increase in fasting blood glucose (more than 5.5 mmol / l) or an hour after a meal (more than 7.7 mmol / l) indicate the possible development of "diabetes in pregnancy", in connection with which the doctor will prescribe appropriate treatment . In addition, a sharp increase in body weight can cause preeclampsia.

These and other diseases can be dangerous, which is why you need to carefully monitor the body weight during the gestation period, but remember that pregnancy is not the time for strict diets.

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Weight category - articles from the specialists of the clinic "Mother and Child"

— What norms of weight gain during pregnancy are doctors guided by today?

- The average increase for all nine months is from 9 to 14 kg. The exact figure depends on many factors, but a sharp deviation in one direction or the other from the norm should be alarming. To calculate the allowable increase, the initial weight of the expectant mother should be taken into account: for example, women of a fragile physique (asthenic type) must gain more than initially obese women. In addition, it is important to consider the trimester of pregnancy.

— How does weight change in different trimesters?

- Weight gain throughout pregnancy is uneven: at the very beginning it is almost imperceptible, increases significantly towards the middle and may begin to decrease two weeks before delivery. In the first trimester, both weight gain and weight loss are considered normal. On average, during this period, the expectant mother is gaining from 1.5 to 2.5 kg. In the second trimester, the baby begins to grow actively and the numbers will be different: about 500 g per week for thin women, no more than 450 g for pregnant women with normal weight and no more than 300 g for full ones. In the third trimester, the weight of the expectant mother should not increase by more than 300 g per week.

— Why do pregnant women gain weight?

- Contrary to popular belief, weight gain is not only due to the mass of a growing baby and body fat - they make up about half of the total figure. For nine months, a woman's uterus increases, the volume of circulating blood and intercellular fluid increases, amniotic fluid and the placenta form.

— Why is excess weight dangerous?

- Rapid weight gain is common in multiple pregnancies, underweight women and too young mothers whose bodies are still developing. Often it is the result of normal overeating and requires adjustment of the diet. Diets and fasting days (especially the so-called "hungry") during the period of bearing a child are strictly prohibited even if the pregnant woman is overweight. It is very important to ensure that the baby receives all the nutrients, vitamins and trace elements, so you just need to balance your diet accordingly.

Excess weight may occur due to fluid retention, which manifests itself in the form of edema. By the way, this is especially true for working pregnant women: sedentary work provokes stagnation of fluid in the lower extremities and pathological weight gain. In this case, wearing compression stockings, leg exercises and regular walking is recommended.

— Is slow weight gain dangerous, on the contrary?

- Some expectant mothers gain the first kilograms only after the 14th week - usually for petite women who do not have a genetic predisposition to be overweight or women suffering from toxicosis.