How much weight do you gain first month of pregnancy
Weight Gain During Pregnancy: How Much Is Normal?
Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors
In this Article
- Where Does the Extra Weight Go During Pregnancy?
- Is It Safe to Lose Weight When Pregnant?
- How to Gain the Right Amount of Weight During Pregnancy
- What if You Gain Too Much Weight During Pregnancy?
- When to Call Your Doctor
Eating a healthy, balanced diet will help your baby get the nutrients they need and grow at a healthy rate. But how many extra calories do you really need?
Though you do need some extra calories, it's not necessary to ''eat for two.'' The average pregnant woman needs only about 300 healthycalories more a day than they did before they were pregnant. This will help them gain the right amount of weight during pregnancy.
Ask your health care provider how much weight you should gain. A woman who was average weight before getting pregnant should gain 25 to 35 pounds after becoming pregnant. Underweight women should gain 28 to 40 pounds. And overweight women may need to gain only 15 to 25 pounds during pregnancy.
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
Pregnancy Weight Gain - SD Dept. of Health
How Much Weight Should I Gain During Pregnancy?
How much weight you gain during pregnancy depends on your weight before pregnancy.
Pre-pregnancy Weight |
BMI |
Recommended Weight Gain |
Underweight |
<18. 5 |
28-40 pounds |
Normal Weight |
18.5-24.9 |
25-35 pounds |
Overweight |
25-29.9 |
15-25 pounds |
Obese |
>30.0 |
11-20 pounds |
As a general rule, most women gain 2 to 5 pounds in the first trimester. After that, aim for one pound per week. Talk to your care provider about which weight gain range is best for you.
Find out your BMI by entering your information into this BMI calculator.
Too Little?
When you do not gain enough weight you risk:
-
Having a low-birth-weight baby (baby is born weighing less than 5 pounds 8 ounces). Baby may have a harder time breathing, eating, gaining weight, and fighting infections.
-
Having a premature baby (born too early). Premature babies may have health problems at birth and later in life.
Too Much?
When you gain too much weight you risk:
-
A difficult delivery for your baby.
-
Increased risk of C-section
-
Having a large baby which increases the baby’s risk of long-term health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
-
Increased high blood sugars and high blood pressure during your pregnancy.
-
Difficulties with weight loss after you have the baby.
What Should You Eat?
Focus on Fresh
Your baby eats what you eat, so it’s best to incorporate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins every day. Avoid foods with little to no nutritional value like traditional baked, fried, and fast foods. Visit www.healthysd.gov for more information about seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Avoid certain foods
Some foods that may be part of a healthy diet outside of pregnancy can cause harm to your baby. Avoid:
- Raw fish, raw shellfish, swordfish, shark, and king mackerel
- Undercooked meat and poultry
- Raw or undercooked eggs
- Soft cheeses or cheeses not made in the United States
- Unpasteurized milk or foods made from unpasteurized juices
- Raw sprouts
Physical Activity
Physical activity is very important for a healthy mom and a healthy baby.
-
Pregnant women should be under the care of a healthcare provider with whom they can discuss their personal physical activity needs and options.
-
Healthy women should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week during and after pregnancy.
-
Activity should be spread throughout the week and performed at least 10 minutes at a time. For example, exercise 30 minutes per day, for 5 days per week.
-
Walking, swimming, and low-impact group fitness classes are all examples of moderate-intensity activity. These activities raise your heart rate and breathing and help you break a sweat. You should be able to talk, but not sing when exercising at this intensity.
-
Pregnant women should choose activities without a high risk of falling or injury, like skiing, horseback riding, or contact sports.
-
Pregnant women should avoid exercises involving lying on their back after the first trimester, like sit-ups. Ask a fitness professional for other safer options.
Ask your provider about setting healthy weight gain goals for your pregnancy.
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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. nine0004
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. nine0004
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. nine0072
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 | nine0033 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 | nine0039
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. nine0003 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; nine0072
- 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? nine0006
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. nine0004
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. nine0004
— 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. nine0004
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.