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Breakdown of a Weight Gain
You need to be careful about how much weight you gain during your pregnancy. Gaining too much or too little can be harmful to you and your baby. How many pounds you need to add depends on how much you weigh before you become pregnant. Gaining the right amount of weight helps protect the health of your baby. Also gaining the right amount of weight will make it easier to shed pounds after delivery and will prepare your body for breastfeeding. It also helps protect the health of your baby. Women who gain too little are at increased risk of having a small baby (less than 5 1/2 pounds). Women who gain too much are at increased risk of having an early baby or a large baby. They may also have health problems themselves such as diabetes, high blood pressure and varicose veins. If you need help planning a healthy diet that will help you gain the proper amount of weight, ask about seeing a dietitian or nutritionist. If you began pregnancy at a normal weight, you should gain 25-35 pounds over the nine months. Adding about 300 extra calories a day to your diet will help you reach this goal. (One extra healthy snack, such as four fig bars and a glass of skim milk, will supply these calories.) Most women get four to six pounds in the first trimester, and then average a pound a week in the second and third trimesters. If you began pregnancy underweight, you should probably gain a little more. That's because underweight women are more likely to have small babies. A 28- to 40-pound gain is usually recommended, so you should try to gain slightly over a pound a week in the second and third trimesters. If you began pregnancy overweight, you should gain only 15-25 pounds. This means you should put on one pound every fortnight in the second and third trimesters. While you don't want to gain too much weight, you should never try to lose weight during pregnancy (that means no dieting!) because that could harm your baby. If you're expecting twins, you should probably gain a total of 35-45 pounds. That translates into about 1 1/2 pounds a week in the last two trimesters. Putting on weight slowly and steadily is best. But don't worry if you gain less than four pounds in the first trimester, and make up for it later, or vice versa. You may gain weight from the very start of pregnancy, mainly because of extra fluid and fluid retention. Many women put on very little in the last two to three weeks, or stop gaining altogether. Also, many women have one or two "growth spurts" during which they gain several pounds in a short time period and then level off. The important thing is to keep an eye on your overall gain. You can use the weight-gain tracking chart to follow your progress. How much weight is gained during pregnancy? You can expect to gain between 19 and 35 pounds in weight during your pregnancy. The average is about 29 pounds. Your weight gain is made up like this:
Where does it all go? Here is approximate breakdown of a weight gain of 29 pounds:
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