How much weight to gain during pregnancy
This is one of those things where doctors tell you that you have to gain weight then are all "Whoa, easy there Horton" if you gain too much.
There seems to be two camps of women where this one is an issue: ones that are scared to gain any weight because they are so accustomed to keeping it off and women who use pregnancy as an excuse to unhinge their jaw and eat 20 buckets of chicken in a sitting (wafer thin mint, sir?).
So since the 1970s, the powers-that-be have advised women in North America to gain 25 - 35 pounds during their pregnancies. Women who are over weight are advised to gain 5-10 lbs less and women who are under weight are advised to gain 5-10 lbs more. Here is an approximate breakdown of where it's all going if you're carrying a single baby:
Baby - 8 pounds
Placenta - 2-3 pounds
Amniotic fluid - 2-3 pounds
Boobs - 2-3 pounds
Blood - 3-4 pounds
Fat & water - 5-9 pounds (or, if you're like me, 60 pounds)
Uterus increase - 2-5 pounds
Total: 25 to 35 pounds
As for the risks associated with tipping the scales either way:
If you gain too much weight: The only clear cut thing I could find on this one is that you are more likely to have a big baby, which can cause labour complications and puts you at a higher risk for having a cesarean delivery. There is also some talk of your giant baby becoming obese as an adult but the studies I read were a little wishy washy on whether it was because of pregnancy weight gain or just because obese people tend to feed their kids obese foods.
The other issues stem from going into your pregnancy over weight. This includes not taking off the weight from your previous pregnancies. It seems that if you start pregnancy overweight you are at higher risk for complications including gestational diabetes and preeclampsia and it increases the risk of breast cancer and type 2 diabetes later in life. But as far as I'm concerned that's a whole lot of fat chat that we already know about that has less to do with pregnancy and more to do with the risks associated with being over weight so they aren't shaking the donut free from my hand yet.
If you don't gain enough weight: You at higher risk of delivering a preterm infant or a low-birth-weight baby (under 5.5 pounds). But lets say you're a relentless barfing machine from morning sickness and we're not just talking about once here and there, but constant vomiting which is clinically called hyperemesis gravidarum. No long-term follow-up studies have been conducted on children of hyperemetic women but they don't appear to have any greater risk of complications or birth defects than other children. That said, it's treated fairly aggressively because it's damn unpleasant and because of the risks listed above.
On an interesting note, in England, women are weighed only at the beginning and end of the pregnancy, with medical experts citing the lack of evidence that monitoring weight promotes healthier births. Yet another reason I would move to Europe if I was going to give birth again – acceptable wine drinking on occasion being the first reason.
As for myself, I gained 65lbs in both of my pregnancies. The first time around I was meticulous about making sure I was eating all the right things then added some ice cream and a ton of french fries on top of it because I was HUNGRY. Not just peckish, but knock-over-the-kid-with-the-cookie-a-steal-it hungry. The second time around, I felt like shit so I ate Mr. Noodle and whatever my toddler dropped on the floor. Yet I still gained the same amount of weight.
There are a few people that think you are a little pre-disposed to gaining a certain amount of weight regardless of what you eat or don't eat. I like these people. They can move to Europe with me.
search: pregnancy weight gain, weight gain in pregnancy, pregnancy weight gain guidelines, weight gain during pregnancy
46 Comments
Reader Comments (46)
For sure! I just eat when Im hungry, I watch a bit but im definitely not a nut. I agree tho, why worry, I think we should just be happy during pregnancy and stop freaking out over pounds. Jeeze.
I have had two full term pregnancies. The first, watched everything I ate and worked out everyday, even the day I gave birth. I gained 43 lbs.
Second pregnancy. Worked out sporadically, finished my one year old's dinner and ate crap liberally. I gained 43 lbs.
The only thing that sucked the second time around was that I hadn't lost all the weight from the first pregnancy as I was knocked up by the time Bug was 9 months, so I was bigger even though I didn't gain any extra weight.
I'm with the predisposed weight gain camp. When do we leave for Europe?
I wish someone had said this to me when I was pregnant. Instead, I constantly obsessed over my weight and ended up gaining 45 lbs anyway. However, here I am 4.5 months later and weigh less than I did before pregnancy (thank you, breastfeeding).
I am 8 months pregnant and haven't gained weight. I was throwing up the first 4 months and have not had an appetite for anything other than fruits and veggies. I try to find something fattening to eat on occasion. I have finally put on 4lbs. Not a typo there, I did say 4.
I have one other child who is turning 17 this month. I never gained weight with him either. He was 6lbs 13oz and has always been very healthy with a superb intellect.
Hopefully history will repeat itself.
I put my back to the scale @ every appointment. I don't care, it will come off eventually.
I gained 45 lbs with my first pregnancy- my mother carried large and I wonder if that is why I did as well? My daughter was 6lbs 13 oz (but I looked like I was carrying twins and everyone asked THAT question) .. Jaidyn is a petite little girl who just turned 7 and only weights 40 lbs- she will not be obese bc the Filipino genes are strong in her :P This time around I guess I will find out if i am just doomed to carry big. I dont feel pregnant as in Im not hungry, tired or sick thank goodness and almost 3 months (on thursday). I do watch what I eat- as in I try to eat as healthy as I can and I do work out.. so I'm interested to see what my belly looks like in a few months .
With my daughter, I heard all sides of the argument from one doctors office. My OB has two rotating doctors (and a fabulous midwife), and they have you see everyone in rotation (so you at least know the name of the person who is feeling around inside you while you're in labor). One Doctor told me to slow down for the love of all that's holy, being pregnant is no excuse to blow up like a Thanksgiving Day parade balloon. Four weeks later, Doctor #2 said I was right on track. Four weeks after that, the midwife put me on supplements for carpal tunnel and heartburn, made sure I wasn't having strange cravings to eat dirt or soap, and said not one word about my weight. I gained about 20 lbs my whole pregnancy. *shrug* I don't know if Doc #1 was not aware that I was already well padded before getting knocked up and had packed on say 60lbs between peeing on the stick and my first appt with her or whatever, but I lost that pregnancy weight within two months of having my daughter. Of course I've put it back on with friends since, and now have to start all over, but that's another story. I think you will gain what's right for you and if I ever hear a woman who is dieting while pregant I may smack her. Or at least roll my eyes...loudly.
Oops...instead of "I don't know if Doc #1 was not aware that I was already well padded before getting knocked up and had packed on say 60lbs" I meant to say "I was already well padded and had not packed on say 60 lbs" My bad.
I think you're predisposed. I gained 70 pounds with my first pregnancy! I stopped working out and ate like crap. I lost over 60 pounds of it in about 7 months just from breastfeeding. Then another 15 pounds when I started running. I'm now 33 weeks with #2 and have gained about 45 pounds already even though I've been eating a lot better this time around. My mom gained over 50 pounds with each of us and also took it right off...I'm jealous of the women who are so teeny tiny throughout their pregnancy-but I'm curious, do they produce a lot of breast milk? I was a milk machine...
With my first pregnancy I gained somewhere around forty pounds, I didn't really care what the number was as long as I was healthy. I worked out, ate properly and hated every minute of it! This time around (I am nearly half way through my second pregnancy), I am being as lazy as possible, with a two year old in the house anyway, and eating whatever the hell I want. It is glorious! Thanks for letting me know that soft cheeses are okay, now if only I had that info last time! I say hell yes to putting up your feet and eating like a queen!
There's only one thing I can't really agree on: I'm French, and I can guarantee that being pregnant in Europe may even be worse. Over here, being overweight is about the worst thing that could happen to you (who cares if you're pregnant: you're supposed to be slim and wear designer clothes, god dammit! and if they don't fit: your fault!). My sister gained 9 pounds during her last pregnancy and the doctor still thought she could have done better that that.
Moreover, despite what people may think, you're not allowed to drink a single drop of wine here either (which can be quite difficult when you're French...) so every wine bottle has this little design on the back label to remind you to STAY AWAY FROM THIS EVIL THING AND RUN!
So I guess that whichever side of the Atlantic Ocean we're in, we don't really have a choice...We're doomed!
Hmmm, so my giving birth a bit early to my first daughter (37,5 weeks and 5,5 pounds oh wait thats 6.1 lbs) could have something to do with only gaining 17 pounds during pregnancy? Of which giving birth already took away 14 and then in the next few months breastfeeding another 22 flew away, leaving me to endure comments like 'you look dreadful, please stop breastfeeding, it's unhealthy for you!' and 'why be so stubborn and not use formula'(this one came from my mother in law, along with 'you're denying your daughter food, cause she's not a very big chubby baby, it must be something bad in your milk' ...). In the months after that I steadily went back to my normal weight, so it was just temporary. I breastfed until Ela was 3,5 and was well on my normal weight well before that.
I've never been very fat, and I guess the cycling here keeps a lot of Dutch women slimmer than they would be if they went everywhere by car, like in other countries where the places you want to go are just farther apart. In this second pregnancy however I've ceased to cycle as much as I did (cause my legs just feel like they'd fall out of my pelvis after 10 km), and I stopped wallclimbing as a regular excersize (weekly, indoors cause we don't have mountains here) a month ago, but I don't feel very hungry. It just won't fit. I carry quite 'high', so apparently my stomach is fuller quicker. I think that might be the reason for only gaining about 15 lbs until now, and I'm 6 months along. Maybe I'd do better in eating fatter things? MacDonalds still does not allure though, so I'm just adding more butter and oil in cooking, dragging the rest of the family in a steadily in-greas-ing diet perhaps... oh well, they'll live :D.
Oh and concurring with my fellow European in the last post; we're not neccesarily better off here. Though not worse either, with the weightgain-issue in mind.
Well, I like this predisposed thing but not sure if its true. Let's see...I was 155 when I got pregnant with number 1...I gained 22 pounds and I was 41.5 weeks pregnant when she finally came.
I am now 11.5 weeks with number 2 and I've gained about 3 pounds already (mostly probably due to the fact that I stopped working out and eat crap whereas with number 1, i was working out and eating at least halfway healthy). I ended up weighing 147 when my daughter was 3 weeks old and I weighed 138 when I got pregnant with number 2. I weigh 141 right now. So we shall see...very interested
I am so glad to see someone else gained 60 lbs during pregnancy! I felt like some kind of freak -- that was more than 50% of my pre-pregnancy weight! It all came off (though it took a while, maybe 8 months) plus an extra 10 I didn't want to come off (in the following 4 months, until I stopped breastfeeding). Now I'm 8 weeks with #2 and already have a huge gut and none of my clothes fit, so I think I'm headed in the same direction. My Dr. said he thinks everyone has a set weight they're going to more or less stay at, and as long as you act reasonably during your pregnancy you shouldn't worry too much about your weight gain.
New to your blog, but had to comment on this older posting. I gained 52 lbs and had a low birth weight baby (5 lb 3). So one has to wonder - if I'd gained only 25 would my baby have been 2 lbs? Hmmm? Probably best to be on the safe side and enjoy the ice cream buffet.
I eat healthy on a normal basis because I believe in healthy eating. You are what you eat. What you eat can effect your mood, your energy level, your stress, and your overall health. My body tells me when I've eaten something not good for me. This includes processed foods and foods that come in a box. If you are accustomed to eating healthy your body will react badly to less than healthy foods. I do not ever drink carbonated drinks because they upset my stomach and make me grumpy and my energy level to plummet. Eating healthy for yourself is important and especially when you are pregnant. That isn't something made up. Occasional junk is ok and won't kill you, but why would you want to feel like crap all the time with an empty chip bag in your hand? Yuck!
With my 1st prenancy, my boobs were over 6 pounds each. The weight gain breakdown is a guideline....
that's interesting that you are not weighed at EVERY damn appt. in england. i'm 36-37 weeks with twins and have noticed that they have weighed me but not taken my blood pressure at my last two appts. is this normal?
and, i agree that women are prob a little predisposed to gain a certain amount of weight. every body is different.
oh, and teelier, i swear my boobs must be at least 6 lbs each!! did you really weigh them?
How do you weigh your boobs? Couldn't you easily vary the amount of pressure you put on the scale and change the results??
I'm at 34 weeks and have only gained 15 pounds and i swear at least 5 of that is in the boobs. I do eat a lot but i graze like a cow and maybe that's why my weight gain has been lower.
I gained 70 lbs in my first pregnancy and managed to lose about 50 lbs before getting pregnant again 2 years later. I was not one of those women who lost weight breastfeeding. In fact, my body is more of the "What if there's a famine and you're still breastfeeding? Let's just hang on to these fat stores," variety. Now, at 17 weeks, I've gained about 10 lbs and my appetite is really increasing. I agree with the set point theory yet I have a really hard time coming to terms with getting so big. I am constantly baffled by the insensitive comments: "Are you sure there aren't 2 in there?" "Are you sure you got your due date right?" "Wow! You're really big!" Anyway, I'm currently sitting on the couch in front of the TV with my toddler eating popcorn and feeling guilty. Isn't motherhood grand?
During my first pregnancy, I didn't gain any weight and keep it on until the end of my 2nd trimester. Then about half-way through my 3rd trimester, I was capable of eating fried foods again. I gained a total of 15 lbs, and walked out of the hospital weighing 15lbs less than my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm overweight, also. I was about 230lbs when I found out I was pregnant with him. Of course, I got on the depo shot and immediately gained it all back and then some. By the end of 2008 I weighed almost 300 lbs and hated my life.
I'm down to about 240 now (I put on 10 lbs in the past few months), and I'm around 8 weeks pregnant. I was supposed to go see a dietitian today because I'm paranoid about gaining a shit-ton of weight, but I accidentally slept through the appointment, oops. However, I'm not really concerned about my weight because I know I'll be able to lose it.
I am early, about 6 weeks pregnant in my second pregnancy. I miscarried very early, at 4 weeks, earlier this fall. I knew I was pregnant very early on both times and gained about 10lbs during the pregnancy/miscarriage, weight which I carried into this pregnancy. I am worried about gaining too much weight since I have been much heavier in the past and it seems my body just likes me to be a bit plumper than I usually allow it to. Reading the comments here really help, though. I am really looking forward to the day I can tell folks I'm pregnant because right now I just feel fat! It sounds petty to me when I say that...I feel so blessed to be pregnant! I'm just a wee touch vain. :) And, I live in Europe! (just moved here, from US) I have a friend here who does drink a glass or two during her pregnancies (on her second child now) and indulges in a cigarette here or there. European lifestyle or just *her* lifestyle? Not sure, but I couldn't do it. Must be the American Puritan in me!
I also gained 70 pounds during my pregnancy. I had hyperemesis during my pregnancy and threw up at least once a day every day from week six until the day I gave birth. I was on two different meds to reduce the vomiting because twice I was so dehydrated, I had to be hooked up to an IV. Unfortunately, the meds kept me from actually throwing up, but didn't get rid of the awful nausea. The only thing that helped with that was laying on my left side (which I did at home) or constantly eating starches and drinking pepsi. I couldn't eat chicken. Couldn't even be in the same room with cooked chicken. The smell made me vomit instantly. I craved red meat (which I don't usually like except for once in a while) and pizza (again, not one of my favorites).
After my 9 lb 1.2 oz son was born, I instantly lost 35 pounds. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to lose the other 35 pounds. Of course, I haven't tried that hard to get rid of it either. I'm a stress eater and we've been dealt some blows thave have me running for the ice cream. Whatever.