Although it varies from doctor to doctor, the appropriate gain depends on your pre-pregnancy weight-if you’re overweight, you’ll need to gain less. If you’re underweight, you’ll need to gain more. The average weight gain is between 25-30 pounds and naturally this varies from woman to woman. Nowadays doctors are much stricter with how much weight you gain because too much is not healthy and could cause complications later in your pregnancy. Normal rate of gain: 2 to 4 pounds in the first 3 months, 1 pound a week thereafter.pregnancy and weight gain

No matter what you do, you should watch how much you gain; too much weight can lead to diabetes or high blood pressure. Also, track your progress using a chart to determine if you’re gaining at a healthy rate, your OBGYN may want to adjust your diet or recommend more or less of certain types of foods. I see women all the time and they ask, what can I do for my baby before she is born? Your body is doing all the work creating this little human being, the best thing you can do for your baby is eat healthy to nurture its creation but don’t over nurture!

I was told from an OBG that the average baby is between 7 and 8 pounds and my midwife told me between 5-9lbs is the adverage-obviously this can vary greatly, but the rest of the weight goes to other needed areas such as placenta, amniotic sac and fat stores for breastfeeding. With the baby, fluid and weight of organs you have about 26 lbs, that’s without the extra pounds you are putting on your body by eating. I know so many women that gained an exurbanite amount of weight (myself included) and it really sucks to get it off. Plus you then have stretch marks and saggy skin to deal with even if you get the weight off. Do yourself a favor and eat healthy. Have a treat once and a while but that doesn’t mean eating bon-bons every single night!

Another wonderful body changing experience is swollen legs and fingers. This is not caused by weight gain but a fluid retention so take off the wedding band before it’s too late. A condition that doctors look out for is pre-eclampsia. It is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. Swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision are important symptoms. Consult your doctor if you believe you have this condition to be sure.

Breastfeeding helps take off the weight; it can burn up to 500 calories a day. So if you follow a healthy diet to loose weight after the baby is born, along with exercising you could be burning 1,000 calories a day. Talk about speed dieting!

Your body needs to be in tip top shape to carry it around for 9 months and be able to get it out! Bottom line is, avoid “bad” gain by cutting back on the junk food. Your body will thank you later and you’ll thank me when you are back to your normal weight before your baby is 6 months old.