Pregnant? Eating for two?? Think Twice.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Not only are you going to have a little addition to your family, but for the next 9 months you can eat whatever you want and not have to worry about portion sizes, right? You are eating for two, right? You are expected to put on weight while you are pregnant, so bring on the ice-cream sundaes, right????

Sorry to be a Debbie-downer, but although you will be expected to put on SOME weight for a healthy pregnancy, being pregnant does not give you a green-light to throw all of your discipline and nutrition knowledge out the window. There are still some things you will need to keep in mind to keep mom and baby healthy for the next nine months.

The biggest misconception I hear is the “eating for two” concept, which does NOT mean eating for two grown, active adults (read: polishing off a bag of Chips Ahoy is not the best thing do no right now…unfortunately!). It is true that extra calories provide nourishment to your developing baby. However, excessive weight gain brings with it a variety of complicated risks such as:

• Stillbirth
• Preeclampsia (hypertension and fluid retention during pregnancy)
• Glucose intolerance
• Macrosomia (having a large baby for the gestational period)
• Varicose veins
• Difficulty breastfeeding
• Postpartum weight retention
• Childhood obesity in your baby’s future

There are also risks associated with not gaining enough weight if you are not overweight before becoming pregnant as well, including:

• Low birth weight or very low birth weight baby
• Preterm birth
• Neural tube defects

So what is a girl to do? How do you know how much weight is enough to gain?
1. Calculate your pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index (BMI). To calculate your BMI, use the following link: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/, or you can use the following equation:

Weight in kilograms

(Height in meters)2
2. After you know your BMI, classify your pre-pregnancy weight based on the classifications made by the World Health Organization:

3. Using your BMI, you can see how much weight you should plan to gain, based on the Institute of Medicine recommendations:

Although there is a range of recommended weight gain among women with a BMI of 30 kg/m(2) or higher, some studies have suggested that little or no weight gain could be associated with better outcomes for obese women and her child.

How fast should you put on the weight?  This depends on your weight before you were pregnant!

Typically, a weight gain of 1 to 4.5 pounds is acceptable for most women during their first trimester. Recommendations for weight gain during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters are as follows:

What is the best and healthiest way to put on this weight?

I am sure you are hoping the next sentence will read something like this: eat anything you want all the time. The more empty calories the better! Sorry to burst your bubble, but you want to choose healthy options that are too TOO caloric so that you will not gain too much weight (and have that much weight to take off post-baby).

During the first trimester, most women need merely an extra 150 to 200 calories per day. Steady weight gain is more important in the second and third trimesters, especially if you began your pregnancy at a normal weight. An extra 300 calories a day is typically all you will need to meet this goal. Some ideas of how to add 300 calories into your diet are:

• 1 small banana with 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
• Half-cup trail mix with nuts, seeds and dried fruit
• 12 almonds with 6 oz yogurt and 1 small orange
• 1/3 cup hummus with 5 whole wheat crackers and carrot sticks
• 1 cup of milk and 4 fig bars

More healthy tips to come! I hope this helps!

Written By: Lauren Hirschfeld has her masters degree in nutrition, is a registered dietitian and LD.  She works at Roper Saint Francis as a clinical dietitian.  Lauren is also a certified personal trainer.  If you have any questions about pregnancy and weight gain , please feel free to post comments or contact her under our “In Home Trainers and Dietitians” on the home page.

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