Pregnancy - The Dreaded Weight Gain

If you are like me, you are having or had a hard time watching the weight pile on during your pregnancy. Pregnancy weight gain is dreaded and welcomed all at the same time. Gaining weight during your pregnancy is necessary in most cases, even though it is hard to watch that scale move up! The average woman is supposed to gain 25-35 pounds, while underweight women are supposed to gain 28-40 and overweight women should gain less than 25 pounds. This is all information I was given during doctor visits. I found it comforting to keep a few things in mind:

1. Your body needs to gain the weight for a healthy baby. If you starve yourself, you are also starving the baby

2. You also need to gain the weight to keep you healthy during the pregnancy. Your body is giving your baby all the good stuff, leaving you the scraps. Eating a little extra is helping you get the nutrients you need as well

3. Don't feel like you need to rush to loose the weight after the baby is born. It took nine months to put it on, give yourself nine months to take it off!

Now I had a really hard time keeping the weight down, but I did find some things that helped

• Drink a lot of water. More often than not I was thirsty and not hungry


• Give in to your cravings. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but it makes sense. If you try and avoid them, you will eat other things in hopes that it will go away, and end up eating twice as much until you finally get what you really wanted.


• Portion control! Take the amount you think you want to eat and then eliminate half. If you are still hungry, wait 20 minutes and drink a glass of water.


• Snack all day. eating small meals and healthy snacks throughout the day helps keep your blood sugar regulated and may help control cravings. Plus, for me it helped with the morning sickness


• Exercise! Prenatal exercise is not only good for you and your weight, but it is good for the baby too. I loved prenatal yoga and walking. Swimming and water aerobics are also good pregnancy activities. Just make sure to consult your doctor first

Remember that though it is hard to watch the scale go up, it is probably the best thing for your baby. Your body will gain what it needs to for you to carry that baby. Just make sure you don't over do it!