How to Manage Your Pregnancy Weight
17/01/2010

For women, putting on pregnancy weight can be a common worry, not being able to fit into those pre-pregnancy jeans can weigh on your mind a lot. This article aims to educate you on what foods to eat, the benefits they bring and how better to manage your pregnancy weight.

Weight gain during pregnancy shouldn't always be viewed in a negative way as it is part of a normal, healthy pregnancy with the average woman usually putting on approximately 27.5lbs, however what is not healthy is excessive weight gain, therefore weight management becomes the key, whether it is through diet, exercise, or both.
 
As soon as anyone mentions the word “diet” many people immediately think of weight loss, calorie restriction and replacing the things you like eating with the latest celebrity fad. In reality it is important not to restrict what you eat but make sure that what you do eat is beneficial to you and your baby. Previously it was believed that pregnant women should increase their dietary intake by 300 to 500 calories per day, that has since been dispelled with women advised to “eat to appetite”.
 
Eat to appetite
The term “eat to appetite” doesn't imply that you have the freedom to eat every hour of the day, basing your diet on the “wrong” foods, like those with a low nutritional value yet are high in sugar, fat or salt. More so it means eat when you feel hungry, but eat the right amount of the right foods, obviously there will be certain foods that you crave and others that elicit feelings of sickness, but its important that you try to eat healthy foods, or at least take healthy options.
 
Although it may go as common knowledge but eating healthily during your pregnancy can make a massive difference, especially in managing or preventing some of the common pregnancy induced ailments, such as gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, toxemia and anemia. Eliminating refined sugars, such as confectionary, pastries and other common snack foods from your diet can reduce your chance of developing many of the above, it sounds cliché but you should try and have a balanced diet, eating the right amount and type of carbohydrate, protein, green vegetables and salad.
 
The Science
Research states that a balanced diet would consist of carbohydrate:protein:fat in the ratio of 40:30:30, with the ratio referring to calorific value and not weight, obviously this does not take into account lifestyle factors such as physical activity, nor does it account for “special considerations”, for example pregnancy. During pregnancy it has been suggested that you should increase your protein intake by one third, using the palm method this would mean increasing your portion size from something that would fit into the palm of your hand (being the same thickness also) to something slightly bigger.

In consuming the right amount of food it is also important to consume to right type, replacing refined sugars and simple carbohydrates with more complex ones, for example most fruit and vegetables, rice and pasta, you shouldn't eat too much red meat, rather you should get your protein from lean meat such as chicken and turkey, or oily fish. Eliminating refined sugars from your diet and consuming the right amount of protein will go a long way in helping to prevent gestational diabetes.
 
The protein and essential fatty acids found in most oily fish also help to reduce your risk of gestational hypertension, which in-turn reduces your risk of pre-eclampsia and toxemia. Through having the right amount and type of protein in your diet the function of your kidneys is much better supported, with garlic, onions, parsley and cucumber also being excellent in reducing blood pressure, whilst also relieving constipation. In addition to this ginger and vitamin E further help manage your blood pressure by improving circulation, bringing with them the added benefits of reducing your risk of varicose veins! Other foods that contain essential fatty acids include seeds, nuts (not salted or roasted), advocado and flax, pumpkin, walnut or olive oil dressings.
 
Anaemia is another common condition induced during pregnancy, and again can be brought about by having a poor diet with a deficiency in folic acid being key. If you are taking the recommended level folic acid (400mg) and monitoring your iron levels you should be ok, rather than taking medication you can reach your recommended daily intake by consuming parsley, watercress, dark green leafy vegetables and whole grains. In consuming these food however do make sure that you also have a balance with B complex vitamins.
 

Summary
As you can see a balanced diet can go a long way in making your pregnancy as comfortable as possible, obviously it is easier said than done, especially when you take into account the cravings you have but I cannot stress enough the importance of still trying to consume the right type and amount of foods. In doing so it will put you in a much stronger position post-natally, studies have shown that those women who did not manage their weight within the first 6-9 months of pregnancy experienced post partum and long term weight gain.

By all means if this article has helped you and you want further information then don't hesitate to contact your GP or get in touch touch with a registered dietician as at the end of the day every person is unique and we all need our own tailored approach. However, hopefully this has gone some way in informing you on what choices are out there for you and how the effect you, thank you for taking the time out to read this.

Want more help with managing your pregnancy weight?

Try our pregnancy classes, personal training or training programs.

Back to all articles