{"id":1726,"date":"2023-06-12T10:37:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T10:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/?p=1726"},"modified":"2025-12-17T11:44:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T11:44:20","slug":"weight-gain-during-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/weight-gain-during-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Weight gain during pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pregnancy is a time of great changes in the body . One of the requirements of pregnancy is weight gain – this weight is the weight of the growing baby , amniotic fluid around the baby , placenta , uterus , breast tissue and blood volume that increases during pregnancy .<\/p>\n

The main gain in weight happens in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy . In the first trimester there may even be a loss of weight up to 1 kg owing to nausea and vomiting . In the second and third trimesters the weight gain is approximately 0.5 -1 kg per week .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do all pregnant women gain the same kind of weight during pregnancy ?<\/h2>\n

No .<\/p>\n

Weight gain during pregnancy depends on the pre pregnancy weight and BMI of the individual . It also depends on whether you have a singleton pregnancy or twins \/ higher order pregnancy<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BMI\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Weight gain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Normal (18.5-24.9)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a011-15 kgs<\/p>\n

Underweight(<18.5)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a012.5-18 kgs<\/p>\n

Overweight (>25-29.9)\u00a0 7-11 kgs<\/p>\n

Obese (>30)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5-9 kgs<\/p>\n

If the pregnancy is a twin pregnancy or that of higher multiples ,weight gain in the respective categories as given above should be<\/p>\n

17-24 kgs , 23-28 kgs, 14-23 kgs and 11-19 kgs .<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is gaining too much weight or too little weight detrimental to your health or your baby\u2019s health ?<\/h2>\n

Gaining too much weight may be a sign of high BP , preeclampsia and may predispose to gestational Diabetes and a large , macrosomic baby whereas too little weight gain may lead to preterm delivery and low birth weight baby . Gaining too much weight may also lead to difficulties in shedding that weight after delivery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Should you be thinking of diets and losing weight during pregnancy?<\/h2>\n

The answer is no . Pregnancy is not the time to be thinking of going on diets or losing weight as the calorie requirement increases by 300 kcal during pregnancy .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most girls struggle with ideal weight gain during pregnancy but one way to do it is with regular frequent eating every 3-4 hours ; this should be healthy snacking like green vegetables , fruits , nuts , mixed seeds, whole grains, lean meat , eggs, milk and milk products . Fried , processed and junk food can be given a miss. Exercise regularly unless your obstetrician finds some medical or pregnancy related reasons to prohibit exercise . This could be 30-45 minutes of exercise 5-6 times a week . Work out could be brisk walking , jogging , swimming or even prenatal yoga .<\/p>\n

Hope that answers most of your pregnancy weight related questions . For anything else please talk to your doctor now !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pregnancy is a time of great changes in the body . One of the requirements of pregnancy is weight gain – this weight is the weight of the growing baby , amniotic fluid around the baby , placenta , uterus , breast tissue and blood volume that increases during pregnancy . The main gain in… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1726"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1731,"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726\/revisions\/1731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drshellysingh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}