It is very essential for a pregnant woman to gain healthy weight during her pregnancy period. A balanced and healthy diet will help your baby achieve the necessary nutrients needed to grow. On an average, a pregnant lady requires an additional of about 300 healthy calories per day which will allow her to maintain fitness during pregnancy.
Your pregnancy weight should be well distributed in the body in such a way so as to give birth to a healthy baby and also prepare your body for the motherhood. Generally, a healthy pregnancy weight distribution is reflected as 7.5 pounds for baby, 1.5 pounds for placenta, 2 pounds for amniotic fluid, 2 pounds for uterine expansion, 2 pounds for maternal breast tissue, 4 pounds for maternal blood volume, 4 pounds for maternal tissue fluid and 7 pounds for maternal fat storage.
Learning more About Accurate and Healthy Weight Increase During Pregnancy
The rate of weight gain depends upon your metabolism, genetics and the activity level. It is recommended to take suggestions from your health care provider to determine the right weight gain during pregnancy. The following tips are also useful in this regard:
- It is advisable to distribute the intake of your meals during the day. Consume about five to six meals each day.
- Often people say to avoid junk foods and nuts since it boosts a chance of gaining weight. However, in the case of pregnancy you should keep in mind to have meals for two. Handy snacks such as nuts, crackers, cheese, raisins, ice creams, yogurt and dry fruits are suitable foods which you can feed on during intervals.
- Fruits like apples and bananas, peanut butter with toasts are also preferably good to gain accurate weight during pregnancy. It is believed that a tablespoon of peanut butter provides about 100 calories and 7 grams of protein.
- Addition of nonfat powdered milk to scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes or warm cereals is a good source of weight gain.
- A rich amount of butter, margarine, cream cheese, cheese or sour cream in your diet helps you gain a considerable amount of weight required during pregnancy.
- At least four servings of milk products are essential every day in order to gain correct weight for a pregnant woman. Low fat items such as broiled chicken breasts, tomato and lettuce sandwich without sauce or mayonnaise, salads without dressings and plain baked potato are good food source.
- Sweetened drinks are to be reduced. Increase the usage of water.
- Salt retain water. Hence do not add salt while cooking.
- Most importantly, all food consumed during pregnancy should be cooked in a healthy manner. Adopt the methods of baking, grilling, broiling and boiling. Frying of foods adds unwanted calories and should be strictly avoided.
- Swimming and walking are the safest exercises for a pregnant woman. It is always better to take your doctor’s advice for the best exercise tips during pregnancy.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has proposed general weight gain recommendations for the various trimesters during the pregnancy period. The amount of weight to be gained each week during trimesters depends on your BMI. The normal weight in pounds during the second and third trimesters is considered to be 1 (0.8-1).
