It is a common belief that women gain weight while being pregnant, but losing weight while pregnant is also possible. Women could also maintain their weight and lose some body fat.
In some cases women are losing weight in the first trimester, but it is also possible to lose body fat during the entire pregnancy.
Pregnancy weight loss
In case a woman has a normal weight before pregnancy, she could gain around 25-35 lbs. during the pregnancy. This means 7-8 lbs. of body fat that will become a reserve used while breastfeeding. Another 7-8 lbs. represents the weight of the baby. The rest of the weight consists in placenta and body fluids.
Time frame
Although pregnancy weight loss isn’t considered to be something normal, in some cases it isn’t harmless, but it still needs to be checked out.
As an example, during the first trimester losing weight is quite common because of the morning sickness and so women are reducing the food intake.
In case you are losing weight while pregnant in the first trimester, the chances of having harmful effects on the baby are smaller than in case the weight loss occurs at a later stage of the pregnancy.
Illness
There are some other causes as well of pregnancy weight loss, such as illness. A woman could be affected by prolonged morning sickness that lasts during the entire pregnancy or she could be affected by an infection. All these could cause weight loss in the second or third month of pregnancy.
Usually losing weight while being pregnant at the later stages is more dangerous than at the early stages because your baby is already larger and so he or she has greater nutritional necessities. This is a problem that your doctor should know about.
Considerations
Pregnancy weight loss isn’t a good idea in case you were overweight before you got pregnant. The doctors say that trying to actively losing weight during your pregnancy is a pretty bad idea. Nonetheless the doctors claim that women shouldn’t gain too much weight in this case.
When it comes to losing weight while being pregnant, if you gain only this much weight, it means that in fact you are losing body fat, because the weight gain is actually caused by the growing baby. This means that you could actually use your pregnancy to control your weight.
Warning
Although pregnancy weight loss isn’t impossible, the doctors say that women should under no circumstances actively pursue losing weight, unless their doctor advises them otherwise. In the majority of the cases doctors say that pregnant women shouldn’t be on a diet with the purpose of weight loss.
Losing weight while being pregnant isn’t such a good idea because the baby might not get all the nutrients that he or she needs in order to develop and grow normally. As you can see, it is possible to lose weight, but you shouldn’t be actively trying to achieve it during your pregnancy because you could harm the baby.
