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Discomforts of Pregnancy
Should You Gain Weight In Your First Trimester?
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Moving through pregnancy often raises some tricky questions.One of the common questions is whether or not a pregnant woman is “supposed” to gain weight in the first trimester of pregnancy.When you are pregnant, you have to pay attention to a lot of details if you want to have a healthy baby (and of course you want this!). One of these details is the appropriate amount of weight to gain during pregnancy. If you are an expectant mother, you probably know that an adult normal-weight woman must gain between 25 and 35 pounds by the ninth month. You must also know that you have to gain weight mainly in the second and in the third trimester, but many of you ask yourselves: should I be gaining weight during the first trimester of pregnancy?
The first trimester is the beginning of this important journey that is pregnancy. Even if is not obvious that you are carrying a baby from the outside, you will feel different and you will notice many changes in your body. These include breast changes, you will urinate more often, you may be much more tired than usual, and you may have nausea, heartburn, headaches. Besides these, some women have feelings of depression, anxiety, fear and mood swings.
Many women feel compelled to gain weight as soon as they hear they are pregnant. Others feel it is a license to “eat for two”. The truth is that you should only gain about 3 to 5 pounds during the first trimester. Sometimes it’s difficult to gain even that much weight even if you want to. Some women even lose weight in the first trimester, because of morning sickness, lack of appetite and exhaustion. Other women tend to gain much more than the normal amount of weight in the first trimester. Either situation is not ideal for either of you.
Will you gain weight the first trimester of pregnancy if you barely eat anything? Perhaps not, but you don’t have to worry about this. During the nausea-prone first trimester, few women manage to eat “by the book”. That’s why it is important to enter pregnancy with enough nutritional reserves to provide for both you and your baby. If you didn’t manage to gain at least 2 pounds after the first trimester of pregnancy you don’t need to panic because this is not a reason for the baby not to develop normally, but you should consult a specialist in nutrition if you do not begin to gain weight. If you didn’t have healthy-eating habits before, pregnancy is the time to develop these good habits. Even if you don’t have an appetite and you feel a little sick, make sure that every bite you take (and keep down) packs a nutritional wallop. Don’t try to compensate for your lack of weight gain by eating junk food once your morning sickness passes. This may be harmful for the baby.
Excessive weight gain on the other hand, can lead to health problems for the mother, such as gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and varicose veins, and will increase the difficulty of delivery. It will also be more difficult for you to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight.
You probably know that much of the extra weight goes to your baby (7-8 pounds), the extra blood and fluid volume (8 pounds), amniotic fluid (2 pounds), uterus, placenta, breast enlargement, and extra fat stores (7 pounds) in case of illness or “hard times.”
In the first trimester of pregnancy the baby and her “housing” are still yet very small, and your pregnancy weight gain needs are covered with 5-6 pounds. The extra pounds you gain above these 5-6 are yours only. Don’t even consider compensating them with gaining less in the second or in the third trimester.
If you try to eat nutritionally dense foods every day and stay away from the junk you are doing the best you can for your baby and probably have better things to focus on than every ounce you are gaining.
About the author:
Author - Kitty Barker who often writes for and with Pregnancy Information where there is far more information, news and resources. She also writes for Pregnancy Weight Gain If that link is inactive, you can paste this link into your browser - http://pregnancy-and-baby-tips.com/
Buy the Book: Pregnancy Weight Management
Image Source: http://flickr.com/photos/imager/2408012931/
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Tags: First Trimester, Healthy Pregnancy, pregnancy & weight gain, pregnancy diet, Pregnancy Nutrition, pregnant health
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