Each woman in expectation of a baby thinks how to maintain a figure during pregnancy without harming the baby. Usually confused by the fact, experienced mothers and grandmothers insist that now you need to eat for two (or even three if twins are expected), and the doctor starts to gasp and gasp for every kilogram you have gained over the norm. What to do? This article describes how to maintain a figure during pregnancy. You will learn about the rules of nutrition, gymnastics and many other factors affecting weight gain during the period of waiting for the baby.
How much weight can you gain during pregnancy?
Please note that the subtitle says "it is possible" and not "necessary"! That is, now we will talk specifically about the safe mass gain for a woman and a child’s health, whose limit is not recommended to be exceeded. Firstly, with too much weight, it will be difficult for mom to bear a child, begin to jump in pressure, swelling will appear, and other problems with health and well-being will begin. Secondly, being overweight is quite difficult to give birth. Finally, too much weight gained during pregnancy will be difficult to lose after giving birth.
So, the BMI of women before pregnancy affects the rate of weight gain during pregnancy:
- BMI less than 19.8 - thin women, they can during pregnancy gain between 13-16 kg.
- BMI from 19.8 to 20 is the average physique, in this case it is allowed to gain from 10 to 14 kg.
- BMI over 26 are full women; it is recommended that they gain no more than 7 kg for pregnancy.
If twins are expected, then another 2.3 kg for full and 4.6 kg for thin girls can be added to the standards indicated for each BMI.
It turns out that thin women can gain more for pregnancy than those who already have excess weight. How to keep a figure during pregnancy? There are many factors that affect weight gain, and each of them is worth considering.
Weight gain depends on the trimester
This is worth knowing for sure. Many women, looking at how little they gain weight in the first weeks, begin to be frightened at how they begin to "get fat" in the future, and resort to diets that are not needed at all. The fact is that in the first three months the increase will be small. Consider how women gain weight during trimester pregnancy.
First trimester. You won’t get a lot in the first three months. Thin women usually gain up to 3 kg, average physique - 2 kg, and dense - 1 kg. There are times when women do not gain at all, or even lose weight! This, first of all, may be associated with toxicosis. If tight ladies can lose weight up to 3 kg, then thin is harmful, and a gynecologist should control weight loss.
Second trimester. In the second trimester, weight will begin to grow steadily. For this period, slender ones can gain from 7 to 8 kg, average physique - 6, and dense - 4 kg.
Third trimester. During this period, the baby begins to grow actively, and the weight will be added "not by the day, but by the hour!" Thin future mothers gain up to 500 g per week, the average physique of a woman - up to 300 g, and full ones up to 200 g.
You should not be guided only by the norms given in the article, because the increase will be individual for each woman. The publication contains average standards. To know more accurate numbers, you need to make an individual plan with your doctor for weight gain during pregnancy.
How not to lose a figure during pregnancy? First of all, you need the right attitude at the psychological level!
Psychological attitude
The first thing you need to understand is that during pregnancy, weight gain cannot be avoided, and more kilograms will be superfluous. The psychological attitude affects the feeling of hunger. A woman realizes that for the growth and development of the baby, many vitamins and minerals are needed, and they enter the body only with food. That is why pregnant women are tormented by a constant feeling of hunger. If you are thinking about how to maintain a figure during pregnancy, then remember the following:
- nutrition should be correct, with a balanced amount of vitamins and minerals, and not enhanced, as our grandmothers believe;
- you can’t eat everything that causes appetite;
- the statement, again of our mothers and grandmothers, is considered incorrect: "If you want, you can eat a carriage!"
A woman, as a rule, learns about pregnancy not on the first day, but only at 4-8 weeks! From this moment begins an intensified feeling of hunger, moods, and so on. And why, before they learned about pregnancy, was life ordinary? This is a psychological factor! Set yourself up to the fact that everything is the same, eat as before (talk about the introduction of additional foods and vitamins only with your doctor). Do not look at how other pregnant women are eating sandwiches on the street or while waiting for their turn at the doctor! Lead your old way of life.
Myths and Reality
There are many myths that during pregnancy teeth are destroyed, hair falls out, stretch marks appear and excess weight is inevitably added! There is some truth to this, but you can fight it.
Teeth will not fall out, hair will not come out, excess weight will not appear if the woman has enough vitamins and minerals in her body. The baby needs “material” for growth, and he will pull it from the mother. A constant feeling of hunger can haunt precisely from a lack of nutrients in the body. Talk to your doctor about adding extra foods enriched with minerals and vitamins and nutritional supplements to your diet.
Again, the psychological factor: if excess weight cannot be avoided, then you can forget about all past expenses in food and start to eat everything in a triple volume! It is possible and necessary to save a figure during pregnancy! Eat as you did before.
Beauty will save the world!
How to keep fit during pregnancy? This excites many women who are used to taking care of themselves. The first thing that our grandmothers will advise is a complete rejection of cosmetics that harm the child! Against the background of the fact that now you can’t lead a habitual way of life, and you have to give up a lot, ladies begin to “jam” their sorrows. Overweight is gaining, confidence in its beauty passes, some acquire an inferiority complex, lose self-confidence!
Dear women, we live in the XXI century, and today there is a sufficient amount of cosmetics that does not harm during pregnancy. Apply makeup daily, even if you did not plan to go anywhere, give shine to your hair - use tinting hair gels, which are also not harmful to the fetus, as they are not absorbed into the blood! Pamper yourself with new clothes, buy beautiful outfits by size! Get a couple of things that you wear after childbirth - the size should be what it was before pregnancy - this will help to tune in a positive way.
A painted and well-groomed woman will always be self-confident. Do not forget about taking care of yourself, and you don’t want to eat an extra cake that causes appetite, but is still deposited on the hips.
Communication
How to keep a figure during pregnancy? Reviews of many happy mothers say that you can’t stay at home! Even if there are no friends with children and pregnant women with whom you could take a walk, go out yourself, and there will be communication.
Go for a walk in parks or playgrounds, go shopping with goods for babies. Here you will definitely find interlocutors! Pleasant communication distracts from the feeling of constant hunger. This feeling appears only when bored, nothing to do.
Physical Education
How to keep a figure during pregnancy? Firstly, it’s worth understanding that you are not sick, and moderate exercise will only benefit. Sign up for gymnastics for pregnant women, yoga, the pool.
If there is no opportunity or desire to attend such sections, then just stir more: walk, do housework, with the necessary outings from the house, refuse the car and public transport - walk more than before pregnancy!
How to keep fit during pregnancy? The most important factor is nutrition.
Pregnancy Nutrition
Too much excess weight gained during pregnancy by eating double servings is harmful not only to the woman, but also to the baby. The child will also be born overweight, and most likely this problem will become chronic in him.
But severe restrictions on food intake are not a solution to the problem. A hungry woman is very nervous! But this is not the most dangerous - the lack of food in the mother’s body harms the baby, because its growth and development slows down. Therefore, it is impossible to be fanatical about preserving a figure, to deny yourself a cutlet, eating a dietary bar of grains instead.
It is important for us to find a middle ground, which will allow our mother to be full, give the right amount of nutrients to the baby, but will not lead to the appearance of excess weight.
- All necessary products must be present in the diet: lean meat, poultry, fish, cereals, vegetables.
- Eat at least five times a day, but in small portions, refuse snacks.
- Chew food slowly.
- Make a beautiful table every time.
- Refuse from starvation - you will get hungry even more, break down and overeat.
- Sleep at least 9 hours a day.
What should not be eaten during pregnancy?
How to keep a figure during pregnancy? Cook, stew, bake, steam. Refuse smoked and fried foods, they have a lot of cholesterol, which is not only harmful to health, but also contributes to weight gain.
No convenience foods or fast food! Get used to eating only homemade food. Pregnancy is a great reason to learn how to cook.
What should I do if I still get overweight?
How to maintain a figure during pregnancy if, subject to all the rules, surpluses still appear? Firstly, no panic. The child himself can be large, there may be a lot of accumulated fluid in the body of a woman.
Even if you have gained excess, you can quickly lose weight after childbirth. But this is only subject to proper nutrition. Also, athletic women quickly come into shape after childbirth than those who prefer walking to sitting on the couch watching TV.