Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Why Gaining Weight During Pregnancy Is Important


Gain weight during pregnancy is one of the most dreaded scenarios of women who are so figure conscious. And why not worry? Aside from the pains and major intellectual, emotional, physical and financial adjustments pregnant women should go through, they still have to worry how pregnancy would ruin the years they spent to achieve their figure right now.

But, no matter how frightening or alarming that thought of weight gain during pregnancy is, gaining weight is inevitable. These findings are supported not just by researchers in the field of science but also by some pediatricians, obstetricians and other those who know the real pains of pregnancy.

The importance of weight gain during pregnancy



Experts say that weight gain during pregnancy is inevitable because the hormonal change in a woman’s body triggers it. Studies show that when women are conceiving, there are drastic changes in their hormonal levels that increase their appetite.

Aside from hormonal changes, women gain weight during pregnancy because they tend to eat a lot in order to supply the nutrients needed by the growing fetus.

Providing food and nutrients for the baby inside the womb, experts say, is the main advantage of weight gain during pregnancy. Aside from supplying nutrients to the fetus by eating a wide range of nutritious foods, gaining weight during pregnancy will also help the woman to protect her back from the belly that grows heavier by the month.

Weight gain pregnancy is very important during the early stages of conception because it will help the woman to adjust to the major changes in her body.

But, too much weight during pregnancy—especially at the latter stages—can also be a disadvantage because it may lead to diabetes mellitus, a condition wherein there is too much sugar in the blood caused by large amounts of starches and other sources of sugar from foods.

For you to know the how weight gain during pregnancy can be beneficial to you, make sure that you visit your ob-gyne right away.

Today, studies say that women should go to ob-gynes even before they conceive to ensure that proper monitoring will be done. If you visit the doctor as early as possible, there is a bigger possibility of a healthier pregnancy because you get the right amount of information and guidance that you need.

During you ob-gyne visit, she or he can tell you how much weight you should gain during your pregnancy, how will it affect your body and you overall health, as well as of your baby, what kind of foods you should and shouldn’t be eating, how can gaining weight help your pregnancy to be easier and less stressful or painful, and how can you get rid of the weight you have gained during this stage.

Ideally, the weight a woman should gain during pregnancy should depend on her height and current weight or the total body mass index of her body. Once this has been determined, proper calculation will be done to ensure that you would gain just the right amount of weight during pregnancy.

Ideally, women who are slightly overweight should still gain at least 10 to 15 pounds while women who are underweight should gain more weight, at least 20 to 40 pounds to ensure that her body can supply enough nutrients for the child inside.

Weight gain during pregnancy should also depend on the type of pregnancy that the woman has.

For single pregnancy, the mentioned weight gain standards should apply. But for those who are having double, triple, or quadruple pregnancies, more weight gain is needed to ensure that that babies will get the same amount of nutrients just like the others.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Gaining Weight During Pregnancy


Aside from the overall condition of the fetus inside the womb, one of the major things that stress women when they are conceiving is pregnancy weight gain. This is because they are so afraid to gain so much weight and be among those women who are suffering from a condition called obesity.

Women who have babies in their wombs cannot be blamed for worrying too much over pregnancy weight gain because the society largely contributes to this thinking. In fact, with all the commercialization and hype on weight loss, women—even if those who are pregnant—are tempted to cut down on their weight so the people in the society won’t ridicule them.

Today, some studies show that more and more pregnant women are trying to regulate their food intake. They do this because they don’t want to be fat without thinking that it could severely affect the condition of the baby inside the womb.

Experts say that pregnant women—regardless of their condition—should always stay healthy throughout the duration of pregnancy. Being healthy does not only entails having a positive outlook in life but also good eating habits to supply the nutrients needed both by the mother and the baby.

Why weight gain during pregnancy?

Doctors say that that number one reason why pregnant women should gain weight is to support the nutritional needs of the growing fetus inside her. Since food intake is the number one source of all nutrition in the body, pregnant women should keep on eating especially during the first few months of pregnancy to provide al the nutrients needed by the baby.

Aside from supplying all the nutritional needs of the fetus, weight gain also indicates that the mother is healthy enough to carry on with the pregnancy.

Experts agree that the weight of the woman before the pregnancy does not matter once the first trimester rushes in. It means that no matte how light or heavy you are, you still need to gain weight when you are pregnant.

Medical findings prove that women who are overweight during pregnancy still need to gain weight with at least 20 pounds. Women who are underweight are advised to gain more, ranging from 20-40. These figures are ideal for women who are having single babies.

For those who are expecting two or more, they need to gain much more weight in order to provide the needs of the growing babies.

Pregnancy weight gain is very important for this special period in time because it will benefit the baby a lot. Aside from providing him or her nutrients needed through the foods that you eat, it also ensures their overall health once they come out in this world. Studies show that pregnant women who did not gain weight during conceiving are mothers to small and sickly babies.

For pregnant women to gain weight the healthy way, they should stick to the recommended number of calorie-intake which is 400 to 500 daily.

They should also be mindful about what they eat and how often they eat. During the early stages of pregnancy, pregnant women are allowed to eat almost anything they want to. But, as the pregnancy progresses, some foods are prohibited for pregnant women because these contain ingredients which can be harmful to the baby such as caffeine in coffee and in other drinks, alcohol and beverages with alcohol content, as well as cigarette smoking because it may cause mental problems to the baby.

Aside from eating healthy foods, pregnancy weight gain can also be achieved by performing a list of exercise regularly to keep the muscles fit and firm.
Sunday, September 12, 2010

Weight Gain Calculator For Pregnancy


Pregnancy is indeed one of the best things that can happen to any woman. This is because it is through conceiving a child can the woman feel her worth as caring and doting mother to the future baby. Although nothing can amount the feeling of fulfillment brought by motherhood, many women are quite hesitant to get into it because they are afraid of gaining too much weight.

To help women from panicking over the amount of weight they can gain during pregnancy, people came out with a tool that can estimate a pregnant woman’s weight gain—the pregnancy weight gain calculator.

How this educated guess works

The pregnancy weight gain calculator is one of the tools where pregnant women rely when it comes to the amount of weight they should expect during this stage at their lives.

Experts say that weight gain during pregnancy varies to every woman. If fact, when it comes to pregnancy, no two women gain the exact same weight even if they have the same height, weight, and overall physical frame. This is because their bodies go through a lot of hormonal changes which makes it hard to compare their weight gain during pregnancy.

To give women—who are quite conscious about their weight gain during pregnancy—a pregnancy weight calculator is used to give them an educated guess how heavy they can get during and even after the pregnancy.

The calculator—which can be used by accessing various pregnancy websites—can give pregnant women a general and basic guide how much weight they can gain and how to adjust to these bodily changes.

In using the pregnancy weight gain calculator, the pregnant woman’s current height and weight should be taken into consideration. The woman’s normal weight and height prior to her pregnancy should also be recorded. These pieces of information are very important because her weight and height before conceiving can determine the range of weight gain she can expect.

Here’s a step-by-step procedure of using it the pregnancy weight gain calculator:

1. Look for a reliable website. This is very important because the website can give you not just an educated guess about you weight gain but can also provide you important information on coping up with weight gain during pregnancy. Reliable websites may include parenting sites as well as pregnancy sites especially constructed for expecting women.

2. Start estimating your weight gain. This can be done by providing information such as height (in inches) and weight (in pounds) before your pregnancy. Usually, measurements required are feet and inches (metric) and pounds or kilograms. Through a pregnancy weight gain calculator, you can get not just an estimated weight gain for single pregnancy but for double, triple, or quadruple pregnancies as well.

3. Enter the number of months of pregnancy. You can do this by simple clicking the number of months you have been pregnant.

4. Wait for the calculation. Once all the needed information have been entered, the pregnancy weight gain calculator will then do the processing and will give you the result or estimation in less than a minute.

Although estimating the weight that can be gained during pregnancy can be fun using a pregnancy weight gain calculator is fun, pregnant women should not rely on it 100 percent. This is because their weight gain may vary depending on the type of pregnancy they are having.

To ensure a healthy and safe pregnancy, it is always best to get a regular check up with an ob-gyne.