Dieting During Pregnancy

With all of the current concerns about weight gain during pregnancy, it makes sense that you might be concerned if you are already overweight. You might be tempted to lose some weight in the early stages of your pregnancy in order to ensure you are within the recommended guidelines. However, is this safe? Most medical experts will recommend that women not try to lose weight during their pregnancy, though some will anyway due to conditions beyond their control.

Why You Might Lose Weight

In the initial stages of pregnancy, you might find you lose weight without trying to. Of course, if you have intense morning sickness, this is always a possibility. You might become severely dehydrated, which can make your weight lower than it should be. But once you get the morning sickness under control, you will be able to begin to gain weight again. If you find that you can not keep any food down or that you are becoming too dizzy during your bouts of morning sickness, you might want to get in to see your obstetrician or midwife in order to check you out. It might be that you will need medical interventions.

Don’t Diet, But Eat Well

Though it might feel like dieting to you, it’s a good idea to begin to eat better when you find out you are pregnant. This will help you to gain weight at a regular pace, which will allow you to support a baby healthily. If you try to lose weight or to restrict your diet too much, you can begin to upset the nutrient levels in your body and thus your baby might not get all of the nutrition they need to grow strong and at the right pace. Choose more fruits and vegetables while also avoiding processed sugars and other chemical laden foods. In doing so, you will support your body and help your body stay strong and healthy throughout your pregnancy.

How to Eat During Pregnancy

The trick with pregnancy is that you don’t actually need to eat twice as much to support your baby. You do want to eat more, but only a few hundred calories more a day in order to support fetal growth. Again, choose healthy ways to eat more foods. You might choose lean proteins or an extra glass of skim milk a day, for example. Other women like to eat a handful of nuts or a serving of avocado to help them get healthy fats as well as nutrition. Or you might add a small serving of fruit to your snack times to help control hunger and get more vitamins.

While you might want to diet in order to stop the weight gain of pregnancy, this is not recommended. You do need to gain weight in order to support your baby and your health. With careful diet planning, you will be able to have the foods you need to support good health. You don’t need to eat excessively in order to be a good mother for your child.