The big question

While pregnancy is a precious time, most of us would rather avoid one of the inevitable side effects: those extra love handles that suddenly appear. Relax – your pregnancy is the one time in your life when it’s okay to pick up weight. But do it in a healthy way, says Liana Mocke

YOUR PREGNANCY GUIDE says you should gain about 12kg while you’re with child, and you’re starting to get really worried because the needle on the scale is edging on 15kg… Don’t worry unnecessarily, says Dr Liza Fowler, a gynaecologist at the Louis Leipoldt MediClinic in Cape Town.

It’s not about how many kilograms you gain, but what you weighed before falling pregnant. Ideally, you should not gain more than 17 to 20 percent of your pre-pregnancy weight. So, it’s about percentages rather than a set number of kilograms, Dr Fowler says.

You can predict roughly how many kilos you’ll pick up per trimester. Most of the weight is put on in the second and third trimester (about 300 to 450g per week), and the biggest jump in weight gain is between weeks 16 and 24. During the first trimester, average weight gain is between 0.7 and 1.5kg.

If you take all of this into consideration, 15kg extra does not sound so bad – and it does not even include the fat that your body has stored during pregnancy!

Your body needs way more energy while you’re pregnant, and the stored fat does not only help with this, it also transports vitamins and helps to build baby’s nervous system. A healthy increase in fats can add another 2 to 4kg to your pregnancy weight.

TOO LIGHT OR TOO HEAVY?

It’s ideal to have your weight under control before you fall pregnant. The experts suggest a body-mass index (BMI) of between 20 and 24. The sum is your weight in kilograms divided by your height squared. The answer needs to be between 20 and 24.

Every woman’s metabolism is different, and so it will also be during and after pregnancy. While you’re pregnant, your metabolism speeds up because the foetus needs lots of nutrients, and your body consumes more energy.

If you’re underweight… (you have a BMI under 20) before falling pregnant, there’s a chance that your baby might also be underweight. In serious cases it can cause complications such as premature birth, low blood sugar, low body temperature and even death in utero. So, if you’re underweight, you should preferably speak to a dietician. “It’s rather common to lose weight in your first trimester due to loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting. It becomes dangerous when you become dehydrated and don’t absorb any kilojoules,” Dr Fowler says.

If you’re overweight… Chances are your baby will be above average in size. The biggest danger is that you’ll develop diabetes or high blood pressure, both conditions that more commonly occur in overweight pregnant women. “Women who are already overweight and become pregnant should for this reason seriously consider a controlled healthy eating plan,” Dr Fowler advises.

“The idea is not to control kilojoules, but to prevent further excessive weight gain. A dietician will be able to help.” When it comes to losing weight… How quickly can you shed the kilos after birth? The biggest loss is in the first 10 days because you lose a lot of the bodily fluids you retained during pregnancy. After that you should lose about 250g per week, Dr Fowler says. Breastfeeding also helps to shed the kilos, but this only starts happening after about 60 days and only if you consume a normal number of kilojoules.

RED LIGHT

Stay far away from dieting while you’re pregnant, because it can limit the growth of the foetus and affect your own health at a later stage.

A crash diet is not healthy, and even less so while you’re pregnant.

Your growing baby needs a certain amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. A shortage of any of these nutrients can retard growth or lead to deficiencies. “Remember, the foetus is your body’s first priority, and if your diet does not contain enough calcium and potassium, it could lead to lower bone density and problems with osteoporosis when you’re older,” warns Rustenburg-based dietician Antonette Grant.