Many women become concerned about gaining too much weight during pregnancy. While eating unhealthily and too much can cause health problems for both the mom and the baby, eating too little can create health concerns as well. According to the March of Dimes, underweight women are at an increased risk for having babies with a birth weight of less than 5 ½ lbs. Gaining too much weight puts moms at risk for having a pre-term baby, a large baby, diabetes, high blood pressure and varicose veins. Tracking your weight during pregnancy is an important part of caring for yourself and your baby during pregnancy.
Ask your doctor for his recommendation of how much weight you should gain. Your individual body type will be a determining factor in his recommendation. If you are carrying multiples, then your recommended weight gain will be higher than the average woman’s will.
Determine how much you weighed before you got pregnant. This is your starting point to know how much you should gain during the pregnancy. The American Pregnancy Association reports the average woman should gain 25 to 37 lbs., underweight women should gain 28 to 40 lbs. and overweight women should gain 15 to 25 lbs.
Weigh yourself at the end of the first trimester. If you were of average weight before pregnancy, gaining 3 to 5 lbs. at the end of 12 weeks would be considered healthy.
Weigh yourself every two weeks in the second and third trimesters. The recommended weight gain during this time is about 1 to 2 lbs. a week, or 4 to 8 lbs. a month, according to the American Pregnancy Association. Women who started out underweight would be in the higher range, while women who started out overweight would be in the lower range of these recommendations.