New guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy
Reflecting our ever-expanding waistlines, new guidelines recommend that obese women only gain between 11 to 20 pounds during pregnancy. The guidelines added a new category for obese women.
The Institute of Medicine revised its earlier guidelines from the 90s, which allowed for a few extra pounds. The authors of the study say that not only have obesity rates increased in recent years, but so has weight gain during pregnancy. The new guidelines rely on body mass index ranges. BMI, a ratio of weight to height, is a common formula used to measure obesity.
According to the report:
Women today are also heavier; a greater percentage of them are entering pregnancy overweight or obese, and many are gaining too much weight during pregnancy. Many of these changes carry the added burden of chronic disease, which can put the mother and her baby’s health at risk.
According to the new BMI cutoffs used in this report, about 3% of U.S. women of childbearing age are underweight. Nearly two-thirds are overweight, and nearly half of them are obese. And only about a quarter of pregnant women gain within the range recommended for their prepregnancy weight.
The recommendations: An underweight-woman should add between 28 to 40 pounds. A normal-weight woman should gain between 25 and 35 pounds. An overweight woman should gain 15 to 25. Obese women: 11 to 20 pounds.
As someone who gained more than the “recommended” guidelines for each of my pregnancies, I do wish I had been more careful about food choices. Still, some of that extra weight is extra fluids, increased blood volume, placenta and baby. How much did you gain during pregnancy?
Aisha covered education and breaking news for nearly ten years before joining the Lifestyle staff where she writes a "Dirty Laundry" parenting column. She is the home and family editor and wastes too much time on Facebook and political blogs. 
I am currently 8 months pregnant and have gained well above the “recommended” amount of weight already. I also gained well above the guideline with my first child 4 years ago. I gained 55 pounds total and was able to lose everything plus another 10 pounds by the time she was 6 months old. I am hoping to be able to do it again. I think genetics are definitely a factor- mother, grandmother and aunts all gained around 40-60 pounds as well (all were normal-weight prior to pregnancy, as I was).
Weight issues have been a major stress factor for me throughout my life and I try so hard not to worry about it right now. I try to eat healthy- but truly feel that pregnant women deserve some indulgence every now and then, even if it is a triple fudge sundae or a double cheeseburger. Stress is bad for a developing baby- so sometimes I wonder about these doctors that come down on their patients for gaining too much. Why trade one problem for another?
I looked up the IoM report and it doesn’t say docs should “come down on” moms. It says that they should talk about the guidelines and work with each woman to come up with weight gain goals that are right for her. Why are so many women so quick to assume that any conversation about weight is going to be about how bad you’re being rather than maybe a helpful conversation about healthy changes you can make and how you can do something good for yourself?
I only gained 13 pounds. I was lucky! I watched what I ate, exercised and had lots of morning… make that all day sickness!!
I haven’t gained as much weight with this pregnancy as I did with the previous two. I’m eating less fast food - partly because I don’t feel sick when I eat vegetables like I did with my first two kids. I gained about 50-60 pounds with my first two, lost the weight and more afterwards, then gained some weight after weaning. But, some of that pregnancy weight was water. I swear I was thirty pounds lighter when I left the hospital.
Eat right, keep moving and your body will gain the appropriate amount of weight for you and the baby. Breastfeeding will also help you lose that weight afterward (just another bonus!).
I gained 45lbs with my first pregnancy and none with my second (although I had a hearty 10 pounder). I am overweight and I think the second time around diet and exercise was really the key. I felt great before and after the pregnancy!
I gained 30 lbs during my pregnancy, and I fall right on the border between underweight and normal (5′6″, 110 lbs). I gained the most weight of any of my friends who were pregnant around the same time as me (which was really distressing for me, but my friends loved it), and most of them fell into the normal to overweight category. All of the 30 lbs was gone by my 6-week follow up with my OB…and all I did was eat a bit less (3 meals and no snacks, instead 3 meals and 1 snack) because I was so busy with my daughter.