Ways To (Safely) Lose Weight In Pregnancy
Don’t go just blindly altering your diet and lifestyle without becoming informed first…
1. Understand Your Desired Weight Range
During pregnancy, women gain weight. That;s a given of course as you’re carrying around another human being inside your body. However, the desired weight gain can be complicated if you are overweight or obese when you conceive.
The following weight guidelines are supplied by the “National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases”:
- Healthy women with normal weight (18.5 to 24.9 BMI): can gain between 25 and 35 pounds
- Obese (BMI of 30 or above): expected to gain 11 to 20 pounds
- BMI between 25 and 29.9: expected to gain 15 to 25 pounds
2. Minimize Your Calorie Intake
Minimizing calorie intake has always been the best way to lose weight in a safe and controlled way, and this is no different during pregnancy. The intake of more calories than required can lead to significant weight gain during pregnancy.
Reducing calorie intake by 3,500 will on average result in a weight loss of 1 pound. This equates to a drop of 500 calories per day, which is generally manageable for most of us.
Again, don’t just blindly go ahead with a calorie reduction plan. It’s vital that you should be reducing the right types of food and not the most nutritious ones, or the heath of both you and the baby can be affected adversely. Keep a log of the foods you consume over a week and make sure to consult a dietitian to develop an ideal food plan.
Medical professionals recommend that pregnant women eat at least 1,700 calories per day. This is determoned to be the minimum in order for them and the baby to be healthy. Consuming about 1,700 calories a day will help ensure that both they and the baby are getting enough energy and nutrients on a daily basis.
However, if the mother tends to be consuming more than the recommended 1,700 calories, she should aim at gradually cutting the figure down:
- Consume smaller meal portions
- Eliminate or at least reduce the intake of condiments, especially ones high in sugar
- Swap the unhealthy fats like butter and cheese with a plant-based equivalents, such as olive oil
- Switch baked goods for fresh fruits like apples, grapes, pears and oranges
- Eat more vegetables
- Drink plenty of water and totally eliminate soda
- Junk foods like fries, burgers, pizza should be removed from the diet, or at least cut to a minimum
Also, it’s recommended that pregnant women take a daily prenatal vitamin that helps to ensure their bodies get all the nutrients they and the baby need. Folate is an important nutrient in this regard as it’s helpful in decreasing the risk for birth defects.
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