The Right Way To Gain Weight While Pregnant

This was what one of my squaddies (clients) said to me during one of our sessions. After laughing at her rather dramatic emojis, I asked for details.

Apparently, she had added 7kg already in her first trimester. I wasn’t shocked, because it happened to me in my first pregnancy. From the moment I got pregnant, I ate anything, everything and at every time. It also did not help that from like week 6, I went public with my BFP(Big FAT positive) outlook to life. So the weight gain was expected. 

On the average, a woman is expected to gain a total of 10kg to 15 kg weight all through her pregnancy. And half of it should occur in the third trimester. The first trimester should see you gain a minimum of 1 to 2 pounds ideally, which is less than 1kg. And that is expected, after all, your baby is literally the size of a ‘tadpole’ so it need not show externally yet. 

And no, you should not worry about the safety of your baby either because even weight loss in the first trimester, especially as a result of morning sickness in many women, still doesn’t affect the developing fetus. The human body, from the moment conception occurs, levels up in efficiency and optimises all body processes to favour the growing fetus over the mom. So the mom can lose weight, lose sleep, and much more, and the fetus remains unaffected.

Now, barring any morning sickness, please keep it together in your first trimester. If you have been exercising before, don’t stop without a cause. Working out when pregnant is not only safe but recommended. So long as you modify moves to suit your trimester. If however, you have not been working out, and your doctor is fine with it, you can start as a beginner. Just make sure you observe all the rules that guide prenatal exercising, and I shared some here.

You should also watch your food intake. Please do not stay more than 2 to 3 hours without eating or snacking healthily. Growth may not be really happening at that point, but development is, and that is taking a lot from you as the mom.  Once your body is lacking the energy that food provides, you can faint or become light headed in minutes. I recall this one time, in my first trimester, my team and I traveled from Abuja to Uyo for a training. The morning session began early and was long. It hit noon and I had not had a chance to eat. I came a hair’s breath close to fainting. Needless to say, the entire team stayed on my case all through. So eat, but please eat healthily.

 A good number of my clients find out they are pregnant when they are still trying to lose weight and get to their goals. So they want to know if they can continue to actively work on their weight loss, to which i say a BIG FAT NO!!! Pregnancy is not the time to have weight loss dreams. It is the time to gain weight but healthily and at the right pace.

The Weight Gain Process

So by first trimester, you should still get away with not looking pregnant. By month 4, your waistline should start to be snug, and by the middle to end of 2nd trimester (month 5 and 6), you should be looking at maternity dresses.

By third trimester though,things speed up a little. It almost feels like breathing makes you gain weight. That is also because the body is amassing all it needs to prepare you for labour and delivery. I recall asking my doctor in the last weeks what I could do to stop the baby from growing so fast, evident in the way my abdomen was getting bigger faster. He said, nothing. He also said that even if I really restrict my diet, the baby takes what it needs FIRST and then leaves whatever is left for me. 

So I may be starving, but the baby stays growing. I know, unfair right? He said it is only in extreme starvation cases, like those countries where starvation is endemic, that a baby can be affected. And it was true. The 5kg weight I had managed to gain right up until week 26 when third trimester began, shot up another 7kg in third trimester only. Good thing I didn’t start gaining all that weight from week 4.

So darling preggos, please gain weight at the right pace, and fight for discipline. It will do you a world of good.

As usual, I would love to hear from you. You can send in your questions or reach me via email at coache@coachesquad.com