Introduction
During pregnancy, weight gain occurs in the mother’s abdomen due to the growing child. This is determined by the growth and weight of the child, the increased blood volume, the growing uterus and the amount of amniotic fluid. The calorie intake also plays a role.
Some women eat twice the amount of calories during pregnancy. In these cases the weight then also increases significantly due to fat gain. It is important for expectant mothers to gain a healthy amount of weight. While too little weight gain can impair the development of the child, an excessive increase in body weight can also have a negative effect on the mother’s body.
Weight gain in the 1st trimester of pregnancy
At the beginning of pregnancy (within the first trimester of pregnancy) most women hardly gain any weight. The first trimester of pregnancy begins on the first day of the last menstrual period and ends with the 12th week of pregnancy. Due to the sometimes very pronounced early symptoms, it can happen that no weight gain is observed in women in the first trimester of pregnancy.
On the contrary, some women even lose weight in early pregnancy. This is particularly true for expectant mothers who suffer from pronounced nausea and frequent vomiting during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. For most expectant mothers, there is only a slight weight gain, if any, in the first trimester of pregnancy.
The reason for this is the fact that the organism still has to adjust at the beginning of the pregnancy. Above all, the increased production of pregnancy hormones and the increasing formation of new blood cells ensure that the daily energy requirement increases. The energy suppliers taken in with food are usually used up very quickly and less fat can be stored.
Nevertheless, women should pay attention to a balanced and healthy diet during the first weeks of pregnancy. Regular intake of vitamins is particularly important for the child’s development. If there is too much weight gain during early pregnancy, this can usually be attributed to incorrect eating habits.
In addition, when calculating the ideal weight gain during pregnancy, it must be taken into account that the ideal value is strongly dependent on the height and body weight before pregnancy. The individual body mass index (short: BMI) of the expectant mother therefore plays a decisive role in the calculation of the ideal weight gain in pregnancy. In general, however, it can be assumed that a weight gain of approximately 1.5 to 2.5 kilograms should be aimed for during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Women who lose more than 1.5 to 2.0 kilograms due to frequent nausea and strong vomiting during the first trimester of pregnancy should urgently seek the advice of their treating gynecologist. Especially at the beginning of pregnancy the development of the child can be negatively influenced by vitamin and energy deficiency. In this context, it should be urgently noted that the focus in the first trimester of pregnancy is on the development of the embryo and the formation of the individual organ systems.
For this reason, an incorrect diet can, under certain circumstances, provoke a maldevelopment of individual organs. The second third of pregnancy begins with the 13th and ends with the 28th week of pregnancy. The main aim of this part of pregnancy is to increase the size and weight of the fetus.
Most of the organs are already developed at the beginning of the 13th week of pregnancy and only need to mature in the further course of the pregnancy. In the expectant mother, the existing pregnancy becomes clearly visible within this period. But similar to the ideal weight gain, the increase in abdominal girth varies from woman to woman.
It is even typical that a woman’s abdominal girth develops differently in different pregnancies. In general, it can be assumed that pregnancy in slim women, regardless of the actual weight gain during pregnancy, will show up much earlier than in more corpulent expectant mothers. Furthermore, the baby’s abdomen usually develops much earlier in the course of the second or third pregnancy.Since most of the typical pregnancy symptoms have improved significantly or even disappeared completely by the time you reach the 13th week of pregnancy, appetite usually returns at this point.
In addition, women who have suffered from frequent vomiting during the first trimester of pregnancy should now expect a significant weight gain. In the second third of pregnancy, a weekly weight gain of 250 to 400 grams for a woman of normal weight is considered healthy. Expectant mothers who had a body mass index of less than 18.5 before the pregnancy should even gain between 400 and 600 grams per week in the second third of pregnancy. Slightly to severely obese women, on the other hand, should always keep an eye on their weight gain during the second third of the pregnancy. To avoid excessive weight gain during the second trimester of pregnancy, overweight women should ask their gynecologist for nutritional advice.
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