Expert obstetrician suggests pregnant women should gain less weight

You know, for both my pregnancies I gained no or very little weight until that last month, and then I just couldn't help it. I wasn't as hungry because, well, there wasn't so much room anymore, and then lost about 70% immediately upon delivering that baby and placenta.

While I understand the point of the study's author, as an obese mom who was engaged in physical activity during pregnancy and stopped eating so much near the end sometimes your body does what it thinks is best. And so does the baby for that matter. I'd like to see a study on moms who worked as hard as I did to try to limit weight gain and the outcomes, as in how much weight and their overall health as well as the neonate. I bet Dr. Artal would be surprised by the results.

Of course the Navelgazing Midwife also admits that she is absolutely opposed to consumption of dairy products in the last month of pregnancy (for everyone) and she believes that eating dairy in the last month is associated with overly large babies and hard deliveries. She might be right on there.

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Eh. Of course he would say this - he's never been pregnant. With both my babies I exercised the entire 9 months. I ate somewhat healthy, but I still gained 32 pounds with the first and 34 with #2. I think until he goes through it he needs to bite his tongue.

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I love when men have recommendations for situations they will never experience. I would have loved to do some meaningful exercise throughout my pregnancy, but between the breathlessness, fatigue, and general unwieldiness, the only activities I could manage were walking, yoga, and swimming. Not exactly high-impact cardio. When you've got a famine-resistant metabolism to begin with, it's very hard to keep weight down, even when you can get your heart rate up!

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Ok, I'm 5'3". Pre-pregnancy I weighed about 107, all muscle. I continued to exercise the entire pregnancy. I gained SEVENTY POUNDS! I was huge, and still exercised. There was nothing I could do to stop the weight gain. My body needed it.

Oh, and don't hate me, it was all off in six months.

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I think Dr. Artal is a bit off base. I personally think weight gain is not the issue - but eating whole foods and no junk is truly the issue here. I believe in lots and lots of protein for healthy baby and followed this diet for all of my pregnancies: http://www.blueribbonbaby.org/

Concentrate on counseling moms about appropriate pregnancy eating and focus on nutrition instead of weight gain. Calories are certainly not created equal!

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I was considered morbidly obese for both of my pregnancies. For the first one, I gained thirty pounds and lost it all in six weeks. For the second, I gained fifteen pounds and lost it all in six weeks.

I was on bed rest and couldn't exercise, but I tried to make okay eating choices (a bowl full of watermelon instead of a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream). Even if I had been able to exercise, I don't think I could have gained less for #2. Considering that was mostly water, baby, placenta and extra blood, I think 15 pounds is quite a modest gain.

That doc can bite me.

Cheryl
http://redpens-diapers.blogspot.com

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Yeah, I love to hear men talk about how women should eat and look. It makes me want to run right out and follow their advice. (sarcasm) I understand that his intentions are good, but honestly it isn't healthy for anyone to obsess about their weight gain or calorie intake, especially while pregnant. Eating healthier foods and getting a moderate amount of exercise is much preferred, and if you still manage to gain 70lbs, then you managed to gain 70lbs, and you should continue to eat healthy and exercise until it's gone. That's all there is to it. I gained 35lbs. with my first child, and another 15 with my second. I never lost a pound between the two, unfortunately. My youngest is now 20 months old and I've lost 66lbs since he was born. I'm now thinner than I was in high school, even junior high. All I've been doing is consistently making healthier eating choices than I did when I was younger, running after 2 kids, and trying to walk as much as possible. It takes TIME to lose any weight, regardless of how it was gained, not pressure and obsessions with calories and numbers on a scale. I threw mine out after my first pregnancy and focused on how I felt in my clothes instead because I found myself too often agonizing over the number on the scale and stressing myself out unhealthily.

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I think that if you eat moderately well and get some exercise your body will gain what it needs.

Like mamacheryl, I was also quite obese for my pregnancies. The first time I used the pregnancy as an excuse to indulge my whims and I gained 36lbs. The second time I gained 11lbs, but I ate better portions and a diet of mostly whole foods.

Most very slim women I know gain 30-80lbs.

I can't explain it.

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Well, I suppose I'll weigh in. I started at 136 lbs at 5'7". At 33 weeks, last I weighed myself, I was 174 lbs...
I've tried to be careful about how I eat. I don't eat much differently than I did before. I've tried to add more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, and less meat(mostly because I've had an aversion to meat). It's harder to exercise now, especially since I got a stinkin' cold that put me out of commission for a week. I didn't have too many cravings early on in the pregnancy, but lately I've been craving the crap food. This morning, I couldn't kick the craving for a chocolate donut and cup of coffee. Soda's been a problem now, when it hasn't been in the past. Go figure. My mom didn't gain too much with my sister or me. My sister, who is 10 weeks behind me, seems to crave more greasy fatty foods, but walks everywhere.. so we'll see how much she gains.

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Ya live long enough you see this stuff come around again. When my aunt was pregnant with my cousin (now 35), the 'in' thing with ob/gyn's was to limit weight gain to 15 lbs or so. She looked like a stick with a basketball in the middle. Then they decided women needed to gain a fair amount of weight because of the baby/placenta/water/increased blood volume, etc.
I'd mistrust ANY obstetrician who made blanket statements.

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Didn't I read maybe a year or two ago that kids whose moms dieted during pregnancy were more likely to have weight problems?

I would take this doc's advice with a grain of salt. The only thing I would agree with is that there should be no target MINIMUM weight gain, i.e., if you take care of yourself and happen to NOT gain much weight, you should not feel like you are doing something wrong.

Oh and I would hesitate to advise heavy exercise during pregnancy. People I know who did that had either miscarriages or kids with birth defects (mental and physical). Of course it doesn't always happen, but it does increase the risk, so I would suggest women not push their physical limits during pregnancy.

There is definitely no one right answer; the only safe path is to do a ton of research, make moderate choices, and monitor your health so you can respond to any health problems that present themselves.

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Oh, and does it strike anyone as odd that the doc says women should control their weight DURING pregnancy because they are unlikely to slim down AFTER pregnancy? And that the lack of control DURING pregnancy is a big cause of obesity in our country? Would it not make more sense to help women lose weight AFTER pregnancy? Or is that another thing men just don't understand? Or is it that doctors' involvement is less after the pregnancy so they want to focus on changes during pregnancy, whether that is the best time for it or not?

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I'm living in Japan, and here drs. tell women to gain no more than 10lbs total, and most women I know here gained literallly 10-15lbs total in their pregnancies.
I was pregnant with my first in California, gained total 20lbs, and the nurses kept telling me I should gain more weight...
I was pregnant with my second here in Japan and in total I put on 17lbs. I'd say I only gained that much cause most of my diet during pregnancy was based on sushi, sashimi and tofu... with an occasional ben&jerry's thrown in for good measure.

I think it's the overall standard dr. should be targetting, I'm sorry but you don't gain 50-100 lbs just because, it's calories taken vs. calories used... and yes the baby gains weight, but in general is is very much accepted to gain more weight than you should, you cannot tell me htat a 6-10 lbs baby plus the water plus the extra blood and all that makes up for 50-100 lbs... so much of that is just yours.

and please don't tell me the whole Japanese population is under-developed due to this guidelines for pregnant women...

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