Im gaining weight can i be pregnant

Here is a breakdown of how 35 pounds 16 kilograms adds up:. Some women are already overweight when they get pregnant. Other women gain weight too quickly during their pregnancy. Either way, a pregnant woman should not go on a diet or try to lose weight during pregnancy. It is better to focus on eating the right foods and staying active. If you do not gain enough weight during pregnancy, you and your baby may have problems.

Still, you can make changes in your diet to get the nutrients you need without gaining too much weight. Talk to your health care provider to get help with planning a healthy diet.

If you have struggled with your weight in the past, it may be hard to accept that it is OK to gain weight now. It is normal to feel anxious as the numbers on the scale edge up.

Keep in mind that you need to gain weight for a healthy pregnancy. The extra pounds will come off after you have had your baby. However, if you gain a lot more weight than is recommended, your baby will also be bigger. That can sometimes lead to problems with delivery.

A healthy diet and regular exercise are your best ways to ensure a healthy pregnancy and baby. Nutrition during pregnancy. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap 6. Maternal nutrition. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Updated by: John D. Editorial team. Managing your weight gain during pregnancy. Overweight women need to gain less 15 to 25 pounds or 7 to 11 kilograms or less, depending on their pre-pregnancy weight.

Association of maternal body mass index, excessive weight gain, and gestational diabetes mellitus with large-for-gestational-age births.

Reliability of gestational weight gain reported postpartum: a comparison to the birth certificate. Top of Page. Get E-mail Updates. To receive email updates about this page, enter your email address: Email Address. What's this? More Related Links. Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website. Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.

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When Largeman-Roth was pregnant and craved the salty satisfaction of chips and salsa, she toasted a tortilla, then topped it with a fried egg and a pile of shredded cheese, salsa, and diced avocado. Of course, sometimes you just want to eat a doughnut. And that's okay. Hyman, the California ob-gyn, tells her patients they shouldn't deprive themselves of a favorite treat. Instead of making it a daily habit, though, she advises enjoying it once a week.

Carbohydrates can be a pregnant woman's best friend, especially if you're battling the nausea and vomiting of morning sickness. But simple carbs such as white bread, rice, baked goods, many breakfast cereals, and pasta raise your blood sugar without giving you the nutrition that comes with whole grains.

Better to reach for complex carbohydrates — such as beans, fruits and vegetables, brown rice, quinoa, and whole grain breads and pastas — which not only provide you and your baby with more nutrients, but will help you feel full for longer and make you less likely to give in to unhealthy cravings later in the day. One of the most valuable things a pregnant woman can do is walk , says Jeanne Conry, past president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. For expecting moms who are new to exercise, Conry recommends a program she calls "10 Minutes for Me.

Every 30 days, she has them add another 10 minutes, so that by the end of the first trimester they're walking 30 minutes daily, which they can continue to do for the rest of pregnancy.

Boston ob-gyn Laura Riley, who is medical director of labor and delivery at Massachusetts General Hospital, suggests that her patients purchase pedometers and shoot for 10, steps a day. It may sound daunting, but remember that steps done while running errands and walking around the office still count.

Unless your workout routine includes competitive kickboxing or other risky activities for expecting moms , there's no reason you can't keep it up during pregnancy.

With the exception of contact sports, Riley tells her patients to "do whatever they normally do — running , walking, aerobics, whatever. There are very few things you cannot do during pregnancy. You may have to modify your movements as your girth grows and your center of gravity changes, but otherwise, says Riley, there's no reason you can't stick to your usual activity.

Learn the best kinds of exercise during pregnancy and find out when it's not safe to work out. Having a conversation about weight gain with your doctor or midwife at every prenatal visit will help you stay on track and make changes if you need to.

Calvin J. Hobel, a maternal-fetal medicine expert at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, studies the health of women during and after pregnancy. He recommends that doctors show women how they are gaining on a curve to help them stay on track. To see where you land on the weight-gain curve, and learn how much you should gain based on your height and pre-pregnancy weight, try BabyCenter's pregnancy weight gain calculator.

While this tip won't help during pregnancy, it's worth knowing that breastfeeding can help you meet your goals for healthy weight loss afterward. Your body will burn an extra to calories each day to make milk. And moms who breastfeed tend to lose more weight than moms who don't. It's not drastic or foolproof — your overall weight, activity level, and diet will play roles, too.

But every little bit helps. Making smart meal and snack choices and getting exercise will help you keep your pregnancy weight gain on track.

For more help with food choices, see our article on what to eat when pregnant. BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals. We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing.