Limiting calories to prevent pregnancy weight gain

Weight gain during pregnancy is healthy and normal but what if you are gaining a lot, and were already overweight to start with? Of course, "dieting" as such is not a good idea during pregnancy. But, is limiting calories OK?

Those pregnant women who have concerns over their weight should, of course, consult their prenatal care providers or a nutritionist, where appropriate. Generally speaking, however, it's fair to say that a pregnant woman will need only around 200-300 calories more than they did before getting pregnant, and that paying attention to the quality of the food you eat has much more of a positive impact than watching the quantity.

There are general guidelines describing how much weight women should gain while they are expecting a baby. Underweight women should gain more than women of a healthy weight, and pregnant moms who are overweight or obese should gain less. Those women who consume a healthy and balanced diet not skipping any major food groups and being tested for vitamin and mineral deficiencies will not need to pay any attention to those guidelines though, because the body will do all that for them!

Limiting calories to prevent pregnancy weight gain makes sense if you have a tendency to overeat. But women should never refrain from eating healthy amounts of food just to keep weight gain down. This is even more true for women of a normal weight or women who are underweight. Dieting during pregnancy is a bad idea, and eating disorders during pregnancy open up a whole other can of worms.

If you are a pregnant women struggling with healthy eating or unsure about how much to eat, I encourage you to talk to your healthcare provider about that either your OB or midwife, or a general probationer, nutritionist, or psychologist. Eating problems are nothing to be ashamed about, but help could be the key to a healthy pregnancy if you have them.