How much weight is considered to be a healthy pregnancy weight gain?

If you’re pregnant, you’re very likely concerned not just about your pregnancy weight gain, but also the fastest way to lose pregnancy weight.

Your OB/GYN or midwife is your best source of advice about healthy weight gain during pregnancy, but there are general guidelines.

Depending on your weight at the start of your pregnancy, your doctor may tell you that a healthy pregnancy weight gain for you is anywhere between 15 and 40 pounds. If you’re underweight to start (a BMI of less than 18.5), 25 to 40 pounds is a reasonable weight gain during pregnancy. If you’re overweight, your doctor may suggest you stick closer to 15 to 25 pounds. Of that weight, 6 to 8 pounds of it is the baby. The rest is amniotic fluid, extra tissue and blood to nourish the baby (including the placenta), and the increased size of your breasts and placenta. You’ll lose as much as 15 pounds of your pregnancy weight WITH the birth (amniotic fluid, placenta and baby).

Any doctor will tell you that pregnancy is NOT the time to go on a diet. Your body AND your baby need the nutrients of an adequate, balanced diet to keep you both healthy. This doesn’t mean that you should throw all your restraint to the winds and ‘eat for two’, though. Your body needs approximately an extra 300 calories a day to build a healthy baby. Those 300 calories should come from the same healthy variety of foods that your normal diet gives you. (You were eating a healthy, balanced diet, weren’t you? If not, pregnancy is a great time to start.)

You can expect to gain weight along a fairly predictable pattern. In the first three months, you’ll gain 2-4 pounds altogether. During the second trimester, you can expect to gain between 3-4 pounds a month (about a pound per week). During the last three months, you’ll gain an additional 8-10 pounds. Your doctor or midwife will weigh you regularly, and may express concern over a deviation from this pattern. A sudden sharp weight gain during pregnancy, for instance, can indicate pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes.

If your doctor advises you to try to limit your weight gain during pregnancy, be sure to choose a healthy diet that provides all the necessary daily requirements for vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Remember that a diet during pregnancy isn’t meant to help you LOSE weight, but rather to limit the amount of weight gain during pregnancy.

Regular exercise is also good for both you and your baby. You can maintain most of your daily activities, and if regular workouts were a part of your daily routine, then by all means keep them up. You’ll feel better, and your body will be less likely to protest the extra weight with aches and pains. Do keep in mind that exercise during pregnancy shouldn’t be overly strenuous, and that you should avoid activities with a risk of falling or injury. Also remember that your center of balance is different – it may feel awkward to do the things you usually do while you’re carrying your little bundle of joy.

For specifics with regard to your own situation, speak with your doctor or midwife. If you’re concerned about gaining weight during pregnancy, or feel that you’re gaining too much weight, you can ask for a consultation with a nutritionist to help you design a healthy eating plan that will make sure the baby is well-nourished, and your concerns about your weight are met.

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As anyone involved with weight loss will tell you, there are countless weight loss plans and weight loss methods and new weight loss diets coming out all the time. In fact, even the USDA released a nutrition and diet plan for healthy Americans called My Pyramid.

However, the USDAs guidelines for a healthy diet plan are not so much NEW as they are more in depth, detailed, and helpful in getting people to meet their weight loss goals.

First of all, My Pyramid can be personalized. On the main page of their web site (www.mypyramid.gov), you have the option of entering your age, gender and activity level. Simply submit your information and instead of getting those vague, wide-ranging recommendations, youll get a recommendation suited specifically for you.

While this is a tremendous improvement on the old nutritional pyramid, it’s not the only improvement. The nutrition calculator factors in your age, gender and activity level to come up with a recommended caloric intake. From there, it breaks down the calories by food group, and explains exactly how much of each group you should eat per day for a healthy diet. It is much easier and much more accurate to figure out what 2 cups of milk is than it is to figure out how much 3-5 servings of dairy is.

Fortunately, My Pyramid doesn’t stop there. Beneath the pyramid chart with the specific serving sizes on it, you’ll find, divided by food group, a list of links to tips for making the healthiest choices from each food group.

There are not only great diet tips and weight loss tips, but there are also tips showing ways to serve foods in appetizing and nutritious ways.

But wait, theres still moreWant to know how your current weight loss diet stacks up against the dietary guidelines of the USDA and get specific, personalized recommendations for improving your current weight loss diet?

Well, at the bottom of the list of helpful links in the menu you’ll find the My Pyramid Tracker. The My Pyramid Tracker isa great toolwhen it comes to comparing and improving your weight loss diet. Simply, enter the foods that you eat in a typical day, click analyze, and you’ll get a detailed analysis that includes the calories, the amount of nutrients, the difference between your weight loss diet and an optimum weight loss diet, as well as specific recommendations for changes you should make to eat a healthier diet and facilitate your weight loss goals. Not only that, you can actually save your history day by day to keep track of your eating habits and watch the improvements that your weight loss plan has provided.

The My Pyramid Tracker is the diet diary with a difference. Use My Pyramid Tracker and you’ll quickly see yourself eating better every day which will, in turn, naturally lead to long term weight loss.

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Is the mediterranean diet a real weight loss program or is the mediterranean diet just another fad diet?

There are many fad diets that suggest carbohydrates and fat are the main culprits in weight gain and heart disease. This has lead to many fad diets to focusing low-carb dieting.

However, the findings of a 1993 Harvard Medical School study revealed that carbohydrates and fats were not main problems, and suggested the right fats and carbohydrates should be the basis for a healthy diet. The study pointed to low rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease throughout the Mediterranean region as proof of their contention.

So, exactly what is the mediterranean diet and can it help you lose weight?

There actually is no “mediterranean diet“. Instead, the mediterranean diet is a compilation of the way that people in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea eat. While there were some differences, all of the countries studied based their diets on the same proportions of food groups and calories, and all included olive oil as their main source of fat. In fact, their mediterranean diet contained far more carbohydrates and fats than the recommendations made by the USDA. Still, the evidence was irrefutable. Therefore, it must have been the type of carbohydrates and fats that make the difference.

The basic mediterranean diet consists of the following guidelines:

60% of total carbohydrates from grains, fruits and vegetables

Those include whole rice, fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grain breads and cereals, polenta, pasta (made with whole grain, not refined white flour).

Sparing use of red meat, fish and poultry

The typical adult Mediterranean consumes about 15 ounces of red meat and poultry per week. Another 5-15 ounces of fish per week account for the bulk of their meat protein intake. Compare that to the typical American diet which might include a 1 pound steak for dinner one night, a 1/2 pound chicken breast the next, and on and on.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is not a miracle oil. It is, however, monounsaturated – a good fat. Monounsaturated fats help lower cholesterol rather than raising it, and are healthy ways to add fats to your diet (and yes, even though we think of fat as a dirty word, your body does need some, or it can’t use many of the vitamins you feed it!)

The Harvard study also revealed another important component, the Mediterranean lifestyle is active. The typical Mediterranean day includes walking rather than driving, physical activity in the fields or the home and recreation. Physical activity and exercise are vital in helping the body to lose weight, and maintain weight loss.

The secret to losing weight with the mediterranean diet is to base your meals on healthy carbohydrates – leafy green vegetables, brightly colored vegetables, whole grains and meals. Use meat sparingly – no more than 3-6 ounces per day. Derive dietary fat from vegetable sources – or from fish oil. Exercise regularly to boost your metabolism. The mediterranean diet isn’t an actual weight loss program. It’s a new way of eating that will help you reach your ideal weight and maintain that weight loss.

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