How Much Weight Gain is Good During Your Pregnancy?

A woman’s body is designed to provide a safe and comfortable home for a baby to grow and live for nine months. Therefore, when you’re pregnant, your body will go through changes, by all means, expanding and gaining weight. Yeah, we all know that.

However, there are some women out there that are still freaking out over these changes especially the additional weight gain. Don’t worry dear mother’s to be, it’s only healthy for you to gain weight. Thing is, you shouldn’t freak out if you gain weight during your pregnancy, instead, you should be worry if you don’t.

Ok, how much weight gain is healthy, though? Frankly, there is no real answer to that. Each woman is not the same and has different needs for their body. However, most physicians will recommend the following weight gain:

If you are normal weight before getting pregnant you should expect to gain between 25 and 35 pounds throughout your pregnancy.

If you are underweight prior to pregnancy you will need to gain more weight, typically between 28 and 40 pounds during your pregnancy. Your doctor or gynecologist will be able to provide you with more specific guidelines.

If you are overweight when you become pregnant you will only need to gain between 15 and 25 pounds during your pregnancy.

Keep in mind that if you are carrying multiples, by all means, twins or more you will typically be asked to gain even more weight, 45 pounds or more, depending on how many babies you are carrying.

During your pregnancy, it is a big no-no for you to be on diet, meaning cutting back on food in order to lose weight. But that doesn’t mean you should eat everything on sight. Just keep in mind to eat healthy for both you and your baby. Get enough nutrients and don’t forget to lead a healthy lifestyle. Oh, and don’t forget to stay away from smoke, drugs, and alcohol!

Exercises You Can Do During Pregnancy for a Healthy Heart

As we all know, one of the 'side effect' of being pregnant is weight gain. It's a necessary change for you and your baby. However, being pregnant doesn’t mean that your health and figure has to suffer permanent damage. You can gain weight in a healthy fashion while doing some very easy and safe heart healthy pregnancy exercise routines.

One of the simplest and most effective pregnancy exercises you can do is walking. Not only is walking one of the best cardiovascular exercises, it is also one of the safest pregnancy exercises you can engage in. Walking is one of the few pregnancy exercises that you can do for the complete duration of your pregnancy.

Another extremely beneficial heart healthy pregnancy exercise is swimming. Countless doctors and pregnant women have attested to the wonderful benefits of swimming during pregnancy. A weekly pregnancy exercise routine of swimming gives both the arms and legs a great workout while promoting cardiovascular health. Because of the nature of being subdued in water, swimming will also remind expectant mothers what it felt like before the pounds were added on. This is definitely a welcome change every now and then.

The third pregnancy exercise routine you can start doing to keep your body healthy is enrolling in an aerobics class. Many fitness centers and community centers offer low impact aerobics classes for pregnant women. One of the nicer benefits of this pregnancy exercise is that it is done in the company of other pregnant women under the watchful eye of a professional aerobics instructor. This means you are going to get a safe workout catered to the special needs of pregnancy.

Weight training is also a very beneficial pregnancy routine to keep your body healthy. Although you must only use very light weights when engaging in this pregnancy exercise, weight training is an excellent way of toning your body and increasing muscular strength.

The last heart healthy pregnancy exercise you can do to stay fit is Pilates/yoga. Both of these body conditioning exercises promote stretching and flexibility within the muscles. Yoga is also a nice accompaniment to walking. By doing a combination of these pregnancy exercises, you can have a healthy balanced cardiovascular routine.

Being pregnant doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice exercise and health. By walking, swimming, doing aerobics, weight training, and engaging in a Pilates or yoga routine, you can have a healthy and fit pregnancy.