30 Mar 09 FAMILY MEDICAL CARE: WATCHING YOUR WEIGHT WHEN YOU ARE PREGNANT
Watch your weight when you are pregnant!
These days, women are more weight-conscious than ever before. This is because weight is related directly to physical appearance, and the “figure.” In Western society, a “good figure” is equated with physical attraction and feminity. Many women find the temptation of excessive eating too hard to resist, so they become overweight.
As the mirror stares back and reproaches them, the majority realizes their folly, but usually after it is too late.
Overweight is recognized as a national emblem of an affluent society. The more money there is to spend, the more people eat (both men and women). But this is poor solace when a woman is suddenly stripped of her attractive appearance, and becomes part of the forlorn race whose looks have ceased to be.
However, an alteration in figure during pregnancy is unavoidable. It is part of the physiology of reproducing, and this aspect of a woman’s life is accepted and acceptable. It is a self-limiting situation, and usually merely a matter of time before most women are able to regain their former silhouette. However, as many women who have previously reproduced know so well, there are many hazards encountered during pregnancy, avoirdupois is concerned.
A gain in weight and alteration in shape there will assuredly be. But it is very easy to let this merge into unacceptable weight gain. If this occurs, when the pregnancy is over, it may be very difficult to slip back to the pre-pregnant weight or figure.
So, for purely “social” reasons, women should take a second look at the weight factor during their days of pregnancy.
As a general rule, the total weight gain during pregnancy should not be in excess of 33 lb (15 kg). Women are well advised to gain no more than 1 lb (0.5 kg) a week during the last twenty weeks of pregnancy.
When these limits are exceeded, the risks of permanent weight increase are very high. Every woman knows the difficulty in reducing. After the birth of a baby, it can be even more difficult, so that many women slip silently into a permanent increased weight, complete with its potential hazards, socially and medically.
During pregnancy, weight increase is also important, as it may be related to serious complications. One of the most important is a condition called pre-eclampsia. If this takes place, it may lead to even more dangerous complications which may eventually be a problem to the woman and her baby.
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