Weight Gain in Pregnancy

Let's talk about my all-time favourite topic - weight gain!

I know you're expected to gain weight during pregnancy, it's only natural, you're carrying a baby. But it can be darn demoralizing. I think I had a good start, losing weight every month in my first trimester. The weight gain didn't happen until I was in my 5th month progressing to the 6th. But in that one month, I put on 4kg, which is not a lot for the entire pregnancy I feel. However, according to the nurses, it is quite a bit to put on in just one month.

Yesterday at my sister's place, I made a mistake of stepping on the weighing scale. I've put on 2 more kg. That brings the total to 6kg to date. Again, I think at almost 7 months pregnant, 28 weeks, 6kg seems reasonable. But I'm worried about the rapid gain. I've been trying to control my diet to only the more healthy stuff - cereal/oatmeal for breakfast, fish bee hoon/chicken macaroni soup for lunch, salad/sandwich for dinner. What more can I do to slow down the gain? I'm trying to fit in exercise, but I know that's not going to help a lot as I only swim once a week. What else what else?

In my attempt to make myself feel better, I went online to search what the optimal weight gain should be like and where it will go to. From Baby Center:

• At birth, baby will weigh about 3.3kg
• Placenta about 0.7kg
• Amniotic fluid - 0.8kg
• Muscle layer of uterus - 0.9kg
• Blood volume increases and weighs an extra 1.2kg
• Extra fluid in body - 1.2kg
• Breasts - extra 0.4kg
• Storing fat to give you energy for breastfeeding - about 4kg

I feel slightly better after reading this, coupled with the BMI chart weight increase recommendation.

Pre-pregnancy BMI	BMI	Total Weight Gain	Rates of Weight Gain 2nd and 3rd Trimester (Average Range/Week)
Underweight	< 18.5	13-18kg	0.5-0.6 kg
Normal weight	18.5 – 24.9	11-16kg	0.4-0.5 kg
Overweight	25-29.9	7-11kg	0.2-0.3 kg
Obese	30 or more	5-9kg	0.2-0.3kg

3 more months, I can do it!