Table of contents:
- Tips for achieving an ideal body weight that is safe for pregnancy
- 1. Start as early as possible
- 2. Exercise regularly
- 3. Limiting consumption of high-calorie foods and drinks
- 4. Eating healthy snacks
- 5. Monitor weight gain
Excess weight before pregnancy can increase the risk of a number of complications, ranging from high blood pressure, impaired heart function, to miscarriage. Therefore, every woman who plans to become pregnant needs to maintain an ideal body weight.
Tips for achieving an ideal body weight that is safe for pregnancy
You can reach your ideal weight before pregnancy by adjusting your diet, living a healthy lifestyle, and monitoring your weight gain. Here are a series of tips that you can follow:
1. Start as early as possible
For most women, reaching the ideal body weight to prepare for pregnancy is not easy. What's more, you can't predict when you will enter the first trimester. Therefore, you should start this process as early as possible.
If you are overweight, immediately improve your diet and lifestyle long before you plan to become pregnant. That way, you will have more time to lose weight to ideal.
2. Exercise regularly
If you are planning a pregnancy, it is recommended that you do 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise for a day. Do it 5 days a week, or every day if possible.
To get used to exercising, you can divide your exercise sessions a day into 2-3 times. Each session has a duration of 10-15 minutes. Types of exercise that can help you reach your ideal weight for pregnancy include:
- On foot
- Jogging in treadmill or a flat surface path
- Cycling
- Aerobics or dance
- Climbing up the stairs
3. Limiting consumption of high-calorie foods and drinks
While looking forward to pregnancy, start limiting consumption of fast food, junk food, or fried food. These foods are usually high in calories and can make it difficult for you to aim for an ideal body weight in order to get pregnant safely.
Also reduce the consumption of sweet drinks, such as soft drinks, fruit punch, iced tea with lots of sugar, and energy drinks. Instead, choose mineral water, fruit juice without added sugar, or warm tea with a little honey.
4. Eating healthy snacks
Healthy snacks can help expectant mothers gain weight safely. On the other hand, snacks high in sugar and saturated fat only provide additional calories which can prevent you from reaching your ideal weight to get pregnant safely.
Limit snacks such as pastries, donuts, tarts, candy, chips, syrup, packaged honey, and snacks with added sweeteners. Choose natural or low-calorie snacks such as fresh fruit, low-fat yogurt, or cakes with a little sugar.
5. Monitor weight gain
Gaining weight during pregnancy is a natural thing to support fetal development. However, it is certainly not an uncontrolled ride. The amount of weight gain depends on your body weight before pregnancy. Mothers with normal weight, for example, are advised to gain weight as much as 11.5-16 kilograms.
Gaining weight beyond that range is considered excessive. So, make sure you record your pre-pregnancy weight and increase during pregnancy. Consult a doctor if weight gain is not appropriate.
There are various ways to reduce the risk of complications during pregnancy, one of which is to have the ideal weight beforehand. This is not only beneficial for fetal growth, but also for the health of the mother.
Prepare yourself long before starting a pregnancy program so that the results are more optimal. Start by determining how much you should lose weight if you are indeed overweight. Then, continue with improving your diet and lifestyle.
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