Pregnancy Weight

Gaining weight during pregnancy is expected, however, monitoring and maintaining a healthy weight is something that women should keep in mind. If a woman is underweight, she is more susceptible to early labor. An overweight pregnancy can increase the woman's development of gestational diabetes or high blood pressure.

If a woman is only carrying one child the Mayo Clinic has created a generalized estimate of the amount of weight gain a woman should aim to meet and maintain. If a woman is underweight, she should gain anywhere from 28 to 40 pounds. If she's at a normal weight, she should gain between 25 to 25 pounds. If she's overweight, she may want to only want to gain 15 to 25 pounds. If she is obese, then she should try to keep weight gain between 11 to 20 pounds.

For twins, the Mayo Clinic suggests the following weight gain goals. A woman at a normal weight should gain between 37 to 54 pounds. An overweight woman may gain between 31 and 50 pounds, and an obese woman may gain between 25 to 42 pounds.

During the first few months of a pregnancy, women aren't expected to gain more than a pound or two, which should progress to 3 or 4 pounds every month into the second and third trimesters. The Mayo Clinic website suggests that women increase their caloric intake by 200 to 300 during pregnancy.

Although you may want that Fudgecicle, letting your diet go because gaining weight is expected of pregnant women contradicts the purpose of weight gain in pregnancy, which is attributed to the weight of the baby, fat storage, enlarged uterus and breasts and an increase in blood volume and other fluids, according to the Mayo Clinic website.