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Weight gain during pregnancy happens to all women and is part of a healthy pregnancy. Still, it is important to keep the weight relatively controlled, especially to avoid gaining excess weight, which can end up damaging the pregnant woman's health and also the baby's development.
To know what your weight should be each week of pregnancy, enter your data in the calculator:
Attention: This calculator is not suitable for multiple pregnancies.
How is the ideal weight calculated for each week?
The gestational weight calculator uses the standards of National Academy of Sciences. To do this, the woman's BMI is calculated before pregnancy, which is then included in one of four groups (A, B, C or D) according to the following table:
BMI (before becoming pregnant) | BMI classification | Recommended weight gain (until the end of pregnancy) | Classification for the weight chart |
<19.8 kg / m2 | Under weight | 12 to 18 kg | THE |
19.8 to 26 kg / m2 | Normal | 11 to 15 kg | B |
26 to 29 kg / m2 | Overweight | 7 to 11 Kg | Ç |
> 29 kg / m2 | Obesity | Minimum of 7 Kg | D |
After identifying the group in which the pregnant woman is, weight gain is calculated by varying the graph for each week and for the group in which the woman is included:
How much weight is healthy to gain in pregnancy?
The weight that each pregnant woman can gain during pregnancy depends a lot on the weight that the woman had before becoming pregnant, since it is common for women with low weight to gain more weight during pregnancy, and for women with more weight to gain less.
Still, on average, most women gain between 11 to 15 kg by the end of pregnancy. Learn more about what weight gain should look like in pregnancy.
What causes weight gain in pregnancy?
Weight gain in early pregnancy happens mainly due to the new structures that were formed to receive the baby, such as the placenta, the gestational sac and the umbilical cord. In addition, hormonal changes also favor increased fluid accumulation, which contributes to this increase.
As pregnancy progresses, weight gain continues slowly, until around the 14th week, when the increase becomes more pronounced, as the baby enters a more accelerated development phase, where it increases a lot in size and weight.
Created by: Tua Saúde Editorial Team
Bibliography>
- MAHAN, L. Kathleen et al. Krause: Food, Nutrition and Diet Therapy. 13.ed. São Paulo: Elsevier Editora, 2013. 342-354.
- ESCOTT Sylvia. Nutrition related to diagnosis and treatment. 6th ed. Brazil: Manole, 2011. 7-10.