Cebu City -- Pregnancy is one of the most exciting events in a woman’s life, but there are some precautionary measures to achieve a healthy and safe pregnancy. One way of achieving this is maintaining a healthy weight even before pregnancy. Focusing on health before conceiving is the key to a successful and safe pregnancy.

Obesity is having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more. Obesity can be a hindrance in many aspects during pregnancy. There might be difficulty in having normal ovulation for conceiving, there is also the risk of having a stillbirth, miscarriage, Gestational Diabetes, sleep apnea, oftentimes preeclampsia, and the likeliness of having a C-section.

Furthermore, a high pre-pregnancy weight also affects the recommendations for weight gain during pregnancy to closely monitor the health of both the mother and the child. These risks are seen when mothers have high body weight or BMI before getting pregnant.

An average healthy weight gain for a normal BMI pregnant mother is about 11 to 16 kilograms that could be broken down into the trimesters, for the first trimester it is about one to two kilograms, the second trimester is about six kilograms, and on the third trimester, it is about 4.5 to eight kilograms. Being obese the limit of weight gain is about 7 to 11 kilograms for the whole trimester.

Healthcare providers often encourage women of age to maintain a healthy weight for a lesser risk of complications in a future pregnancy. Recommendations of eating a healthy and balanced diet are often encouraged. Follow the Pinggang Pinoy for pregnant women. Daily physical activity is to be maintained, and most importantly women are incited to have a quality prenatal checkup. // NO I Christine M. Lopez, RND