Pregnant women should gain an average of 30 pounds during the pregnancy period. This means that the weight gain range between 25 pounds and 35 pounds is within the acceptable levels.
- Women who become pregnant at normal healthy weights should be able to get four and a half pounds of weight during the first trimester, and an extra pound each week for the entire period of pregnancy.
- Women who become pregnant while underweight are more likely to have small or underweight babies. This explains the need forunderweight women to gain between 28 and 40 pounds during the pregnancy. Ideally, an underweight woman should gain four and a half pounds during the first trimester and more than one pound in both the subsequent trimesters.
- Overweight women on the other hand should only gain a minimum of 15 pounds and a maximum of 25 pounds for the entire pregnancy period. This means that after the four and half pounds gained during the first trimester, overweight women should only gain a half pound each week in the subsequent trimesters.
- It is recommendable that obese women only gain a minimum of 11 pounds and a maximum of 20 pounds during pregnancy. After the first trimester, where one should ideally gain four and a half pounds, women in this category should gain just a little below the half a poundweight target.
- Women expecting twins should gain a minimum of 37 pounds and a maximum of 54 pounds.