Weight Gain & Exercise in Pregnancy

Excessive pregnancy weight gain can add pressure on your pelvic floor and can delay your return to normal function postpartum. How much weight should you gain in your pregnancy? This all depends on your weight before pregnancy. First, know your pre-pregnancy weight and height to calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI). There are lots of online BMI calculators and this is a table to show you how much weight gain is recommended.

You may have heard the phrase “eating for two” before – however, according to Health Canada, no extra daily calories are needed in the 1st trimester (the first 12 weeks of your pregnancy). In your second trimester (week 13 to week 27), Health Canada recommends 350 extra calories a day, and by the third trimester (28 weeks to your delivery), an extra 450 calories. To give you an example, a 12-grain bagel with cream cheese contains approximately 450 calories.

Your posture and weight both change quite quickly as your pregnancy advances. Aerobic and strength-conditioning exercise is important for you and your baby’s health. If you were active before your pregnancy, you should not stop – don’t try to reach peak fitness or train for an athletic competition, but rather just continue at your usual level. If you were sedentary before your pregnancy, you can begin with 15 minutes of continuous exercise three times a week, then increase gradually to 30-minute sessions four times a week. Pelvic floor muscle exercises during pregnancy are also very helpful, as they can prevent you from leaking urine during and after your pregnancy. Start or continue doing them daily.

In the first trimester, you may feel nauseous or dizzy, or you may feel completely fine. In the second and third trimesters you may not be able to exercise while lying down on your back. You also want to be careful about some exercises which can make you fall, or injure your belly, as your center of gravity shifts quite significantly, and your joints are quite lax because of pregnancy hormones.

Some sports can cause significant harm and you should stay away from them while pregnant. These include scuba diving, horseback riding, downhill skiing, ice hockey, gymnastics, or cycling. Also, if you are not used to exercising at altitudes above 2500m (above sea level), you should acclimatize before starting. Always hydrate well while exercising!

If you feel unusually short of breath, if you have chest pain, feel faint, have pain in your belly or vaginal leak of fluid or blood, please stop exercising immediately and seek medical attention.

If your pregnancy is complicated by ruptured membranes, early labour, high blood pressure, a short cervix, poor growth of the fetus, placental problems, other serious medical conditions or if you have triplets or more, you should not exercise at all.

After birth, your body will need time to recover and get back to its regular physical fitness level. Your exercise should not interfere with your ability to breastfeed and will not decrease milk production. Hard levels of exercise may produce a lot of lactic acid which comes out into your milk. Your baby may not like the taste so you could consider breastfeeding or pumping prior to exercising.

If you are unsure about any aspect of exercise during pregnancy, please seek advice from a physiotherapist, exercise physiologist or sports medicine specialist to develop the right program for you. Pelvic health physiotherapists can also help you initiate pelvic floor muscle exercises, regain your core strength postpartum, and maintain a healthy exercise program to help reduce the risk of future pelvic floor disorders.