BMI advice

[rmorris95]

Hello,

I have found out I am 4 weeks pregnant. I am delighted and want to do everything I can to make sure I'm healthy. I have calculated my bmi which is 18.4 and reading online it seems like you're more at risk if you're bmi is under 18.5. I was just wondering if anyone has any advice? Should I actively be trying to put on weight?

We are at different ends of the scale. My BMI is around 30 and there’s an increased risk of issues for me as well. I’m 20weeks pregnant and have just tried to be as healthy as possible. I just looked at the recommended daily calorie intake for my bmi in pregnancy and stick to that. I keep a track to know what I’m putting in. I don’t think you need to do anything drastic, just eat the recommended amount.

I think in very unscientific terms the point is that growing a baby is quite a physically demanding process, your body is literally making a whole new person from your body's resources and the baby is essentially quite selfish, if there isn't enough energy or fuel to go around the baby will take their share first and it can leave you feeling very run down or weak. So it's not that baby will harmed unless you're seriously underweight but the whole thing will be much harder on you than it needs to be if you aren't getting the right fuel from food. You're only just into underweight though - are you quite small framed generally? How is your diet, is it restricted in any way, any special dietary needs? Do you eat a balanced range of foods including lots of fruit and veg? What's your lifestyle like, are you very active?

Basically I think first trimester is generally not a great time to be trying to gain weight specifically because you often feel so queasy and generally lousy anyway, so for the time being I'd simply try and eat a good balanced diet of what you can stomach and enjoy, with ideally enough calories to meet your TDEE incorporating how much exercise you do. Don't try and restrict yourself obviously but don't panic if you don't gain weight, the baby is very very small at this stage anyway. Then see how you feel once the first trimester is over, you may start to feel much more hungry naturally anyway but either way it would be good to increase calorific increase (I think doctors recommend 300-400 extra per day which isn't a huge amount) while maintaining a balanced diet?