It’s common for women to gain weight during their pregnancies, but doctors say some women are taking the idea of eating for two a little too far.
A report featured on CBSNews.com from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reveals that nearly half of expectant mothers eat more than the advised calorie intake.
The study reports that while 21% of three million pregnant women gain less than the recommended weight, forty-seven percent are gaining more. The Institute of Medicine suggests that a normal-weight woman should gain approximately 25 to 35 pounds throughout nine months and a woman who is underweight should gain any thing between 28 and 40 pounds.
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The excessive eating and weight gain, known medically as gestational weight gain (GWG), on the mothers’ behalf poses a great deal of health risks including postpartum weight retention and future childhood obesity.
Experts say that during the second and third trimester, women during need only to consume an additional 340 to 450 calories per day.