Lose Weight Through Diet, Exercise Safely During Pregnancy: Study

For the study, published in the journal Obesitythe teams recruited 1,150 participants (579 women had a lifestyle intervention, 571 had standard care), from the second trimester to birth. (Source: photo file)

Pregnant women can safely limit their weight gain with diet and exercise interventions, according to the results of a test group conducted by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Many overweight and obese women gain too much weight during pregnancy, further increasing the already increased risk of serious complications for themselves and their babies, such as obesity or diabetes in children.

"This is an important study because it states that women can change behaviors to control the amount of weight gained during pregnancy," said lead author Alan Peaceman of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. However, the reduced weight gain – about four pounds per woman – did not result in obstetric complications, including cesarean section, diabetes, high blood pressure and preeclampsia, or changed the average birth weight of the baby.

It could be because "by the time these women are already in the second trimester, it may be already late to change the important results," said Peaceman. "To reduce the risk of obstetric complications, they may have to change their lifestyle before or immediately after conception," he noted.

For the study, published in the journal Obesitythe teams recruited 1,150 participants (579 women had a lifestyle intervention, 571 had standard care), from the second trimester to birth.

Each trial offered a varied lifestyle intervention, but all were aimed at improving the quality of diet and reducing calories, increasing physical activity, and incorporating behavioral strategies such as diet and lifestyle. ; self-monitoring. Overweight and obese women are a critical group to target because they have higher rates of weight gain during pregnancy and weight maintenance after childbirth. They are also more likely to have obese children.

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