To live your pregnancy serenely and avoid a difficult delivery, it is recommended not to gain too much weight. But how do you get there and what are the secrets to maintaining a healthy weight? Cynthia Becker, dietician nutritionist, looked into the subject.
Weight gain during pregnancy is a source of stress for mothers-to-be. The ideal weight gain during a typical pregnancy is estimated at 12 kilos. But sometimes our body decides otherwise, and finding a balance is hard. For a question of health but also in favor of one’s relationship with oneself, it is necessary to relearn to eat in adequacy with this new life together in the same body. Impulses, and rejections of certain foods, while taking into consideration the food prohibited during pregnancy, it is not always easy to end up with all these parameters! To answer questions about weight and guide pregnant women, we went to meet Cynthia Becker, a dietician, and nutritionist.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Watch Your Weight Before You Get Pregnant!
“Gaining too much weight during pregnancy can cause problems with hypertension or gestational diabetes. Conversely, restricting oneself can lead to fetal hypotrophy, stunted growth, or even premature delivery. It is therefore better to lose 3 or 4 kilos before pregnancy rather than depriving yourself too much to avoid gaining weight,” explains Cynthia Becker. The idea: Anticipate!
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Keep Up The Sport!
To avoid weight gain and maintain muscles and help fix calcium at the bone level, it is important to keep regular physical activity. Recommended sports? Walking, swimming, cycling, or why not aqua biking? Performed gently and with the agreement of her gynecologist, the sport can usually be continued until the end of the pregnancy.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Split Your Meals!
The goal? Eat reasonably without feeling hungry. “Breakfast is particularly essential to break the night fast,” says the dietician. “In case of nausea, you can settle for a cereal bar with little sugar and postpone breakfast to a little later.” The lunch will consist of meat, fish, or eggs, with vegetables, starchy foods, a dairy product, and possibly a fruit. “In the afternoon, it is interesting to have a snack, especially at the end of pregnancy when the volume of meals is lower,” she adds. Treat yourself to a dairy product, for example, a fruit, a piece of bread, etc. The evening meal is identical to lunch.
To avoid gaining (too much) weight during pregnancy… Limit or even eliminate sweet products!
“Cakes, pastries, spreads, and other sweet cookies are empty calories,” explains Cynthia Becker. Fruit juice is also very sweet: it contains 10 to 14% sugar, even when it is without added sugar. It is better to replace your products with a glass of water, an infusion, a dairy, or a fruit, rich in fiber.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Think About Pulses!
“Full of B vitamins, they are interesting and contain minerals, for example, iron and potassium,” explains Cynthia Becker. They are also very satiating. If you tolerate them, do not hesitate to consume them instead of your portion of starchy foods.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Reconnect With Starchy Foods!
It would be a shame to deprive yourself of them: they do not make you fat provided you do not abuse them, associate them with vegetables, and avoid excess fat. Pasta, rice, and semolina can also be replaced with a piece of bread with meals.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Eat Fruit!
Fruits are rich in vitamins and water: a good way to fill up on benefits without excess calories. Beware, however, of bananas, considered starchy foods, but also of grapes or cherries, very sweet and more difficult to quantify.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Choose Your Dairy Products Wisely!
“Cooked cheese is very rich in calcium but also fat,” says Cynthia Becker. The ideal way to avoid weight gain: consume a portion daily (a little grated cheese on a pasta gratin for example) and then prefer yogurt, milk, or cottage cheese with 20 or 0% fat, less rich in energy.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Bet On Soup!
Rich in fiber and minerals, satiating, and low in calories, vegetable soup is the friend of pregnant women: hot or cold, do not deprive yourself! “Brick or frozen soups can also do the trick,” says our expert.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Fall For Compotes!
Choose compotes without added sugar, checking that they also do not contain concentrated fruit juice, which is nothing but sugar. They can sweeten dairy products without adding sugar.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Consume Your Natural Yogurts!
“To avoid adding sugar, sweeten your yogurts with pieces of fresh fruit,” says Cynthia Becker. Vegetable sugars are false friends because they are still caloric. When you take care of your weight, they have no interest,” she adds. The best is still not to sweeten your yogurts at all.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Lighten The Dressing!
Walnut and rapeseed oils, rich in omega 3 are interesting; consuming them is important. But they are also very high in calories! “To lighten your dressing, simply prepare it in advance with mustard and vinegar or lemon juice by adding water,” suggests the dietician.
To Avoid Gaining (Too Much) Weight During Pregnancy… Stop The Aperitif Cookies!
Beware of explosive calories! Aperitif cookies, puff pastries, tapenades, etc. are packed with fat. Instead, replace them with carrot sticks, cucumber pieces, and well-peeled radishes and serve them with cottage cheese and spice sauce. Nothing but fun!
