During pregnancy, women naturally gain weight over time as their babies develop and require more nutrition. In many cases, women with morning sickness temporarily lose weight in the first trimester or have difficulty gaining weight. Heavy women also sometimes lose weight at the start of pregnancy. However, purposefully losing weight while pregnant can expose your baby to significant health risks.
Morning Sickness
Morning sickness is a term used to describe nausea and vomiting that stem from pregnancy-related hormone changes. It typically appears in the first trimester of pregnancy and disappears by the beginning of the second trimester. If you develop morning sickness, changes in your appetite can cause you to eat less. In turn, lowered food intake can lead to difficulty in gaining weight or actual minor weight loss. Fortunately, developing fetuses don't have especially high nutritional needs in the first trimester, and they usually do fine with this temporary reduction in their nutrient supply.
Heavier Women
As a general guideline, underweight women need to gradually gain 28 to 40 lb. over the course of pregnancy to provide their babies with adequate nutrition, according to MayoClinic.com. Normal-weight women need to gain roughly 25 to 35 lb. If you are overweight, you need to gain about 15 to 25 lb. during your pregnancy. If you're clinically obese, you need to gain about 11 to 20 lb. Since overweight and obese women carry relatively high amounts of body fat, they can usually safely lose small amounts of weight in the first trimester, the BabyCenter website reports.
Avoiding Calorie Reduction
While you may lose weight from morning sickness during the first trimester, or through adoption of a healthier lifestyle or eating pattern, you should not purposefully try to decrease the amount of calories in your diet, the BabyCenter advises. Although developing babies can handle some fluctuations in their nutrient supply, they can't necessarily handle the systematic nutrient limitations associated with conscious calorie reduction. If calorie reduction and/or weight loss extend into the second and third trimesters of your pregnancy, you significantly increase the likelihood that your child will be born underweight, born prematurely or have clinical symptoms of malnutrition.
Considerations
If morning sickness triggers a weight loss of more than 2 lb., the American Academy of Family Physicians advises you to contact your doctor. You can take a number of steps to potentially reduce your morning sickness symptoms, including increasing your carbohydrate intake, eating small meals throughout the day, eating bland foods when you feel nauseous and avoiding fatty, greasy, rich or spicy foods altogether. Consult your doctor for more information on weight loss during pregnancy and nutritional guidelines for your developing child.
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