If you gave birth recently and you’re struggling to lose the weight you gained during pregnancy, you’re like most women, says a new study published online in December, 2014 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The study followed almost 800 women who had given birth, from five geographic locations in the United States, and measured the moms’ height and weight at 6 months and 12 months post-partum.
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Women of average weight who become pregnant are told by their doctors that they should put on between 25 and 30 pounds by the end of their pregnancy. This weight is the combined weight of the baby, amniotic fluid and the placenta. But it also factors in a little extra fat that will accumulate around the mother’s waist and over her belly. This new fat will help nourish the fetus, especially in the third trimester, when it starts to grow a lot more.
A new study finds that the new fat that mothers-to-be put on during pregnancy also serves to protect the unborn infant from exposure to some highly toxic chemicals that have accumulated in the mother’s pre-pregnancy fat over the years.
Read MoreA study from Sweden indicates that overweight or obese women have a greater risk of giving birth prematurely in singleton births, and the risk increases in proportion to the amount of excess weight.
The study, published in the June, 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined one and a half million deliveries in Sweden.
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