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Weight gain during pregnancy is often a tiresome issue for women. From eight to eighteen kilograms, an increase in weight due to pregnancy is regarded as completely normal, but must always be seen in relation to the female's physical constitution. While in very slim women, a higher increase in weight than normal is considered to be normal, the limit for very overweight women is nine kilograms more on the scales. Naturally, there are completely different limits for multiple pregnancies.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends the following increases depending on the Body-mass-Index:

BMI weight gain

<20 12,5 – 18,0 kg

20 - 26 11,5 – 16,0 kg

26 - 29 7,0 – 11,5 kg

>29 5,0 – 9,0 kg

Weight gain should be continuous over time and follows a pattern in almost all cases. Thus, the increase up to the tenth week with about 100 grams per week is rather low. Only from the 14th week on, a sudden increase of the scale can be observed, which should amount to about 400 grams per week. Towards the middle of your pregnancy, you should have gained at least five kilograms in order to be able to guarantee the child's care. In women with underweight or overweight, the limits are shifting individually. In addition, rapid weight gains of one kilogram or more per week are often a sign of pregnancy complications and should be examined by a doctor as soon as possible.

This can be explained by the changed metabolic situation and the adjustment of the body to the child. In the first half of the pregnancy, maternal tissue is increasingly formed. These two to three additional kilos of fatty tissue serve as energy storage during the child's growth and also prepare him/her for the increased calorie requirement during the breastfeeding period. It is only after this time that the weight gain occurs due to the growth of the child. In total, the mother weighs about six kilograms of the weight gained and the child with placenta and amniotic fluid about five kilograms.