Gaining Weight after Pregnancy? 75% of mothers are actually heavier one year Giving Birth - Study

As part of the aim of this blog is to get you information that will benefit you. So, study on pregnancy fats after child birth shows that nearly 75% of women are heavier a year after giving birth than they were before they became pregnant, researchers from University of Chicago and Houston Methodist Hospital found in a study published on HealthDay.

Studying and analyzing data from nearly 774 low-income women, the researchers found that one-third of those who were normal weight before pregnancy became overweight or obese one year after childbirth.

 

Amazingly, for women of all sizes and particularly for those who are petite, nearly 25per cent of all new mothers retained more than 20 extra pounds after one year. Meanwhile 47per cent retained an added 10lbs. 

 

Weight problems for many American women start at a young age, with 35per cent of women over 20 years old qualifying as obese and 34per cent as overweight. Now researchers are beginning to think that the cause for some of these statistics could be pregnancy.

 

'It's a very important issue,' Loraine Endres, M.D., one of the researchers on the study. 'We all see the rising number of obese people in our country and the health consequences that come from that, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. I really wanted to see where this is starting for women and to see if there is any way to turn it around.'

 

The low-income status of the 774 women surveyed, Dr Endres said, may have affected the results, with a lack of time or money for gym memberships and the possibility that they might not 'even have a safe area in their neighborhood to take a walk.'

She added that women need to draw up a plan with their doctors at the beginning of their pregnancy about appropriate weight gain and activity. Dr Timothy Hickman, a co-author on the study, also suggested that obstetricians 'need to be seeing women more frequently' than the typical six-week postpartum visit.

 

Pregnant women also might be overindulging due to the myth that they're 'eating for two,' when in fact they only need 300-400 extra calories if they are expecting a single baby. Breast-feeding and moderate exercise also seemed to affect post-pregnancy weight loss, the researchers found.  

Credit: Healthday via UKMail