If you begin at a healthy weight, your aim is to gain 1 to 4 pounds (0.5 to 1.8 kilograms) in the initial months of pregnancy. There's no need for extra calories, just a nutritious diet.

Fetuses from the excessive weight gain group continued to have greater arm thickness and abdominal measurements through the end of pregnancy, even when weight gain was not considered excessive ...

The authors found that pregnant people with excessive weight gain-defined as more than 2 kilograms (about 4.4 pounds) in the first trimester-had fetuses with larger abdominal circumference and ...

In contrast, most previous studies have not examined fetal 3D measures during pregnancy and have only linked total weight gain across pregnancy, not just in the first trimester, with birthweight.

These observations, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that early pregnancy weight gain may play a critical role in shaping fetal body composition, potentially ...