Health care providers should plan on counseling sessions of more than 15 minutes and to reinforce the message throughout pregnancy rather than in a single discussion.

Published: April 21, 2022 | Updated: July 10, 2023

Recommendations issued earlier this year by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) urge health care providers to guide pregnant patients with effective counseling to help them maintain a healthy weight and prevent excess weight gain.

Gaining too much weight during pregnancy can lead to a higher risk of gestational diabetes, cesarean deliveries and high-birth-weight babies.

Counseling should focus on nutrition, physical activity, and lifestyle or behavior changes, and can take place during routine office visits or more formal programs. Health care providers should plan on counseling sessions of more than 15 minutes and to reinforce the message throughout pregnancy rather than in a single discussion, the USPSTF advised.

“The clinician’s role is to respectfully and consistently address healthy gestational weight gain. The clinician should use a patient-centered approach to encourage healthy eating and exercise habits during preconception, pregnancy and postpartum, and give patients the resources to succeed,” said Kara B. Knapp, M.D., an OB/GYN with Norton Women’s Care.

RELATED: Gestational diabetes diagnosis criteria and management

In 2015, almost half of all persons began pregnancy either overweight or obese, according to the USPSTF.

Obesity is such a common condition that the implications for pregnancy are often unrecognized, overlooked or ignored because there is a lack of evidence-based treatment options, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), advised in a June 2021 practice bulletin.

Management of obesity should begin before pregnancy and continue through postpartum with involvement of obstetricians and nutritionists.

The USPSTF offered examples for health care providers with a range of counseling and exercise interventions.

Counseling interventions

Supervised exercise

• Structured, supervised exercise classes
• One to three times per week (average, 45 to 60 minutes)
• Aerobic, resistance and flexibility exercises based on American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommendations for exercise during pregnancy
• Free weights, resistance equipment or both
• Lifestyle Interventions for Expectant Moms

Weight gain recommendations during pregnancy

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.