Congratulations! You and your partner are planning a pregnancy. Planning for a pregnancy is the ideal way to go, although many times it doesn't always happen that way.

If you are reading this article, I will give you the benefit of the doubt; I will assume you are giving yourselves one year at the most, and three months at the least, to prepare physically.

One of the many concerns women have is centered around weight gain. I hear many women in conversation saying, "I don't want to get pregnant because I am going to gain all that weight!" True, nobody wants to gain 25-plus pounds and then never lose it again. However, I believe if you take care of yourself before you conceive and continue to follow through during your pregnancy and after, returning to your original weight is possible. It may take work, but no one ever said life was easy. You are going to have a child (the biggest challenge of all), so comparatively speaking, living a healthy lifestyle is a piece of cake!

One of the first things I would do is purchase a good pregnancy book. I highly recommend Elizabeth Somer M.A., R.D.'s Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy: The Complete Guide to Eating Before, During and After Your Pregnancy (Henry Holt & Company, 1995). Somer does an excellent job of putting together an easily understandable explanation of what to eat, what changes to expect, great tips, recipes – you name it, she covers it. It is a very thorough book on nutrition and pregnancy.

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