According to a new study, women who are obese and put on too much weight during pregnancy tend to retain this weight post pregnancy. It is therefore healthy for such women and their babies that they gain no weight, even lose a little, during pregnancy. The research was carried out by Kaiser Permanente and made public today.

The study's results confirmed that nearly half of pregnant women in the US currently are either overweight or obese, which is up by about 25% when compared to data from four decades ago. Nearly three out of ever four women studied in the research gained more than 15 pounds during the pregnancy term and retained about 40% of the extra weight almost a year after delivery.

The study's lead author and renowned OBGYN Kimberly K. Vesco shared, "Younger women and first-time mothers were the most likely to gain too much weight. The extra weight increased the risk for complications like hypertension, diabetes, preeclampsia, C-sections, and birth injuries".

The study confirms that the ideal goal for pregnant women is to be within 3% of their pre-pregnancy weight, and therefore it is not surprising that a would-be mother's gynecologist might want to out her on a diet. Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research senior investigator Victor Stevens maintains, "The new IOM guidelines call for gaining no more than 20 pounds, but for women who are very obese this may not be the best advice".