Long‐Term Weight Development in Women: A 15‐Year Follow‐up of the Effects of Pregnancy

Abstract

Women who are overweight before pregnancy do not have a higher risk of postpartum weight retention than normal weight women. Thus, it is not necessarily the initially overweight woman who should be the target or focus of weight control programs during or after pregnancy. Both high weight gainers and high weight retainers had higher BMI at the 15-year follow-up, although only 56% of the high weight gainers during pregnancy were also classified as high weight retainers at the 1-year follow-up. Weight retention at the end of the postpartum year predicts future overweight 15 years later.