Pregnancy is an exciting time for mothers. It’s a time to set up the baby’s room, pick out names and an excuse to eat for two.

That’s in most scenarios, but recently women have been watching the scale nervously-completely forgetting that they have a baby growing inside of them. This case where pregnant women then become obsessed with exercise and dieting has been called “pregorexia.”

On average, women should gain 25-35 pounds during their pregnancy. This is needed so that the fetus can grow into a healthy baby.

According to Dr. Holly Phillips on the Early Show,
“calorie restriction is linked with growth retardation (and) birth defects, and (with) vitamin deficiencies, both for the mother and baby. What’s interesting about vitamin deficiencies is, say, for instance, with calcium deficiency: The baby will probably get what he or she needs, but that’ll be at the expense of the mother’s bones. So, you really have to be careful with that” and take in more calories overall than you ordinarily would.”

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