Exercise is good for self esteem, it's good for feeling good about your body. Pregnancy is the second time in a woman's life when there can be substantial and troubling weight gain, says Smith West, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Even so, these weight gains are usually modest. For some women, however, pregnancy brings pounds. But women who gain weight the fastest from the first through the second trimester of pregnancy have the highest weight afterward.
Black women gain more weight than white women with the same number of children.
At the end of a woman's reproductive life, menopause brings with it higher levels of body fat. Data suggest that aging is more related to weight gain than menopause itself, but several studies suggest that there are body fat changes associated with menopause. While menopause did bring about an increase in waist size, this increase was smaller in the healthy lifestyle women. But it's never too late to start. We would like to see all women entering their 40s become aware of what they are eating and increasing their physical activity.