Obese pregnant women ‘should not crash diet’

Pregnant women who are obese should not resort to crash dieting in order to lose weight before their babies are born, an expert has claimed.

Jacqui Clinton, health campaigns manager at pregnancy research charity Tommy's, said that, ideally, women should make sure they are at a healthy weight before they try to conceive.

Ms Clinton said that to avoid obesity in pregnancy, women should "take some gentle daily exercise".

She recommended walking their existing children to school or walking to the shops instead of going in a car.

"Try to make small, impactful changes to your diet, such as swapping high-fat and sugar snacks for healthy snacks like low-fat yoghurt or malt loaf," Ms Clinton added.

Her comments follow the publication of a report by the Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries, which found that one in 20 pregnant women in the UK is severely obese.

This equates to more than 38,000 women, who are putting their own health and that of their baby at risk.

How easy do you think it would be to make changes to your diet?