| Summary: | ABSTRACT Overweight and obesity is an increasing problem worldwide although high-income countries take a leed. High BMI during pregnancy and delivery constitute to many risks for both the mother and her outcome. Intervention programmes with the purpose to get the pregnant women to eat healthier and to excercise more are now working out in many different shapes. The effect of these activities varies. The aim of this study was to investigate if interventions during pregnancy, with women who’s BMI are 25 or more, affects health of the mother and her expected child, delivery outcome and self estimated health. The design of this study was quantitative. A total of 163 women participated in this study who took place i two cities in Sweden. All of the women gave birth at the same hospital. 96 of the women participated in the intervention group and 69 in the comparison group. Data was analyzed using SPSS. The results shows that most of the women (60 percent), choose not to participate in water aerobics. The results of the women who used a stepcounter showed that the women were more active during early pregnancy than later on. Results showed that there was a significantly increased risk for complications during delivery if the women had gained more than seven kilograms during pregnancy. Overweight women who had a weight gain of more than seven kilograms also had an increased risk for delivering large babies (more than 4000 gram), compared with those who gained less. There were no difference in self estimated health between the groups. The results of the study shows that a weight gain less than eight kilograms is positively associated with less complications during pregnancy. Women should be helped to get motivated to live a healthy and active life during pregnancy. What motivates pregnant women towards healthier living needs to be examined further.
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