Helping women lose weight after pregnancy

Our researchers are investigating whether women who are given lifestyle advice and access to Slimming World for 12 weeks have lost weight 12 months after giving birth.

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Start: September 2013

End: August 2018

Some women struggle to lose weight after giving birth, and this can be more likely if they smoke, have a poor diet, do not exercise regularly or choose to bottle feed.

Weight retention after birth can lead to long-term obesity and is linked to the development of high-blood pressure, diabetes or degenerative joint diseases. Women are also more likely to have complications in future pregnancies if they have not lost their pregnancy weight within 6 months of giving birth.

We believe that there is a need to intervene.

To do this, we are finding out whether lifestyle advice and access to Slimming World for 12 weeks can help women from an ethnically diverse inner-city population lose weight and improve their lifestyle after giving birth.

Nearly 200 women have taken part in our study and we are now looking at all the data that has been collected. We want to see whether the support women received had an effect on their weight 12 months after giving birth.

We will also assess the cost-effectiveness of this solution, and look at its impact on health and wellbeing at both 6 and 12 months after childbirth.

If the results of this study are promising, we will begin another, larger study that should definitively confirm whether giving women lifestyle advice and access to Slimming World for 12 weeks is a cost-effective way of helping them lose weight after pregnancy.

Join the fight for healthy pregnancies and babies

Tommy's funds research across the UK investigating the reasons for miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth, and fighting to make pregnancy and birth safer. We can keep you updated on ways you can support our work. If you would like to join our fight, click here.

More about Tommy's research

  • Three pregnant women sitting in a row

    Research into health and wellbeing in pregnancy

    In addition to our core work on miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth and pre-eclampsia, Tommy’s also funds projects that research the effects of lifestyle and well-being on pregnancy and on the later life of the child.

  • Team of researchers

    Research into stillbirth

    When a baby dies after 24 weeks of gestation, it is called a stillbirth. Around 3,500 families a year get the devastating news that their baby is not alive. Our research is helping to change this.

  • Nurse monitoring premature baby in hospital

    Research into premature birth

    Around 60,000 babies are born prematurely each year in the UK. These babies are vulnerable – they are born before they have grown to cope with the outside world. Tommy’s is saving lives by researching how we can prevent premature births by finding those at risk early on.

  • Clinical researcher looking at test tube

    Research into miscarriage

    1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. 1 in 100 women have 3 or more miscarriages in a row. Research into this area of pregnancy loss has been underfunded for years.

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