Pregnancy Weight Calculator app review: make sure your pregnancy weight gain is on track

Introduction

Pregnancy Weight Calculator & Baby Bump Weight Gain from Mobile Mom by Rebellion Media is a really basic app that will tell you if your weight gain so far during this pregnancy is on-track or not. If you have any questions about if you’ve gained too much or too little, a quick check-in with this app will let you know. 

What It's All About

This is one of those apps that you install out of curiosity’s sake. “Have I gained enough weight?” or “Have I gained too much weight?” are generally questions every woman asks herself at some point during her pregnancy. Unless you go through your whole gestation period without weighing yourself, you’re pretty much guaranteed to ask yourself that at least once.

I’m 20 weeks pregnant this week and have only gained around five pounds. According to the app, I’m totally on track with weight gain! The app asks for your height, pre-pregnancy weight, and due date, then asks you your current weight. It uses your BMI (body mass index) to determine where on the scale you should be at all points of your pregnancy.

I have to assume that the developers use the standard “If you’re underweight, gain xx number of pounds,” “If you’re of average weight, gain xx number of pounds,” and “If you’re overweight, gain xx number of pounds.” I was told by my midwife to gain around 25 pounds and it appears I’m right on target for that.

Features

Other than the page where the app tells you if you’re on track or not, there’s not much else to it. If you click on the Information button, you’re taken to a Table of Contents where you’ll see some FAQ. There’s a Settings page that lets you change the units to metric if that’s what you prefer. There is also some information about sister apps: Baby Names Finder and Pregnancy Talk. You also get the opportunity to sign in and win some prizes.

Of course, always talk to your health care provider about the best amount of weight to gain, because everyone and every pregnancy is different.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Simple and easy to use
• Tells you if you’re on track for pregnancy weight gain and how much you should have gained by each point

Cons

• Doesn’t have much more information
• Is based on BMI, which isn’t always accurate

Final Verdict

For what it is and does, this is a decent app. Personally, I never put much stock in the BMI chart, particularly since I weigh more than the average woman my size because I weight train. Going by BMI, my midwife put me at the top of “average” but I have less fat on me than someone else who is my height and weighs the same. If you feel your BMI is accurate, then this app could certainly be accurate for you and work quite well.