I sometimes have new mothers come to me for help with weight loss within just weeks of giving birth. Having had four babies myself, I admire their gumption, but I wasn't ready to tackle the pregnancy weight gain for a six to nine months at the earliest. A new baby if sleep deprivation is enough to manage, let alone a new diet and exercise program. Yet new research out of Sweden shows they may be on to something.

I'm Dr. Caroline Cederquist, giving you The Skinny on Your Health.

Overweight women very often site pregnancy weight gain as the beginning of their weight problems, but it appears the fact of the matter is a little more nuanced.

Investigators studied women over a 15-year period, and found that it wasn't how much women gained DURING pregnancy that was most likely to predict a later weight problem, but how much of it they had KEPT ON by the end of that first post-partum year!

That means that if you don't get rid of that pregnancy weight gain or "baby weight" within the first year, chances are, you'll still have it when Junior's in high school.

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Caroline J. Cederquist, M.D. is a board certified Family Physician and a board certified Bariatric Physicians (the medical specialty of weight management). Dr. Cederquist is the founder of Bistro M.D., a home diet delivery program that specializes in low calorie gourmet food that is delivered to your home or office. Bistro M.D. serves as culmination of Dr. Cederquist's expertise and experience in the world of medical weight loss.