Obstetricians and gynecologists are well positioned to influence population health through maternity and women's health services. Obesity is common in women of reproductive age and the prevalence is rising in both low-/middle-income and high-income countries 1. Obesity affects requirements for assessment, monitoring, and intervention and can impact maternal and child outcomes. Obstetricians and gynecologists require guidance on the care of women of reproductive age with obesity at all time points related to pregnancy, including how to address modifiable risk factors such as diet and physical activity. Many guidelines have been developed to date, although they vary in scope, methodology, and individual recommendations. FIGO's Committee Guideline for the Management of Prepregnancy, Pregnancy, and Postpartum Obesity (Table 1) reviews good clinical practice recommendations (Table 2-4) from previously published international documents. It serves as a practical resource to support obstetricians and gynecologists in the management of This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

With the increase in obesity prevalence among women of reproductive age globally, the risks of type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, pre‐eclampsia, and other conditions are rising, with detrimental effects on maternal and newborn health. The period before pregnancy is increasingly recognized as crucial for addressing weight management and reducing malnutrition (both under‐ and overnutrition) in both parents to reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the mother as well as the passage of risk to her offspring. Healthcare practitioners, including obstetricians, gynecologists, midwives, and general practitioners, have an important role to play in supporting women in planning a pregnancy and achieving healthy nutrition and weight before pregnancy. In this position paper, the FIGO Pregnancy Obesity and Nutrition Initiative provides an overview of the evidence for preconception clinical guidelines to reduce the risk of NCDs in mothers and their offspring. It encourages healthcare practitioners to initiate a dialogue on women’s health, nutrition, and weight management before conception. While acknowledging the fundamental importance of the wider social and environmental determinants of health, this paper focuses on a simple set of recommendations for clinical practice that can be used even in short consultations. The recommendations can be contextualized based on local cultural and dietary practices as part of a system‐wide public health approach to influence the wider determinants as well as individual factors influencing preconception health.

Objective To gain insights from pregnant women and obstetricians on the utility of the FIGO Nutrition Checklist in antenatal practice. Methods Women were recruited from the antenatal department of a large tertiary‐level university maternity hospital in Dublin, Ireland, between October and December 2019. Participants completed the FIGO Nutrition Checklist before their routine antenatal appointment. Obstetricians and women were encouraged to discuss the FIGO Nutrition Checklist during the clinical visit. Completed FIGO Nutrition Checklists were collected after appointments. Acceptability was assessed through questionnaires. Results The majority (80.0%) of women answered “No” to at least one diet quality question, indicating a potential nutritional risk. While none of the participating obstetricians routinely discussed nutrition with women, all agreed that using the Checklist encouraged them to address nutrition with pregnant women. Nearly every woman (99.0%) found the Checklist quick to complete; however, all participating obstetricians felt there was not enough time to discuss it in routine practice. Despite this, most obstetricians and pregnant women recommended the FIGO Nutrition Checklist for use. Conclusion The FIGO Nutrition Checklist is acceptable for use in routine antenatal practice in tertiary care settings. It helped identify potentially at‐risk women during early pregnancy and facilitated conversations related to optimum diet.