According to a commentary, at the least, avoiding excessive gestational weight gain during pregnancy should lessen the risk of postpartum weight retention, decreasing further overweight or obesity in a subsequent pregnancy. It suggests that newer strategies for limiting excessive gestational weight gain, based on maternal physiological changes in pregnancy complicated by obesity, need to be investigated. It notes although there is no current prospective evidence that postpartum weight loss in obese women before a planned pregnancy will improve future short-term or long-term metabolic outcomes in the offspring, based on the available evidence, this is a potential option, albeit a difficult one in practical terms, and would require a concerted public health effort from the entire community.