Does Weight Play a Role In Fertility?

Does Weight Play a Role In Fertility?

Weight can play a role in fertility. Both being underweight or overweight can affect how likely you are to be able to conceive. For maximum fertility, you should try to stay within a recommended weight range.

Being overweight can affect fertility in a variety of ways. For some women, their weight may affect their ovulation. Being overweight can disrupt a woman’s regular monthly cycle, making it difficult for her to ovulate, and making it difficult to know exactly when she is ovulating. The impact of weight on ovulation has to do with the production of estrogen. Research suggests that for women who are overweight, the extra fat tissue can lead to an excess production of estrogen. This excess estrogen can then cause a hormonal imbalance that affects ovulation.

Sometimes, the sheer logistics of sex can get in the way for overweight couples who are trying to conceive. If the sperm are not able to make it all the way to the cervical mucus, whether held back by excess skin or they can’t make it to a deep cervix, there are a variety of problems that being overweight can cause in the physical act of conception. In addition, some studies suggest that being overweight and not getting enough exercise can lead to a low sperm count and/or low sperm viability in men.

Ideally, the woman who is trying to conceive but who is also trying to lose weight will do both of them under the care of both a health care provider as well as a dietary or nutritional expert. In addition, a closely monitored exercise program can help the woman who is trying to conceive to lose the necessary weight. A regular exercise program will not only help you in terms of conception, but will also help to prepare your body for the strains involved in pregnancy and childbirth.

Being underweight can negatively affect a person just as much as being overweight can. This is true in many areas of life. Trying to conceive is no exception; Being underweight can drastically affect your chances of conceiving. The biggest way that being underweight can affect your chances of conceiving is that you are at a greater risk of anovulation - that is, being underweight makes it likely that you will not ovulate. If you do not ovulate, your body will not release an egg to be fertilized. Being underweight can cause you to miss your monthly cycle, or even make it so you don’t have a monthly cycle at all. If you are underweight and are trying to conceive, you should try to gain weight to get into a normal weight range.

Being underweight also creates certain risks once you become pregnant. The biggest risk involved for a woman who is underweight and pregnant is the risk of not getting enough nutrients. There are key nutrients, such as folic acid, Vitamins A, E, K, and B2, and minerals such as iron, copper, calcium, and zinc that a woman who is expecting must have in order to have a successful pregnancy. If, for example, if your diet is not providing enough folic acid, your baby is at an increased risk of being born with spina bifida or another neural tube defect. It is recommended that a pregnant woman get between 600 and 800 mcg of folic acid each day.

It is also important that a woman who is underweight gain enough weight during pregnancy. If you do not gain a sufficient amount of weight, you run the risk of your baby being born prematurely. Even if your baby is not born prematurely, you run the risk of your baby being born with a condition known as “small-for-gestational-age”, which means that your baby was probably malnourished while he was developing in your womb. This creates a risk of several other problems that can occur later on in life.

A woman who is underweight should gain somewhere between 30 and 40 pounds during pregnancy. In contrast, a woman who is of an average weight should gain between 25 and 35 pounds, while an overweight woman should gain between 20 and 30 pounds.

If you are underweight due to an eating disorder, which could include bulimia or anorexia, you are putting your baby at risk. You should contact your health care provider immediately. Your health care provider may be able to provide you with assistance with or a referral for someone who can help you get on track nutritionally to help make sure that your pregnancy is a healthy and successful one.

Ideally, a woman will be at or near her ideal weight three months prior to trying to conceive. Modifications of your diet ant your exercise habits can, of course, can help to address the issue of being overweight or underweight. However, dieting and exercising can also sometimes interfere with ovulation, thus a three-month maintenance window tends to be helpful. In addition, it will be important that your body gets all of the nutrients that it needs from the moment of conception forward, and this can be difficult to do if you are currently dieting.

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This entry was posted under Fertility Issues.