Infertility is Not Just for Big Girls
Everyone knows that being overweight can affect your chances of getting pregnant. Being obese can affect your chances of getting pregnant even more than simply being overweight. If you’re an overweight woman who’s been trying to get pregnant, you might feel quite a bit of guilt about the whole situation, and resentment at smaller women who seem to be able to just pop babies out at will.
Before you go any further, however, you need to free yourself from those feelings of guilt. Yes, your weight is important, and in some cases it can affect your fertility. But you also need to understand that being overweight isn’t as much of a risk factor for infertility as many other, more controllable conditions, such as lifestyle choices like smoking. Don’t beat yourself up about your weight and fertility. Chances are pretty good you beat yourself up enough about it anyways.
Sure, you should make some changes if you’re overweight and want to maximize your chances for conception. Yes, eating a healthy, balanced diet and getting moderate exercise on a regular basis are just good ideas. Not only that, once you do become pregnant having those healthy habits will benefit both you and your baby, and will help your body prepare for deliver. However, there are plenty of other things you can do, as well, to help increase your chances of becoming pregnant.
You also need to realize that infertility due to weight doesn’t only apply to those women who are overweight or obese. If a woman is underweight, it can affect her chances of becoming pregnant, as well. Women who participate in extremely intense sports or exercise may even find that, because of the strain that they put their bodies through, they are experiencing anovulation (a condition in which you don’t ovulate, and therefore can’t become pregnant).
Whether you’re overweight or not, if you’re struggling with fertility it can help to do some research and find out other possible things that can interfere with your fertility. Talking to your doctor is a good idea, as well, as there may be other individual factors you’re not aware of, such as side effects of certain medications.
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