By: Beth Walsh for Fibroids1You can add yet another problem to the long list of conditions associated with extra weight: Overweight couples have a harder time conceiving a baby.
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Some studies have indicated that obesity can add up to 10 years to a woman’s reproductive age. It can also increase the risk of miscarriage and premature labor.
To lose excess weight, you need to be burn more calories and consume fewer calories. This can be challenging but consider the following small steps to chip away at a healthier lifestyle:
Use a smaller plate. This will trick your mind (and stomach) into thinking that you are eating more and can help you feel full after eating less.
Replace one of your daily snacks with a piece of fruit.
Replace one red meat dinner a week with fish.
Take advantage of the numerous Web sites that offer delicious, low-calorie recipes – some even for traditionally high-fat favorites.
Start by walking for just 10 or 15 minutes a day. Don’t feel that you need to start by doing an hour of cardiovascular activity a day. |
In a study of almost 48,000 Danish couples, researchers found that when both partners are obese, the chance of couples taking more than a year to conceive were almost three times higher than for fit couples. If both partners were just overweight, the likelihood of waiting more than a year was 1.4 times higher.
Ovulation disorders are the leading factor in female infertility, creating hormonal imbalances and disrupted menstrual cycles which block efforts to conceive. About 15 percent of these cases are linked to weight disorders. Too much estrogen, which is produced by fat cells, causes a hormonal imbalance that affects ovulation. Meanwhile, women who are overweight or obese are less likely to respond to fertility drugs, because excess weight interferes with the proper absorption of a variety of drugs used in infertility treatment.
Research has been conducted on individual fertility but this is the first study to look at the effect of excess weight on couples’ fertility. Previous studies have shown that men's body mass index (BMI) is associated with semen quality and levels of reproductive hormones; women’s BMI can affect ovulation, conception, implantation, and early fetal development.
An underweight person, especially an underweight man, combined with an obese partner, seemed to cause additional pregnancy delays, the researchers noted. The combination of an underweight man and an obese woman made it almost four times more likely to have trouble conceiving than a normal-weight couple.
The researchers also found that each one kilogram increase in weight after a first pregnancy was associated with an extra 2.84 days to pregnancy. And, each kilogram of weight lost after a first pregnancy reduced the time to pregnancy by an average of 5.5 days.
This study included only couples who became pregnant, so an association between high BMI and sterility was not detectable.
