If you’ve been trying to get pregnant for a while, you already know how stressful it can be without help. From trying to take the right vitamins to working with your ovulation cycle, it can be challenging to find the right moment, even if your body is in peak physical shape. If you’re obese or significantly overweight, it can feel even more challenging to get pregnant. Even if you have help from the best Fertility Clinic Tempe has to offer, for women trying to get pregnant, having a body that’s healthy and hormonally balanced can make a huge difference. If you’ve looked into any of the research about infertility in women, you’ll know that certain biological determinants like obesity can create problems with ovulation and fertility. However, if you’re trying to get pregnant, there’s a lot more you should know. Here are a few ways in which obesity can affect your fertility.
Your Ovulation Cycle May Be Off
For women whose body mass index or BMI is higher than 40, getting pregnant can be harder than average. In the same way that having a too-low body weight can stop you from getting your period regularly (or at all,) being obese can halt your ovulation process in its tracks, making your period unpredictable and creating even more difficulty getting pregnant. If you’re trying to get pregnant by monitoring your ovulation, being obese can make it harder for you to track and pay attention to your menstrual cycles in addition to creating a higher risk of miscarriage during a first pregnancy.
You May Have PCOS
Recent studies have tied obesity in women to a higher risk of polycystic ovary syndrome, which can compromise a woman’s fertility. However, being screened early for PCOS can make a big difference in terms of treatment. With PCOS, hormone irregularities can lead to infertility or a lower ability to get pregnant in obese women.
Hormone Imbalances May Occur
Even for obese women who don’t have PCOS, hormonal imbalances are likely to occur, especially for women whose periods are unpredictable. One of the major causes of obesity, along with high insulin levels, is hormone imbalance, which can also have an effect on a woman’s ability to get pregnant. While IVF specialists treating pregnant women may suggest birth control pills to modulate this hormone imbalance, having a high BMI can make it harder for doctors to regulate and stabilize hormones in a way that allows for a successful IVF treatment.
It May Take Over a Year to Get Pregnant
Since women who are overweight have a lower chance of getting pregnant to begin with, they’re also more likely to take more than a year to conceive. In addition to this, overweight women have double the chance of a miscarriage, especially if it’s the first pregnancy. They also have double the chance of a stillbirth or a birth defect. When it comes to the risk of diabetes, obese women are eight times as likely as women with a lower BMI to develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
