How Does Obesity Affect Fertility? Gynae Explains What To Do

A person is considered obese when the bodyweight exceeds 20% of the ideal body weight and it is due to excessive accumulation of body fat, which has a negative impact on the overall health of a person.

Dr. Neha, Fertility Consultant, Nova IVF Fertility, Patna, told HerZindagi that "The main cause of obesity is an energy imbalance between the calories consumed through foods and drinks and the calories burned through workouts and other daily activities. Obesity has a negative impact on the fertility and libido (sex drive) of both men and women, making conception difficult."

Obesity Impacting Women

Dr. Neha shared that "obesity impairs the normal physiological hormonal milieu and causes irregularity of themenstrual cycle and ovulation becomes erratic. Obesity is a predisposing factor for the polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Women with PCOS have an irregular menstrual cycle, features of excessive androgen (male hormone) in the body like acne, oily skin, thinning of scalp hair, excess growth of body hair in a male pattern, like facial hair, excessive hair on the abdomen, back, thighs etc. (hirsutism).

They face difficulty in getting pregnant due to erratic and infrequent ovulation. Obesity also leads to poor oocyte quality and leads to increased pregnancy related complications like miscarriage, birth defects, gestational diabetes, pregnancy induced hypertension, increased chance of operative delivery and poor neonatal outcome."

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How To Deal With Obesity

• Start eating better and increase intake of water. Control your diet and reducepackaged foods.
• If one smokes- they should immediately stop smoking.
• You can take up yoga for fitness as that can help in gettingyour cycle back to normal.
• Start exercising and try to reduce weight as reduced weight is the number one curefor this. Even 5-10 percent reduction in weight, increases the chances of conception. Those couples who are looking forward to conceiving should have a body mass index (BMI) between 18 and 24.

• Take the right kinds of vitamins and proteins.

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• If recommended by the doctor take pills as and when required.
• If you are a person who has an excessive intake of coffee and or alcohol, reduce it.
• Alcohol spirits like beer start storing fat in the abdomen region which is not healthyfor either males or females. It may hamper fertility.
• So, if you are dealing with issues that are directly proportionate to obesity, the first thing is to try and reduceweight and follow it up with a session with your fertility doctor if you are trying to conceive.

Stay tuned to HerZindagi for more on health with expert inputs.