Does Obesity Affect a Woman's Fertility?

Does obesity affect a woman’s fertility? Approximately 7 million people in United States alone suffer from infertility at present and still counting. By medical definition, infertility is the inability to conceive after 1 year of unprotected intercourse. Primary infertility refers to situations in which there has been no prior conception while secondary infertility occurs after one or more previous pregnancies.

 For most women who suffer from such condition, infertility goes beyond the confines of a medical dictionary. More than its biological effect, the emotional and psychological stress that goes along with it makes it such an unbearable state.

For women, infertility is a long-drawn-out screech of hurt that makes no noise. It is when they turn away each time they pass by a baby in a stroller, becomes teary-eyed at the display of a diaper ad and goes uncanny when a friend announces that she’s heavy with child.

Until now, people are still baffled as to what is the primordial cause of infertility. Studies can only present vague links and possibilities increasing the risks of falling into such condition. According to past and recent researches, individuals who smoke, who are overweight, who use drugs and/or alcohol regularly, who has a history of sexually transmitted infections, endometriosis, DES exposure, tubal problems or are over the age of 35 are at risk of having infertility problems.

Although these studies has not yet revealed the direct causal link between infertility and obesity, doctors and specialists in this field were in consensus in declaring that this factor increase the risk of infertility.

Cases of infertility among women have been increased by obesity and other eating disorders. A study which appeared in the December issue of the Human Reproduction journal divulged that a woman with a BMI of 35 is found to be 26% less likely to achieve a spontaneous pregnancy than women who were of normal weight or overweight but not obese. Moreover, a woman with a BMI of 40 or more is 43% less likely to get pregnant. So, does obesity affect a woman’s fertility? The answer is YES.

As measured by the BMI, a 5-foot 6-inch woman who weighs between 155 to 185 pounds is considered overweight and she would be considered obese at a weight of 186 or more. Research has shown that obese women have a menstrual disturbance rate that is three times higher than that of women who are not overweight.

With that, losing even just ten percent of your body weight may improve menstrual regularity, ovulation and pregnancy rates. Getting your weight into a healthy range will also improve your overall health, increase your chances of getting pregnant without intervention and provide you with a healthy pregnancy with positive outcome.

What can you do to get your weight into a healthy range? Well, there are a million ways for you to choose out there.  You can opt for the natural way which is to exercise.  You already have every reason to finally go to the gym and start sweating it up. So as to speed up your weight loss program, you can also try fat burners readily available in the market.

Fat burners help curb your appetite naturally thus helping your body use stored fat as energy. They operate on the principle of thermogenesis or the breakdown of body fat. A good fat burner will do three things for you. First, your stored fats will be burned for energy. Second, your fat cells will be broken down and mobilized. Third, it will "rev up" your metabolic rate to "burn" stored fat and inhibit fat cells from enlarging.

Remember, encouraging speedy fat loss is the most important element of losing weight. With a combination of gym exercise and fat burners, you are surely on your way to a healthier you. Now that you know that obesity affect a woman’s fertility, you should be more motivated to lose weight and stay reproductively healthy.