Weight does matter, if you are trying to conceive. You don’t have to be super thin to become pregnant, but your chances of conceiving and continuing a healthy pregnancy are higher if your body mass index (BMI) is in a normal range. Weight and nutritional experts would define ‘normal’ BMI anything between 18 and 25; and if your BMI is higher than 25 and bellow 30, experts would say person is overweight. On the other hand, if your BMI is above 30, a person would be considered obese. If your BMI is below 18 a person would fall in the group of underweight, which also significantly compromises woman’s fertility.

(If you would like to calculate your body mass index, take your weight in pounds and divide it by your height in inches, squared. Multiply that result by the number 703.)

Harvard Medical School published a study where scientists suggested weight and infertility are linked in a U-shape curve. The study further explains that women who are either very lean or even slightly overweight are at higher risk of having problems when trying to conceive. Scientists claim that there are approximately 25% of ovulation-related infertility cases that could be attributed to women being overweight.

Another study from Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal “Human Reproduction” suggests that if both partners are overweight or obese, a couple is very likely to have problems when trying to get pregnant. This study suggests that weight can affect fertility in both sexes: in males too much body fat is linked to increased production of woman’s hormone estrogen, and lower production of male sex hormone testosterone. As a consequence sperm count is lower which of course affects fertility. In women situation is a bit more complicated: woman’s primary sex hormone estrogen is produced and stored in fat. Problem lies in a fact that fat cells produce a weak form of estrogen and this might fool the brain to think that the hormones are doing their job well, while they actually aren’t. This causes delay in ovulation and also contribute to the fact that it is harder for a woman to get pregnant.

There are of course other dangers that are in connection with woman being overweight: it increases the risk of gestational diabetes and chronic hypertension; in is post-term pregnancy the baby is at risk for stillbirth and difficulties in labor.

If you have problem with being overweight, and if you are trying to get pregnant, you should try to lose weight. There is no need for drastic changes, but do take one step at a time and do make that small improvements in your life. I am sure you’ve heard it million times: the best way to lose weight is with the help of a balanced diet and moderate exercise.