Today I found this site through an article on Webmd.com. My husband and i have have been TTC #2 for 7 months now. I realize that is not very long, but my concern is this... Is my weight affecting my fertility? Is it a fact that weight does affect fertility? And if it is a fact then HOW? I just dont understand. i mean obviously i need to lose weight for my health, but how is being fat keeping me from getting pregnant. I am afraid to even see my OB because i just have a feeling he is going to say "lose some weight and we'll go from there". I have been charting my BBT and ovulation appears to be occuring. Everything seems normal. So of course, i am lead to believe it is my weight. I guess im just looking for some facts. I read everything in the world about weight issues and fertility. But i have yet to read one article that tells me exactly what being overweight does that affects conception??? BTW im 27 and i was 180lbs when i conceived DD and im now 240lbs.

Hi April,

I'm in the same boat as you! I have PCOS though so I know weight definitely affects my ability to ttc! I am also TTC #2 currently and am feeling pretty down about the whole thing! I am working on losing weight though in the process.

Weight affects you because your hormones are probably all out of whack and so when your body isn't working properly then your fertility is the first to go at least that is what one RE told me! I also concieved DS at 180! This weight thing is so hard but I would honestly recommend a healthy diet and exercise. You are still young so at least you have some time on your hands!

I hope that helps!

CP

Thank you so much for responding! i started weight watchers yesterday. I got my mom and my sister to join with me. SO hopefully we can be a support chain for each other. My mother struggled with her weight all through her 30's and 40's. and then at 55 she lost 100 lbs. she has kept most of it off. She gained about 20 lbs recently so that is why she decided to join with me. She has had a really hard time getting it back off. My sister is also quite large like myself. Although still weighs a bit less than me. She has also struggled with weight for almost 10 years now. I think what is so frustrating for me is i gained all thsi weight so quickly as soon as i got out of college. As soon as i stopped activity(cheerleading) i started gaining and FAST. I gained 60 lbs the first year. My doctor was so concerned she ran every test in the world... and everything is fine. ANd now over the last 3 years i have gained slowly another 20 and then after dd i kept most of the baby weight on and packed on a few extra. WHich is where i am now. Im just SO TIRED OF BEING FAT. I wonder sometimes how DH even wants to BD with me. I look at myself and think... "I wouldnt want to". OK. Im done with my pitty party now. Im just glad to know now there are other people out there dealing with the same thing.

Nobody can really answer whether your weight is affecting your fertility without running medical tests, but it is definitely not a fact that weight affects fertility. When there is an effect, it is because women who are overweight can have irregular ovulation or none at all. This is because estrogen is produced by fat cells, and this can inhibit ovulation if the hormone levels are not consistent with those necessary to achieve ovulation (too many fat cells often means too much estrogen, and that inhibits ovulation). If you are ovulating regularly (if you have regular periods and seeing it on your chart, you probably are) then weight shouldn't make any difference. I know several women who've gotten pregnant at 250-300 pounds and gone on to have perfectly healthy pregnancies and babies.

Here are a couple of good websites:

Plus Size Pregnancy Website http://plus-size-pregnancy.org/ (this one has which has a lot of great information including many birth stories from larger women)
FertilityPlus FAQ for Women of Size: http://www.fertilityplus.org/faq/bbwfaq.html (http://www.fertilityplus.org/faq/bbwfaq.html)

I'm following the WW program to lose weight, also. Good luck to you!

txblue,

Thank you so much for that information! i know it sounds like im being silly but just hearing someone say that my weight may possibly not be what is going wrong makes me feel a ton better. I dont want to feel like my own obesity is causing problems within my marriage and family. Of course i know there could still be a chance that it is my weight. but like you mentioned, i am ovulating. I have tri phasic pattern and show ovulation on cd16 or 17 EVERY month. My cycles seem as regular as can be. So maybe i just need to give it a few more months. I guess right now i can just chalk it up to not being in the "20 percent" the last 7 months. ANd thanks for the websites too. i am hopping over to check them out now. Your information was so valueable to me!

I really hope they help! I know in the beginning, I read both of those a lot and it really helped me keep perspective and peace of mind. Of course, I turned out to be one of the unlucky few who don't ovulate (not even with heavy doses of Clomid and/or injectable fertility drugs), so I definitely know the feeling of your weight interfering with the most important things in life. It is a whole bundle of self hatred and frustration that I really wouldn't wish on anyone. You didn't mention your age, but you could always have a few tests done to just make sure everything is fine. You are ovulating, though, and that is one of the biggest hurdles!

SInce i have been reading these pages i have started to wonder about possibly having a luteal phase defect. Mine is only 10 or 11 days. So maybe i will have some tests run. I dont know though. i feel like im jumping the gun because we have only been trying for 7 months, and im 27. so that really isnt enough time to be considered having "fertility problems" from what i have read. im just so worried because im considerably larger than i was when i conceived DD and we got pregnant right away with her. i was reading on one of those sites that said sometimes losing a little bit of weight can help with LP problems. So maybe the weight watchers thing will pay off and i wont end up having to see a dr after all. Im really sorry that you are one that doesnt ovulate. My sister in law doesnt. SHe isnt even really overweight. they have tried her on several different meds. She and her husband have been married for 14 years and trying to have children for 11 of those. it is just so sad. she has stopped seeing dr's at this point. and she and hubby just decided what will be will be. i dont know if i could ever accept that. i guess at some point the stress becomes too much though. she seems to not be bothered by it anymore, and then she breaks down when someone in the family turns up pregnant and she goes through it all over again. i feel so bad for her, and for you. I hope that you find a way to have your baby. i think we all deserve to be mothers. i feel selfish sometimes whining about not being able to concieve #2 after only 7 months and i hear about these women still trying for number 1 after 6 or 7 YEARS. anyway, thanks for your ear. you have helped me alot. even just talking makes me feel better, to have someone that seems to understand (and has great info, too!)

I can only tell you what all the doctors told me. And that was that there is a direct link from inferililty and being over weight. In fact my doctors and my RE wanted me to get the gastric bypass then try to have a baby a year later. In retrospec maybe I should have done that, but I chose to do it the natural way. I am having some success and my numbers are alot higher than when I wasnt working out and losing weight at all. Good luck!

Weight MAY affect fertility. It does not ALWAYS affect it. I would be suspicious of any doctor who diagnosed infertility by passing it off as a weight issue before running any tests.

In my case all the test were run and that is what I was told. I have also done research on this issue that backs up what my RE has to say. This may not be the case for everyone I can only speak for me and some of the other patients that go to see my RE.

Your case was the same as mine - I tried and had tests run, then the doctor concluded (since it can't really be proven) that weight is likely having an effect. I just have known people who were turned away from the RE without any testing and I hate hearing about that because it has never been proven that weight always affects fertility. It's a possibility, not a given.

Glad your doctor seems to be one of the good ones! :)

Aprilshowers, you might want to make an appt with your ob/gyn. It might put your mind at ease some. You probably don't want to jump straight to a RE, but just move your yearly visit a little sooner. Bring your BBT charts. They'll probably start with blood work to check your thyroid and hormone levels and you can go from there. Good luck to you!!

victoriagirl, I know i should at least go and see my ob/gyn, but does it make sense that im AFRAID? i know that sounds incredibly silly, but i just know they are going tell me that the first thing i need to do is lose some weight. I KNOW i need to lose some weight, i dont want to hear someone else tell me that. Even though i feel in my heart that im not conceiving because of weight, i dont want to have my DR say it to me. So i have been on weight watchers and have lost 18lbs. So that is a start. If the weight i lose doesnt help and i still dont conceive after ive lost say.. 50lbs. then i guess i will get the nerve up to see my dr. I am just too afraid to hear the words "you're too fat" come out of my dr's mouth. I think that would probably make me want to give up at this point. i dont know that i could take it. Im hard enough on myself over it. And the longer it takes for me to get pregnant, the worse it seems to make me feel. And BTW, for anyone that read my previous post in Oct about my SIL who has been trying for 11 years to get pregnant... she just found out she is. they completely quit trying about 6 months ago. she saw a regular ob/gyn that told her she would never get pregnant until she got her insulin under control. she had never been told that before. he put her back on shots and 2 weeks ago she went to her family dr becasue she had been so sick(she thought it was an ulcer). anyway, they called her back and said she is pregnant. she went to the OB on thursday and she is 13 weeks! she didnt notice the missed periods because she had all her life often times gone months between periods. So she got to hear the heartbeat on Friay. She gives me hope!!!

Like I said earlier in the thread, ovulation is the most common way weight affects fertility. Since you are ovulating regularly, you should be able to get pregnant. Of course it is up to you how long you want to wait to find out the real reason it's not working, but I know I wanted to know so we could be as aggressive as possible. I don't have any children though, and I know you already have one. Congrats on the weight loss!

Again, if any doctor tells you you're too fat to do ANYTHING without running tests and understanding that weight really may be an issue, you need to get a new doctor. That is discrimination and it is not only wrong, but could be medically dangerous in some situations.

Hey there!

I have to tell you! My Re told me that my weight Isn't and issues (I am not majorly over weight) but My mom TTC for 2 years She decided to work on losing some weight. She did and got pregnant. Her best friend TTC for 8 years the whole time My mom told her to lose some weight. After 8 years she decided to try it she figured Why not. She has two daughters now.
If anything Losing weight can only help. If not help you get pregnant It will help your feel better about yourself. and If you don't know already every women on this board needs to feel Good about themselves.
I hope this helps. You have to want to do it for yourself

Deb

Yeah I love her and I hate that I can't take her with us when when move to GA. I understand what you mean though, but I tend to believe that in some it plays a role while in others it doesn't. Each case is different and the doctors should care enough to test everyone to find the reason why they can't have kids.

I am currently awaiting my beta results. I POAS and got a BFN, but still waiting to hear as I did the hpt mid day rather than first thing (I am grasping at any hope I can find!). When I had DD almost 3 years ago, I weighed about 155 when I got pregnant (BMI of about 25). Now, my BMI is about 31 and I weigh about 185lbs! If I do get a BFN, that is the only real change I can think of...other that I am now 33 years old! Has anyone done a mild detox program and had some success?

My doctor told me the same thing..."lose a little weight, exercise, and eat healthier..if nothing happens within 4 months..come back" Well, i've been having unprotected sex with my husband for 6 years and nothing has happened! Why would it happen within 4 months?!?!?! Im going to follow her advice though...I have regular periods and Im pretty sure that I O. I get side pains every month during the time I should be O'ing..But, Im going to start charting this time around just to make sure.

Im happy to report that i am 10weeks and 3 days pg. I had an u/s last week and the baby was fine with a heart rate of 166. I dont know if it made the difference or not, but i lost about 20lbs on weight watchers and then got pg. Im still way overweight, so i dont know if the 20 lbs was enough to make a differnce or not. I just know im thrilled. After over a year of trying i still wouldnt go see my dr about my issues because i was still too afraid of hearing "lose some weight", so i decided to take matters into my own hands. The process with weight watchers was slow. I did really great the first month, then the weeks that followed i was only losing a 1/2 pound a week. But 20 lbs lighter... i got pg. So far so good. Just wanted to update you ladies. Thanks so much for all the info you provided!