Body fat level and conception
I am a healthy 31-year-old and my husband and I would like to start a family this year. I do a lot of exercise and eat a balanced diet. My concern is with my weight and body fat level. I am 5'7 inches tall and weigh 8.5 stone. My body fat is about 17 percent. I have heard that body fat should be 18 percent or higher to get pregnant. Is this true?
Some women with minimal body fat have no menstrual periods or very irregular ones. About 6% of cases of primary infertility in which there is a problem with ovulation result from being excessively underweight. More than 70% of these women conceive spontaneously if their weight disorder is corrected through weight gain. If a woman weighs less than 95 percent of the predicted ideal body weight for her height, she should receive counselling about increasing her weight to an ideal level.
Body fat affects the release of the hormones that stimulate the ovary to produce an egg and regulate the menstrual cycle. When body weight is within 5% of ideal body weight, these hormones generally return to normal and the ovulatory cycle resumes.
If your cycles are regular and you are ovulating, you should have no difficulty conceiving and carrying a pregnancy to term at your weight. You are at the lower, but still normal, range for your height and not at the ‘less than 95%’ category.
In my experience, it is the women who lose weight (up to one-third of their total weight) or begin strenuous athletic training who have problems with infertility – primarily because it causes them to cease ovulating.
I would recommend that you go ahead and try to conceive. After one year, if you have not conceived, discuss this with your GP.
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Horoscopes| Message Boards | Quizzes | Newsletters | Join
iVillage Ltd is a UK company registered in England & Wales (3837269) at 80-110 New Oxford Street, London WC1 1HB
