Contents:
- Medical Video: Before You Get Pregnant
- Having trouble getting pregnant while losing weight
- Increase the chances of pregnancy when you are underweight
Medical Video: Before You Get Pregnant
Irregular diets, health conditions, and physical exercise that is too heavy can cause you to be underweight. Anorexia and bulimia nervosa are eating disorders that are often associated with lack of weight. Too low weight can cause fatigue, osteoporosis, and irregular menstrual cycles if not handled properly. You can be said to be underweight if your body mass index (BMI) is less than 18.5.
Having trouble getting pregnant while losing weight
The amount of fat in the body can affect your fertility. Low weight often results in irregular menstrual cycles. If you miss your menstrual cycle (not menses), your ovary will not release the egg in each cycle.
To get a regular (normal) menstrual cycle and be able to ovulate, at least you have to have body fat of 22%. Of course, knowing the amount of fat in the body is not an easy matter. The easiest way to get answers from the question "is our body weight healthy (ideal) for our height?", Is by measuring body mass index or BMI.
A study showed that women with BMIs between 20-25 had a greater chance of becoming pregnant compared to women who had a BMI below or above that range.
Even when your menstrual cycle is normal, you still need a certain amount of body fat in a score so you can ovulate.
If your body fat is too low, it can disrupt the flow of hormones from the brain to the pituitary gland. As a result, the signal sent by the pituitary gland to the ovary to release the egg cannot be conveyed. So even though you have many healthy eggs, these cells will remain in the ovary.
Increase the chances of pregnancy when you are underweight
If you are underweight with irregular menstrual cycles, not even menses at all, consult your doctor. After knowing what happened to you, your doctor may refer to a dietitian or nutritionist to help you manage a diet that is more suitable for calories, or to a fertility specialist who will check if you have an unknown health condition, such as a gland problem thyroid that affects your menstrual cycle.
If you only need to gain weight, do this gradually by eating regularly and interspersed with healthy snacks. Use a food journal (food diary) to help you manage the extra calories that need to be added.
There are many other reasons, of course good, to raise your weight to the ideal level before trying to get pregnant. If you start a pregnancy when your body weight is still low, the risk of giving birth to a baby with a low weight is also greater. There is evidence that babies born with low weight will have a greater risk of obesity, heart disease and blood pressure, and diabetes later in life.
Regardless of weight, if you are trying to get pregnant, eat healthy and varied foods, for example:
- vegetables and fruits
- protein (meat, fish, eggs, seeds)
- dairy products
- iron-rich foods (red meat, whole grains, green vegetables, cereals)
- whole-grain foods and fiber (cereals, pasta, bread)
Take supplements containing folic acid.
If you have a problem in gaining weight, or need medical treatment for an eating disorder, contact your doctor for further consultation.
