While there are many factors involved in successfully conceiving a baby, being overweight or obese can reduce your fertility. This is because extra fat on the body produces the hormone estrogen. Excess estrogen in the body affects your ability to ovulate, which is necessary for pregnancy. Carrying excess weight also affects your ability to carry a healthy pregnancy to term. Obese women are at higher risks for pregnancy-related conditions like gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, are controllable, but can be dangerous.
Step 1
Exercise 30 minutes per day, most days of the week. Getting moving is helpful in two ways: first, it reduces stress, which helps you to lose weight and improves your chances of getting pregnant. Secondly, it burns calories, which helps you maintain a healthy weight. Try walking, swimming and yoga, according to the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing premature births.
Step 2
Start resistance training to build muscle and help you feel stronger. Because muscle burns more calories than fat, your body can become more metabolically active by weight training. Use a resistance band for exercises like squats, bicep curls and chest presses. Lightweight dumbbells -- between 2 and 5 lbs. -- also are an option.
Step 3
Increase your daily folic acid intake. Foods high in folic acid not only tend to be lower in calories, they are beneficial for your baby's brain development when you do become pregnant. Aim to eat 0.4 mg of folic acid each day from food sources like spinach, orange, bananas, milk, whole grains and kale.
Step 4
Replace full-calorie drinks like colas and fruit juices with water and decaffeinated green tea. This can reduce your daily calories without causing you to feel deprived. Also, if you do become pregnant, your physician will recommend limiting your caffeine intake making this a good step for when you do become pregnant.
Step 5
Reduce your intake of foods made with sugars and refined grains, such as pre-packaged sweets. These have empty calories and can keep you from losing weight. Instead, try eating healthy options that are low in calories like fresh fruits and vegetables. These help you lose weight and can help to reduce symptoms of diabetes and high blood pressure, which often accompany being overweight and affect your ability to become pregnant.
Things You'll Need
- Resistance band
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