9 Ways to Boost Your Fertility

The Weight to be Pregnant
Being under- or overweight significantly affects fertility. According to Helen Kim, M.D., an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the in-vitro fertilization program at the University of Chicago, women who are underweight—with a body mass index (BMI) lower than 19 Kg/M2—take four times as long to get pregnant as women in the normal range (19 to 24 Kg/M2). On the other hand, women who are overweight may have insulin resistance, meaning that too much insulin circulates in the body, disrupting menstruation. Estrogen production from fat cells can also affect the ovaries and prevent eggs from being released every month—a condition called anovulation. If you’re too thin, gaining as little as five pounds can sometimes be enough to jumpstart ovulation and menstruation. If you’re overweight, losing just 5 to 10 percent of your current body weight is often enough to do the same. But Dr. Kim cautions that now is not the time to try a fad diet. “You have to find healthy eating and exercise patterns that will take you through your pregnancy.”