Let’s be honest. If you are anything like me (God help you) you’re probably carrying a least a few more pounds than you’d like. Unfortunately in my case due to my general love of good food and wine (mmm wine) this amounts to more than just a few.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a tub of lard stuffing my face with McDonald’s on the sofa every day. But cheese, hummus and wine probably form more of my regular menu than they should.
Now, of course it’s true that like most people who struggle with their weight, I have also spent the best part of my life trying to lose it, so I am not unaware that I am larger than the BMI charts say I should be. But, I’d also say I’m reasonably active and eat quite well (apart from the aforementioned excess of cheese/hummus/wine).
However, when you start having any kind of fertility treatment doctors seem to treat you as though you are a total stranger to the mirror and the fact that you are overweight might be a surprise to you. So they tell you (not necessarily gently) that you need to lose weight, that it can affect fertility etc.
If you see more than one doctor, you will get used to having this conversation EVERY SINGLE TIME you go to the clinic. Not going to lie. This gets pretty frustrating after a while.
Yes, weight IS an issue, and yes, you should do something about it. But, and here’s the kicker, its not the only thing that affects fertility and treating people as though that is the only issue preventing them from having a child is somewhat short sighted. Its also not without some bitter irony that the stress of infertility can cause people to comfort eat, that some of the hormones you need to take make you feel like eating your arm and so on.
In my case, through a concerted effort I lost ~10-14 kilos and definitely felt better in myself. It still didn’t help rejuvenate my shrivelled old eggs though.
There is no conclusion to this piece, simply to say that yes, weight is an issue, but its not the only issue, and if someone overweight went to see a doctor with a broken leg you’d probably try and treat the broken leg before pointing out the excess weight had contributed to it.
Seriously right EVERY F**** TIME! Like yes I know, like yes I’ve been hearing it all my life and yes I’ve been trying the same amount of time to loose those pounds. Sorry fed up angry post here, so feeling your frustration! I went through the same, lost 18-20 kilos and still didn’t work out.
They gave me hormones and hello back were the kilos again, a huge depression and plenty physical issues I still have to endure a few years later.
I really wish they would stop hammering on the weight, and look at the person as a whole. It’s not the weight that makes the difference.