Losing weight after fertility drugs can be tough for women. Especially if you need to go in for more treatment and you need to get your BMI below 35 or 29 depending on the parameters of the IVF infertility clinic.
Does IVF cause weight gain?
It is not IVF itself that leads to weight gain, but the medications that your doctor prescribes to prepare your body for
IVF. To prepare for an IVF cycle, you’ll take several hormones, usually in injectable form.
These drugs suppress your natural cycle, induce ovulation, and can help your body produce multiple eggs, depending on your treatment plan. Hormones are the chemical messengers of the body. You send information from one area of the body to another. This means that changing a person’s hormones can change a lot in the way their body processes things, including things that have nothing to do with fertility.
Many people experience side effects of IVF, including weight gain. Weight gain during fertility treatments can occur for a variety of reasons. First, IVF can slow down your metabolism or otherwise affect the way your body treats energy and consumes energy, this can lead to weight gain. Second, IVF can cause food cravings, which ultimately leads to the fact that you eat unusually fatty or sugary foods, this can also lead to weight gain. It is important to remember that this weight gain is usually minimal, a maximum of five to ten pounds. For most women, the benefit is even less: only one or two pounds.
They relate most of IVF weight gain to water retention, so you may notice that your weight fluctuates more during an IVF cycle. As soon as you stop using IVF drugs, the weight should decrease easily.
IVF injections and weight gain: how much weight can I gain during an IVF cycle?
If you have ever taken hormonal contraceptives, your reaction to these medications may give you a good understanding of what you can expect from IVF. IVF, such as hormonal contraception, uses hormones.
Although it can subtly change metabolism and the way your body reacts to food, IVF cannot produce calories and fat if it doesn’t exist. So IVF alone does not lead to the fact that you gain significant amounts of weight. Most women notice that their weight fluctuates somewhat more while taking IVF medications. A smaller group changes due to water retention.
This weight usually decreases after you have received your period or when you become pregnant after you have the baby. A smaller group notes a more significant weight gain, which remains even after the departure of IVF drugs. Here, weight gain is usually not over five to ten pounds. More than that is unlikely to be due solely to IVF drugs.
Excessive weight gain, especially a quick weight gain, almost always shows another problem. Therefore, if you notice a sudden weight gain or a change in your appearance overnight, call your provider immediately.
Is it safe to lose weight when trying to get pregnant?
We live in a culture obsessed with weight. If you are already feeling anxious and frustrated with infertility, weight gain is probably the last thing you want to deal with.
Weight and infertility interact in interesting ways. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) can cause weight gain by triggering insulin resistance. IVF is a key treatment for PCOS. Research also shows that weight loss can improve the effectiveness of IVF and other PCOS treatments.
Even if you don’t have PCOS, your chances of getting pregnant will decrease if you are overweight. Being overweight or obesity can also increase the risk of pregnancy complications and making it difficult to conceive initially. Therefore, there are excellent reasons to worry about weight gain. It is usually safe to lose weight for getting pregnant, and only if you are currently overweight.
Avoid crash diets.
If you have a normal weight, losing weight can complicate pregnancy. They adopt a healthy and balanced diet. Avoid shock diets, fasting and very low-calorie diets. Weight loss should be slow and constant, not immediately. Stay physically active. During pregnancy, exploding physical activity can be dangerous. So start slowly, gradually building on your successes. Get a doctor’s permission.
Talk to a provider before starting a weight loss plan, especially if you are trying to get pregnant and struggling with your ovaries and general reproductive health. We can help with this. Karen is a qualified nutritionist specialising in fertility. She can also advise on healthy exercise such as particular styles of yoga.
Once you are pregnant, restrictive nutrition will steal nutrition away from your developing baby. It is OK to reduce binge eating or overeating or unhealthy snacks, but you should not try to lose weight during pregnancy.
Instead, talk to your doctor about a healthy meal schedule for pregnancy and your ideal weight gain during pregnancy. Proper protein intake is especially important for a developing baby. Therefore, make sure that your diet is rich in lean meat, nuts, legumes, eggs, dairy products and other foods rich in protein. Your goal should be to extract your calories from foods that are very nutritious. So get rid of high-calorie, low-nutrition foods such as white bread, sugary snacks, and processed foods like French fries.
You’re in luck though, because here is a simple answer.
We can give you a healthy lymphatic drainage massage that will help you lose the water retention whilst increasing your immune system. You’ll lose the pounds without the need to crash diet or exercise. You can have this pre, during or post pregnancy.
If your weight gain is more fat based than water retention, then we’ll use our state-of-the-art RF therapy machine to help your body break down fat cells more effectively. We do this by applying a gentle heat to the skin which permeates to the fatty tissues which allows your body to excrete it. We can use this pre or post birth.
In addition, you could also choose to layer on Microneedling and Lemon Bottle treatments for a faster result. The choice is yours. Speak to us on 07941 668456 and we’ll give you your options and then leave it with you, we will never pressure you into anything.
Why is it important to lose weight after taking fertility medication?
Your BMI matters in your ability to conceive. But, this medicine messes with your hormone levels, will often stop your natural menstruation and what it can’t do to an ovary isn’t worth talking about. Your sex drive is already stagnant following the restrictions that struggling to conceive puts on a couple. I mean, it’s no fun for anyone having to make love to your husband on demand.
Layer over the feeling of being obese (even if you aren’t) and finding your way back to each other can be an ordeal. And our RF therapy (not if you are pregnant) or manual lymphatic drainage massage (throughout pregnancy) can be a viable option with fast benefits for you to get back in touch with your body again.
The other very important factor here is that you may have had a failed IVF cycle and you’re still treating your fertility with clinical intervention. If your weight has increased because of the fertility drugs you’ve been on, reducing this back to a BMI of between 19 and 29 will improve your chances of a successful IVF outcome and healthy pregnancy.
Book in for your consultation now. We will deduct the cost of the session from any treatment you end up booking in with us. Text us on 07941 668456 to find your options. It costs less than you think.
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