You're overweight if you weigh 20% above the normal range.

The few things we know about how being overweight can impact your fertility are as follows:

• It is five times harder for you to conceive.

• Being overweight can disrupt your menstruation, upset your hormonal balance and result in ovulation problems that compromise your fertility.

• Obesity makes you more likely to suffer from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a disorder characterised by an excessive level of testosterone and insulin resistance in the body. Patients with this disorder have ovulation problems and usually produce poor quality eggs.

• Fertility treatment is harder if you're overweight. It is harder to perform the procedures of ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval in an obese patient.

There were studies done on the effects of weight loss on previously overweight women who had problems conceiving or maintaining their pregnancy. It is found that they could conceive and their chances of miscarriages reduced if they could successfully reduce their weight.

However, there is no quick fix when it comes to losing weight. A multidisciplinary plan comprising exercise, a healthy diet, behaviour modification and sometimes, medication is necessary.

Here are some pointers if you're planning to shed those kilos:

• Join a slimming support group or attend a fitness workshop. By being part of a group with the same focus on weight loss, you'll be motivated to share problems and find solutions. You can seek counselling on lifestyle modification strategies too.

• Commit to the idea of dieting by telling people around you that you're doing so to get their support.

• One of the ways to keep fit is to eat till you are just about 80 per cent full.

• Avoid snacks. Identify your own food triggers and look for ways to beat them.

• Choose a realistic eating plan. Do not be ambitious - a gradual loss of half to one kilogram a week is good.

• Make sure your new eating plan gives you enough nutrition or else you'll feel hungry and eat even more afterwards.

• Drink adequate amounts of water and eat more fruits and vegetables. Instead of snacks, you can opt for fruits.

• Combine your eating plan with exercise. Start in small manageable ways. For example, incorporate exercises into your daily routines, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walk or cycle more instead of getting into a vehicle etc.

• However, if dieting and exercise are insufficient, then medication may help. Consult with your doctor or health care provider and ask him to assess if you're a suitable candidate to take medication for weight loss.
  Health practitioners sometimes use a satiety enhancer to help overweight patients lose weight. A satiety enhancer helps you feel full sooner so that you stop eating after eating about 80 per cent of your usual food intake. In other words, it helps you be satisfied with less, you won't loose your appetitie. But don't attempt to get a satiety enhancer yourself, consult with your doctor.
  Remember, if you're on medication to reduce weight, keep exercising and continue to eat healthily. This way, you can maintain your weight after stopping the medication. Your doctor will advise you on the suitable lifestyle changes you'll need to make and monitor your weight after you have completed the treatment

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Fitness During Pregnancy

You're underweight if you weigh 10% below normal range.

These are the findings on how being underweight can affect your fertility:

• If you're underweight with insufficient body fat, you'll be prone to menstrual irregularities that can interfere with ovulation, thus preventing conception.

• Your ovaries may not function normally, thus upsetting your ovulation.

• When body fat drops below a certain level, your cervical mucus production will be adversely affected, making conception more difficult.

You can increase your weight by:

• Not skipping any meal under all circumstances. Eat at least three meals a day and eat more food at each meal.

• Increasing energy intake and eat more snacks.

• Adhering to a muscle building exercise programme.

• Drinking juices and milk besides water.

• If you know that you're suffering from a eating-disorder, consult with a doctor to rectify your problem before you try to conceive.

From young, girls are bombarded with erroneous messages and images telling them what they should look like. In response, girls resorted to unhealthy eating habits trying to look like their idols. They begin to suffer from serious physical and psychological damages and develop severe eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

Anorexia and bulimia deprive the body of essential nutrition, often disrupting a woman's menstrual cycle. There is indeed a high correlation between such eating disorders and problems with fertility.

There is only one course of action if you're suffering from a eating disorder - consult with a doctor to be cured.

The body mass index (BMI) is a mathematical formula that calculates relative weight for height.

It is used to assess whether you're underweight, overweight, or risk being overweight. You can use it as a gauge to find your own weight range for optimizing your chances of conception. However, while the BMI is useful as a general guide, it does not distinguish excess fat from muscle. As such, you should still consult with your healthcare provider if you want to determine your ideal weight for pregnancy.

Using the BMI as a guide, you're considered overweight if your BMI is more than 25 and underweight if it is below 18.5. The BMI indexes are given in ranges, and you'll have to determine whether you should look at the lower range or upper range of figures.

Generally speaking, if you have small bones - that is, a wrist measurement of 5 1/2 inches or less or an ankle measurement of 8 inches or less, you should look at the lower end of the weight range. If you're big bones with a wrist measurement greater than 6 inches or an ankle measurement greater than 9 inches, you should use the higher end of the scale.

Check out your BMI here.

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