Too Fat for IVF

[VMJ007]

Hi Everyone. Has my first consult with Dr Babymaker. Super nice guy and came highly recommended. He told me to lose weight and we’ll start in 3 months. I’m a size 16/18 and definitely can drop some weight so no issue there. Just bummed out. I’m not going to crash diet and will start running again and stop drinking my gallons of wine. Anyone been in a similar situation? Feels a bit like adding insult to injury but a girls gotta do...

[Uffculmedolly]

Yes! I can’t have IVF on the NHs due to my BMI. I went private but our first IVF attempt failed and with lockdown, I was so upset, I turned to comfort eating and have ballooned! 😬 we can’t go for a FET until I lower my BMI... unfortunately I have a lot of weight to lose but like you say i’ve gotta suck it up and get back on it!

[VMJ007 in reply to Uffculmedolly]

Thankyou for your honesty!!! My weight is “wine weight”. I ballooned when I first discovered I had endo a couple of years ago to deal with the stress. I put on heaps. Feels like double trouble! Now I’ve gotta lose the weight to have the baby.

[Yehong78]

I lost 12.5kg in 8 months while doing IVF. I did two things — regular exercise (5 times a week) and no alcohol. Through exercise, I shed 5kg in the first 4 months and then no improvement. Then, I stopped drinking and I’m three weeks, my weight started to drop again. When I started stimulation, I stopped exercise as was advised to do so. I’m in my 2ww and I think I probably have gain 2 kg back. This is a constant struggle as you need to lose weight, but you don’t want to be in hunger status as it hurts reproduction hormones.

Good luck!

[VMJ007 in reply to Yehong78]

Wow! So it took 3 weeks off the alcohol to see a big difference? I wonder how long I should abstain for before I actually see the change.

[Yehong78 in reply to VMJ007]

Well, for the first two weeks, as I didn’t see any change, I almost thought it wouldn’t work! But then my weight started to drop quickly. So, just be patient! 😂

[FertileMind]

VMJ007,

I never realised how much sugar there is in wine...so when we stop alcohol, 2 great side effects are 1) weight loss 2) reduced inflammation. I had to get my inflammatory markers down (immune system triggering Natural killer cells which they think were killing the embryo)....and with high inflammation (sugar) it's hard for the embryo to implant....amd inflammation causes all our immune diseases!

You have 3 months - perfect. in 3.5 months I brought my inflammatory cytokines down from extremely high to normal by changing my diet and taking supplements, acupuncture and exercise, and Tai Chi... making sure you're taking ant oxidants like Alpha Lipoic acid, quercetin etc...good vitamins, ubiquinol, methylfolate, D3, zinc, selenium, Vit C, NAC, MSM, magnesium citrate, iodine etc etc...is so important.

Books like : "Is my body baby friendly", The Mind-body fertility connection", It starts with the egg" and Women's bodies, Women's Wisdom are all excellent resources.

After not having sugar and processed food for 3 months you won't crave the sugar...your tastebuds change! This also helps keep the weight off. I have 90% chocolate now and veggies and salads and good healthy food is my preference now...to honour my body - I don't see the "naughty" stuff as a treat anymore...it harms our bodies and our chances of falling pregnant...a bit of a paradigm shift!

Best of luck! Keep us posted.

[Sarah_a_2018]

When my husband and I went for our fertility testing our hospital wouldn't even refer us for IVF until my BMI was 30 (it was 34 when we had our initial testing) I also had a lot of inflammation from stress and not eating well, I started a plant based diet as I read there were a lot of benefits that help with hormone balance, reducing chronic inflammation and also weight loss because you're eating a lot less calorie dense foods. I lost 18kg in 3 months and got our referral, that was back in 2017 and I maintained the weight loss to keep my BMI at 30 to qualify for IVF treatment.

It seems like such a big hurdle but it's possible, I kept my focus on being healthy and improving my lifestyle which helped with weight loss, when you're only focused on what the scales say it's too easy to give up when you don't see a change or your progress slows but you need to stick with it, be patient and follow the process. It helps having some accountability, I signed up with a coach and that helped to keep me on track and wasn't too expensive, there's a lot of programs available that aren't costly but give you the support and resources to help you on your journey.

Best of luck, you can do this and it really is worth it! 😁💪 Xx

[Wannabemammy]

My NHS clinician told me I “wouldn’t give him a live birth” as I was older with a higher BMI. We had unexplained infertility and wanted to rule out tubal blockages etc. He wouldn’t consider any treatment at all and said we could go on a waiting list while I list the necessary wait but that he thought we’d run out of time (ie hit menopause) before that time arrived! We were devastated.

We then went to a private clinic where they said they would help if I could get to BMI 30 and in the meantime, they did all the tests and checks we required e.g. hycosy and reassured us massively. They said it was possible we could conceive, and told us to try and relax, give it until Christmas (just under 12 months) and then come back if we’d hit the weight target and not conceived.

I’m now roughly 6 weeks pregnant naturally and while I know the statistics say there may be challenges, I’m just hoping that bubba stays safe in there and that we make it!

Please don’t give up. X

[VMJ007 in reply to Wannabemammy]

Amazing story!!! Thankyou for sharing.