Healthy eating vs BMI

[Looom]

I've recently started IVF and was advised I have quite low AMH. Because of this I have tried to eat healthy to improve my egg quality. The downside to this is I have been losing weight which has brought me below the recommended BMI for IVF and I was almost refused treatment. Now I'm not sure what is more important, the healthy eating or my BMI? I have a really fast metabolism due to my SE asian heritage, the only way I can really put on weight is carbs and fat which I'm trying to avoid to improve egg quality! Any advice would be appreciated.

[RedFox23]

Hi Looom, I would say staying within a healthy bmi is really important. I have low AMH too so have been taking supplements to hopefully help with egg quality! X

[Endofitall]

I have a similar issue (low AMH, low BMI at start of treatment had to work hard to get it up). BMI being in good range is important for the hormone balance and your lining thickening up. I would advise some healthy carbs eg brown rice. Plenty of nuts etc and making sure you eat full fat fermented dairy eg kefir (if you eat dairy). Try and snack between meals eg I do a homemade roasted cashew mix with olive oil, bit of salt, and sometimes spices.

Do remind clinicians though that the healthy BMI range is a bit different if you have SE Asian background as it is preferable to be a bit lower than for Caucasian ethnicity due to risk of things like type 2 diabetes increasing in SE Asians even in what would be considered normal BMI for Caucasians (eg 23 upper end of normal for SE Asians vs 25 in Caucasians)

[Wishinandahopin]

the healthiest diet for fertility and egg quality is the Mediterranean diet. Make sure you are eating plenty of ‘good’ carbs like wholegrains and also up your healthy fat intake. Make sure you are having full fat dairy (very important for egg quality) and lots of avocados plenty of olive oil etc etc

Eating healthily shouldn’t bring BMI down if you are eating enough calories and plenty of good fats and carbs ☺️

[happypupp]

Mediterranean diet, recommended for egg quality, doesn't exclude carbs. I'm East Asian, currently in my 15th week. BMI 20. Rice is my staple, never stopped it since TTC. It's more important to avoid refined sugar and gluten (so yes I had to forego wheat noodles but can still have rice noodles!) - occasional healthy treats didn't hurt though.

Healthy fats (esp. saturated) are really important for fertility. I've been eating lots of fatty meat and fish, as organic and grass fed as possible, avoiding seed oils (rapeseed, soy and corn) for cooking, and using organic olive oil, ghee, lard, coconut oil instead.

Also really important to keep your vitamin D level up especially for us with darker skin colour because of lack of Sun in the UK. I've been taking 2000-4000iu during TTC and I still take 4000iu for me and my baby.

Vitamin C and other antioxidants like NAC, vitamin E which I still take might have also helped.

This leaflet has good information on diet and nutrition.

drjerrythompson.co.uk/leafl...

[Natcal]

How low is your AMH? Mine was 0.174, then 0.33. I was told the bump was not that exciting.

[CJohns]

Hi Looom. I’m just here to say that I get it. I’m white Caucasian, but as soon as I stop eating crisps and chocolate (and all things naughty), the weight drops off me. To the point when I was prepping for IVF my hairdresser thought I had an eating disorder.

I tried everything people suggest in the comments above including eating nuts, lots of eggs, brown rice and pasta etc, , and still had two blocks of dark chocolate a day, but nothing helped keep the weight on.

My advice would be to still include some of what you know helps keep your weight on. It’s draining being too thin, and makes you feel not so great, and you want to be in this in the most positive state that you can x