If you have been trying to get pregnant for a while and still find it hard to conceive, maybe the solution for it is closer at hand that you originally thought.
According to a Dutch study, women who are having a hard time getting pregnant can double their chances of conceiving through natural means of losing weight.
Studying 577 woman suffering from fertility problems and are also obese or overweight, the researchers gave them advice on how to lose weight through proper diet and exercise.
Additionally, the team also gave these women a goal of losing five percent of their body weight. At the end of the study, the women lost an average of 9.5 pounds in six months.
“When rates of conception were compared two years later, those who had been put on a diet were far more likely to have become pregnant naturally,” said a Telegraph report.
“Among overweight and obese women—those starting out with a body mass index between 29 and 35—those who lost weight had conception rates of 25 per cent, compared with rates of just 12.6 per cent for those who were not put on a diet.”
Meanwhile, in a Mail Online report, Stuart Lavery, consultant gynaecologist at Hammersmith Hospital, said that body mass index (BMI) changes don’t have to be significant.
“Sometimes the changes in BMI do not have to be enormous and that’s quite reassuring for a lot of people because it is really difficult to actually go out there and lose the weight,” he said.
Losing weight may also be beneficial for the long-term health of the baby conceived, said Dr. Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society.
“Essentially, if you are overweight, you want to restrict calories, maybe by 500 calories a day to 1,500 calories diet,” he said. “Daily exercise, so cardiovascular exercise—30 to 45 minutes a day—and if you can achieve that you would expect to lose one or two pounds a week and that is sustainable.”
For Dr. Nick Macklon, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Southampton, the results of the study are significant.
“This is an important study, in that it does throw an emphasis on the importance of pre-conceptional care, of which losing weight in obese women is just one,” he said. “You should not just go on a huge crash diet and reduce your calories to almost zero.”
READ: 7 Conception myths busted by science
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