Welcome back to FatChat everyone. Today I want to talk about an issue that's near and dear to my heart and that is infertility, near to me because I had that problem myself 17 years ago when I started trying to have a baby for the first time at the ripe old age of 37 years old. That quote unquote problem as we say and I'm happy to say is making her way off to college in a couple of months. For me my fertility issues were an age thing, not a weight thing.
However I do really understand firsthand the pain and the emotional rollercoaster of those who are trying to get pregnant and the medical age issues aside the biggest obstacle to fertility is obesity and it's not just a woman's problem anymore. The first group of organs impacted by excess body fat is the reproductive system. For men being overweight or obese most often leads to a low sperm count, less fertile sperm and definitely a lower motility in the sperm with greater difficulty penetrating the egg. For women too much body fat wreaks havoc with the woman's hormones results in no men's drug cycles, no oftentimes multiple cycles in a month or longer and more excessive cycles.
The longer men and women are obese the more infertility issues they might have. When obese boys and girls grow into obese teenagers and then turn into obese adults the chances are they're going to have fertility issues. Obesity affects the pancreas and its ability to produce insulin and regulate one's blood sugar. So almost all obese women are already at the insulin resistant stage which the doctors will call pre-diabetic and that affects their ovaries.
It causes polycystic ovaries which is by the way the number one cause of infertility in women leads to poor population, no production of eggs or non-viable eggs. Additionally not only is an optimal hormone environment necessary for conception but it's also necessary to carry a baby to term in a healthy uneventful boring way. That's what we want. The heavier a woman is though when she conceives the more imbalanced her hormones will become throughout the gestational process and then of course the greater the risk of miscarriage.
Years ago, even just ten years ago, eight years ago I had many many overweight and obese women referred to me by infertility specialists. Yet over the last three, four, five years I'm having more and more obese men referred to me by infertility specialists because it really is as I said at the beginning not a women's problem anymore. So ladies, gentlemen, you must think ahead whether you're engaged to be married and contemplating a future with children in it or married and thinking about starting a family. If you're overweight or obese, start getting yourself in shape now, don't wait.
Because if you do, there's a good chance you're gonna suffer heartache, I assure you. And let's say your your unhealthy weight doesn't prevent you from becoming pregnant. Obviously we all know fat people who get pregnant. Let's say you're lucky.
Okay, so what then? Do you think you're gonna carry the term without problems being overweight a conception and gaining more and more and more weight throughout? I mean, I doubt it. I highly, highly doubt it.
Do you think that you're gonna raise slim kids as an obese parent? Uh-uh, ain't gonna happen. You're gonna perpetuate obesity in your children and trust me, they will not thank you for it because they're gonna grow into the kids that I see every single day. And that, my friends, is my podcast for today.
If you have any questions or comments about this week's podcast, you can email us at info at fatchatpodcast.com. You can also message us at Facebook or Twitter at waitnomoredc. If you'd like to keep up with all the good stuff we do and the info that we provide, visit us at waitnoordietcenter.com and you can sign up there for our free monthly electronic newsletter. Until next week, I'm Lori Boxer, Waitnoordietcenter.
And remember, nothing tastes as good as being slim feels.