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The American Fertility Association Blog

A Typical Monday at the Computer, or, I Couldn’t Get Away From Articles About Being Fat Today

August 4, 2009 - Tuesday
Posted by Corey

I am currently in the process of editing the articles that will appear in The AFA’s 2010 edition of the National Fertility and Adoption Directory.  This year’s book will have around 23 articles.  I received three of them for editing today, and it struck me that all three (written by Mike Berkley, L.AC; Daniel Shapiro, M.D.; and Stacey Roberts, PT, MH. Ph.C) discussed obesity and its detrimental effects on fertility and overall health.

Then, being a creature of habit, I checked out The AFA’s homepage newsfeed, which changes several times a day and picks up relevant news stories from around the world, and two stories right on our homepage were about?  You guessed it.  Being overweight.  One article focused on that newest catch phrase, brown fat, and the other one focused on body image and weight.

Recently I learned that Forever 21, my daughter’s (and mine) favorite clothing store, is creating a line of cool clothes for larger teenage girls called Faith 21.  And Lane Bryant is launching a teenage girl’s line this September as well.  You can certainly say that this is great news, and it is.  Everyone deserves to wear beautiful clothing.  But obviously, overweight teenagers represent a fairly large market and big profits, and that is the motivator here.  And no. This was not a play on words.

Personally?  I’ve been fat, and I’ve been thin.  Once upon a time, I even had the photos to prove it.  And I need to be honest.  At least for me?  Thin is better.  No, I didn’t say mega skinny.  I said thin.  Healthy thinness is better.  For overall health, certainly.  But also, for fertility. 

And here’s the at least for me part.  I feel prettier now than I did when I was fat.  Was that my reason for losing 78 lbs.?  No.  My motivator was a routine trip to the doctor, and finding out that my blood pressure was at potentially catastrophic numbers.  With two babies at home relying on me to, you know.  Live. 

I was sure that diabetes was in my near future if I didn’t straighten up and fly right, so I did.  I chose to be healthy and live. 

Fourteen years later, I have a teenage daughter who is thin and I am grateful, for a number of reasons, none of which have to do with her looks.  She would be beautiful in my eyes no matter what she weighed.  But when Caitlin contracted swine flu this past spring, I would have had to worry much more about it’s effect on her health if she had been 25 lbs. heavier.  If my girl was a typically overweight American teen, I would be concerned about her potential for diabetes, heart disease, and a whole litany of weight related health issues.

And of course, given my own pcos, I would be concerned about her future fertility.

We all know that everyone has the right to feel, and to be, beautiful.  I think that healthy weight exists on a spectrum and that we in this culture are not very tolerant of the spectrum.  Five pounds up or down and you’re Too Fat!!!  Or, Too Thin!!!  But.  If you go too far in either direction, I truly think you look unattractive (yes, I went there) for a reason.  And the reason is that being too skinny, or too fat, is simply not healthy.  And we as human beings find these ends of the spectrum unattractive as a way of preserving our species.  Being grossly overweight, or grossly underweight, will inhibit fertility potential as well as overall health. 

I know it’s hard.  There is no magic bullet for weight loss.  But if you are currently ttc, and feel in your heart that you are overweight, or underweight, talk to your doctor, make changes that make sense for you, and if overweight is the issue, exercise!  Magic bullet for weight loss?  There isn’t any.  Cliches aside, if I can do it, you can too.

For more information on weight and fertility check out these, and many other stories:
http://www.integramed.com/inmdweb/content/cons/conceptions/optimalweight.jsp
http://www.consumerreports.org/health/conditions-and-treatments/fertility-problems/what-works/fertility-treatments-and-your-weight.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1203036/Calorie-burning-healthy-fat-latest-weapon-battle-obesity.html?ITO=1490
http://www.di-ve.com/Default.aspx?ID=72&Action=1&NewsId=62850

Corey Whelan
Program Director
The American Fertility Association
http://www.theafa.org

Categories
Fertility • Infertility • Reproductive Health

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